THE PROCESS TO F1 · 2026
The road to Formula 1 is not just a talent contest. It is a pyramid - wide at the bottom, very limited opportunities at the top. Here is how it works, and where the 2026 Race Like a Girl roster is standing on it today.
6
Tiers on the pyramid
12
Series tracked in 2026
12/13
Roster drivers with a 2026 seat
3
Highest tier reached · Advanced Development
Below are the various series in formula racing presented a driver commonly climbs them. Formula 1 is the top, and each row below it is a tier a driver has to clear to get there. Series sharing a tier are at a comparable level. An individual driver may compete in more than one of these at a time.
No 2026 drivers on this rung yet.
F1 sits higher up the ladder than this year’s class has climbed.
No 2026 drivers on this rung yet.
F2 sits higher up the ladder than this year’s class has climbed.
No 2026 drivers on this rung yet.
F3 sits higher up the ladder than this year’s class has climbed.
No 2026 drivers on this rung yet.
FR sits higher up the ladder than this year’s class has climbed.
#9
USA Europe Global
Entry tier first, the way a driver climbs it. Each tier lists what the machinery demands, what a title in each of its series is worth toward an F1 Super Licence, and who from the 2026 roster is racing it.
This is the earliest levels of open-wheel racing. Sealed, low-downforce single-seaters on a spec tire, run on calendars short enough that a rookie can learn racecraft without a budget that ends a career in one season. Nothing here counts toward a Super Licence. It counts toward being ready - and it is where the first serious sponsorship conversations happen.
Formula Pro USA Western
– champion’s licence points
Ligier Junior Formula Championship
– champion’s licence points
USF Juniors
– champion’s licence points
Women's Racing Series
– champion’s licence points
Formula 4 is the first rung that the FIA itself certifies, and the first that awards Super License points. A single global technical formula theoretically means an American in Italian or US F4 is measured against the same benchmark as every other F4 driver in the world. Alongside F4 sit national championships using the same class of machinery.
F4 CEZ
12 champion’s licence points
GB4 Championship
– champion’s licence points
Italian F4 Championship
12 champion’s licence points
Two routes, one goal. Formula Regional is the bridge to F3: more power, real downforce, and the first cars that punish a driver who has not learned to manage tires over a race distance. F1 Academy is the all-female championship that the FIA introduced in 2023, racing F4 machinery with FIA sponsorship to make it more attainable - every F1 team backs a car and the series covers most of a seat's cost, which makes it the single largest funded opportunity that exists for a woman on the climb to formula 1.
F1 Academy
10 champion’s licence points
Formula Regional
25 champion’s licence points
No roster driver here yet.
A single global championship on the path to Formula 1. Drives use identical cars on identical tires. This is the first major hurdle. There are currently no women in FIA F3 and only one woman has every scored points in an FIA F3 race, and she was from Germany. There are women competing in similar-level series such as GB3 possibly hoping to make the jump to FIA F3.
FIA Formula 3
30 champion’s licence points
No roster driver here yet.
The last step before reaching Formula 1, and even winning FIA F2 does not guarantee a driver will have the skill or opportunity to enter F1, but it is a necessary step and a major accomplishment. There are roughly 22 seats in F2 worldwide. There are currently no women competing in FIA F2.
FIA Formula 2
40 champion’s licence points
No roster driver here yet.
Twenty-two seats. No woman has started a Formula 1 World Championship race since 1976. That number is the reason this pipeline is worth tracking from the very first tier. It is the pinnacle of racing. Our goal at RaceLikeAGirl.com is to see an American woman racing in F1 by 2036!
Formula 1
– champion’s licence points
No roster driver here yet.
Points are listed per series, not per tier, because peers on one tier can carry different FIA awards, a Formula Regional title is worth 25, an F1 Academy title 10. A dash means that series sits outside the FIA points table, or, at the very top, that there is nothing left to earn. Points go to the leading finishers, not the champion alone. The champion’s figure is shown because it sets the ceiling for a season.
We are not a team and we do not run a car. Our goal is to promote and support American women competing in formula open-wheel racing, from the junior categories through F4, Formula Regional, F3 and F2 and ultimately to Formula 1 and to see an American woman reach Formula 1 within the next ten years.
A complete directory of 13 American women across all 12 series we track, not just the televised ones.
The American Formula Driver Development Program gives a small number of drivers individualized support, coaching, simulator work, travel, training, chosen around what would actually move that driver forward.
Women racers want, and deserve, to be regarded simply as racers, and the name is not a comment on anyone’s skill. It is aimed at generating public interest in a field where women are underrepresented. The formula racing world has traditionally been a Euro-centric boys’ club. It is time to break that barrier, and we are hoping to get people excited about the possibility and to focus on the current grid of American women racers working their way up the Formula ladder in order to generate more opportunities for them to succeed in their quest to be the best!
AFD
