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Jamie Chadwick’s return to W Series quickly became a central topic ahead of the start of the 2022 season. While the critics regarding the Championship don’t seem to end, the Brit set her head on the Championship to come and believes it won’t be an easy ride while the Series continues to grow its competitiveness.
One could argue Jamie Chadwick’s history so far in W Series has been substantially flawless. The 23-year-old dominated in 2019 and, despite the hard-fought battle with Alice Powell in 2021, never finished outside of the points during her whole career in the series. Chadwick, however, seems to think of it differently as she told FormulaNerds when asked about her new goal for the season to come: “I wouldn’t say they were perfect seasons at all, definitely not. Obviously, the goal is the same to win the Championship but there’s a lot that I want to also achieve in the process. I’m looking forward to working hard again and learning as much as I can and I’ve seen also in testing that it’s definitely going to be a very competitive year as well so being pushed hard and seeing where we end up.”
Chadwick will race with newly-founded W Series team Jenner Racing in 2022 to try and conquer her third consecutive title. While her teammate is yet to be announced, the young Brit is already preparing the season alongside team owner Caitlyn Jenner: “Joining Jenner Racing, a new American team for this year is obviously exciting. Caitlyn Jenner at the helm being a big name and having such a big presence is gonna be exciting. She’s actually got quite a good motor racing background so she understands the sport well and I think she’s gonna be a good team boss for us.”
While the critics regarding her missed passage to Formula 3 have been mostly about the W Series’ mission, it has been noted that drivers from the feeder series often lack time to organize properly their moves to the upper categories. Asked about whether building a new calendar to allow more time for the drivers’ market, Chadwick explained: “It’s a good question. I think it’s different for different people so for me I relied on winning the Championship to have any hope of progressing. Perhaps I think maybe I could’ve looked still in advance but by the time the season finished and we went looking, it’s such a short time to be able to secure a seat or budget and I had already missed the testing in F3 at that point.”
“So, I think some drivers were able to secure their seats and funding prior to the end of the season and most actually do that but it’s a good point, as it’s not one I thought about. Maybe I think if you have a bit more time during the winter it would help.”
While Chadwick will return to W Series in 2022, she is also set to continue her work as a Williams Development Driver in Grove but sadly fans shouldn’t expect to see her in any free practice sessions soon: “It’s unlikely that I’ll be in a practice session this year. I would love to be, I got actually the super license for it at the moment but I think it’s unlikely. “
Yet, her hopes are for the team in Grove to have a good comeback with the introduction of the new regulations: “I did a bit of simulation work with the 2022 car and it’s hard to tell on the simulator but I think it’s gonna be a great season of racing. I’m hoping that they can have a bit more success and build on the progress they made in these years.”
Nevertheless, Chadwick will continue fighting for the title in 2022 to show even more of her talent during the season, as she expects “more of the same great racing, plenty of action, going to more races around the world with a new audience. Japan is one I’m really looking forward to. I think as the series goes, it’s extremely popular. I find a lot of people enjoy watching it so hopefully a lot more of that.”
Headline Image: W Series