Time is ripe for an F1 glamour girl

The exclusively macho line-up of Formula One drivers will be invaded by a woman if kingpin Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's powerbroker, has his way. Curvy brolly-dollies galore decorate the pre-race grid, but Ecclestone would like to see a glamour girl behind the wheel of a 200mph Grand Prix car taking on the boys at what they regard as their own game.

And he has cited American Danica Patrick, a brilliant and brave racer with a face and fashion model figure, as the ideal female who could shake up the he-men and focus even more attention on any Grand Prix. Ideally, Ecclestone would like to see Patrick signed ahead of the upcoming US Grand Prix, set for 2012 at a brand new, purpose-built, $200 million (Dh734 million) track in Austin, Texas.

The last time the GP circus rolled up in America was three years ago and Ecclestone, anxious to fire up interest, feels that heroine Patrick, a proven frontrunner and the only woman ever to have won an Indy single-seater race, would be a major attraction. "She would be a fantastic advert for the show," he says," she is not only extremely good-looking, a pleasant girl and only 27, she is a great, great competitor and widely feared and respected by race rivals. She would be perfect."

Ecclestone's view is supported by Peter Windsor, the former Ferrari and Williams team manager and the force behind the USF1 team that failed in its bid to join the championship. He says: "Why nobody in F1 signed Danica a few years back is beyond me. She is probably the best female single-seater racer in history. She's attractive and she works hard yet nobody in F1 seemed to take her seriously." Windsor is not entirely accurate there, because Honda were going to give her a test run before they pulled out of F1 a couple of years ago. Since then, mixing motor racing with modelling, Patrick has soared to the forefront of the US sporting scene making millions of dollars for herself as a front runner in Nascar.

There is one dissenting voice. That of Force India ace Vitantonio Liuzzi who argues: "I think it would be tough for a girl. She would be great publicity like she is in America, but F1 is a much tougher challenge both physically and psychologically and to be at the top is not easy. I don't think it would work.

"But Mr Ecclestone has all these great ideas to showcase F1 and he is the boss, so you never know."

The writer is a Formula 1 expert, living in England