Former BAR boss Craig Pollock wants a team with the same participation as the teams in F1 (Photo: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images)

former head of PUB To Formula 1, Craig Pollock is one of the names that seeks to enter the category grid and mount the 11th team, and with a different concept: the team proposed by the entrepreneur will have gender equality in the distribution of jobs, with 50% men and 50% women.

Founder of BAR in 1999 and boss of the team until 2002, Pollock is also known in the world of motorsport for having been the manager of Jacques Villeneuve, in particular by helping the transfer of the Canadian from Williams to the new team at the end of 1998. Craig’s project is Formula Equal, a team whose goal is to give more opportunities and space to women in different areas of motorsport.

“Our ambition is to provide and build opportunities and pathways for women to reach the highest level of motorsport. The concept and the idea is to try to build a team of Formula 1 – 50% male, 50% female – which is extremely difficult to do if you already have a Formula 1 team. It’s much easier with a blank sheet of paper,” he told CNN.

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Regarding having a female pilot, Pollock felt that “it would be absolutely fantastic”. However, he stressed the commitment to have a female presence in all sectors. “To be clear, it’s not just about women driving luxury cars. Formula 1. This applies to the whole team; we want that passed on to the board if we can. We would like to have a Formula 1 team with gender equality,” he stressed.

As for the resources to bring the idea to fruition, Pollock said it would come from a country that hails from the Persian Gulf region, and is rumored to be Saudi Arabia. However, the British did not delve into the matter.

“We are in intense discussions with, I would say only one country in the Gulf region. I’m not really in a position to talk about it and be fully open at this point – more information will come in the very near future. And I just hope it works out because it takes a lot of money,” he said.

“Obviously this is tied to equality, diversity, inclusion and sustainability. It’s not a question that I go to them [o país do Golfo]“, he said. In fact, they are the ones who are looking for us because we have a turnkey operation with a business plan, with all the costs and everything ready to go,” Pollock pointed out.

A Formula 1 is also moving slowly to promote more women on the track with the F1 Academywhich will have its first season now in 2024. The championship has a total of 15 drivers, racing for five different teams and will have Susie Wolff as general manager.