Bernie Ecclestone is considering a women ’ s Formula One championship to give fans extra value for money during grand prix weekends . Ecclestone , the sport ’ s chief executive , floated the idea at a meeting with team bosses before Sunday ’ s Malaysian Grand Prix . If he manages to get his way , the likes of Williams test driver Susie Wolff , her counterpart at Lotus Carmen Jorda , IndyCar ’ s Danica Patrick and emerging British talent Alice Powell could all be handed drives . Bernie Ecclestone floated the idea at a meeting with team bosses before Sunday ’ s Malaysian Grand Prix . ‘ I thought it would be a good idea to give them a showcase , ’ said Ecclestone . ‘ For some reason , women are not coming through — and not because we don ’ t want them . Of course we do , because they would attract a lot of attention and publicity and probably a lot of sponsors . ‘ We have to start somewhere so I suggested to the teams that we have a separate championship and maybe that way we will be able to bring someone through to F1 . They could race before the main event or perhaps on the Saturday qualifying day . ‘ It is only a thought at the moment but I think it would be super for Formula One and the whole grand prix weekend. ’ The likes of Williams test driver Susie Wolff could feature in Ecclestone 's proposed women-only race . Lella Lombardi was the last woman to start a Formula One race , in 1976 , and the only one to score points . Ecclestone ’ s support for a female series comes 15 years after he controversially joked that women should dress in white like all domestic appliances . Lotus F1 development driver Carmen Jorda is another driver who could feature in the proposed move .
Lella Lombardi floated the idea at a meeting with team bosses before Sunday ’ s Malaysian Grand Prix . Bernie Ecclestone was the last woman to start a Formula One race , in 1976 . The likes of Susie Wolff could feature in Ecclestone 's new race idea .