F1 News: How the Las Vegas GP is Pioneering Women's Leadership in Formula 1

In a rather male-dominated sport, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is setting several progressive examples, one of them being a league of women led by the Chief Executive of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Renee Wilm, who are actively involved in the planning and execution of one of the most anticipated races of Formula 1 in 2023.

As the owners of F1's commercial rights, Liberty Media steps into the role of race promoters for the first time by choosing Wilm, the Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of the American organization, to take charge of the event.

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Speaking on the scale of opportunity that she and Liberty Media are working on, she told Sky Sports F1:

"I'm obviously very honoured to have had the opportunity to oversee this event.

"It is one of the biggest projects Liberty Media has ever worked on and obviously the first time that Formula 1 and Liberty media are self-promoting a race."

Since 2012, Ariane Frank-Meulenbelt has been the sole female race promoter, overseeing the Hungarian Grand Prix. Now, with Renee Wilm taking charge of promoting the Las Vegas Grand Prix, there's hope that this role can inspire a new generation of women to pursue careers in motorsport. She added:

"I don't often think about the fact that I'm a woman running the project.

"I just think about the project, but to take a step back for a moment.

"I do think it is incredibly important to the future generations of women who seek to be at executive levels in business, who want a career in motorsport, whether that's in the driver's seat or in the engineering staff or on the business side of it.

"And to really be able to help pave that roadway for the future generations, I do think is incredibly important."

Speaking about her female colleagues who are helping put the show together, she said:

"My team here is also run by women. [Chief commercial officer] Emily Prazer, [senior director of race operations] Silvia Bellot, [vice president of event operations] Vanessa Anthes.

"We didn't go about putting the management team together with the intention to have four women running this event, but we have incredibly qualified, dedicated women of whom I'm incredibly proud."

Contributions to F1 Academy

Apart from the Las Vegas GP, Wilm has also been actively involved in establishing the F1 Academy, the all-female series that has recently completed its inaugural season.

Designed to offer a platform to female motorsport enthusiasts and drivers, the series will strengthen its connections with Formula 1 next season by affiliating one driver with each of the 10 F1 teams and conducting all its races during F1 Grand Prix weekends.

Speaking on why Las Vegas was not selected to host next year's F1 academy, Wilm concluded:

"I would very much like to include F1 Academy [in Las Vegas] on a go forward basis.

"We were not able to include them for next year due to the road closure requirements to which we have agreed. and we are not able to change those right now.

"I think once we get past year one and the locals become a little bit more comfortable with how this event will be able to unfold year after year, we will certainly be looking to make some tweaks to that schedule so that we can accommodate an F1 Academy race."

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