Cristina Gutiérrez visited the Motorsport.com Spain office just after her victory in Chile alongside Sebastien Loeb in Extreme, but beyond analyzing the victory in the electric championship and her future and that of the category, she also gave her opinion on other disciplines and motoring aspects.
Without wanting to turn the talk into an interview about gender equality, we took advantage of his position as a driver in the elite to find out what other categories could do to at least equalize the opportunities that women have in racing.
The Extreme E requires teams to have mixed lineups, that is, to be made up of a man and a woman, and when asked if that is the path that others can follow, he replied: “For the issue of equality I think it’s something simple.”
“In Cross-country they have never given me benefits or they have tried to promote women. It is true that I am in favor of promoting women as in the case of Extreme E because that gives us visibility and it makes it easier for other women to access these categories, but once we are inside the categories, I think that luckily motorsport is a sport in which both men and women can compete one on one and without giving it importance we can be there.”
With this, Cristina Gutiérrez hopes that the number of women in motorsports will increase in the future: “Right now it’s a matter of numbers: you can see that in the Dakar we are four drivers. It’s a matter of time, I don’t expect it to be equal because very difficult, but it is that women do not have that brake of being a girl not being able to access a sport. It is a sport in which we have seen that we can compete from one to another and in the Extreme E it is seen with the times of the girls, that many times we are equal to the boys. And that is very nice to see and makes them more and more animated”.
Regarding the possibility of seeing a woman in Formula 1 , the triple champion of the W Series assures that she sees herself there in five years. Chadwick herself has finished sealing her third title in the 100% women’s championship by canceling the last two races of the year due to financial problems.
“Jamie Chadwick, the good thing about the W Series is that by doing the championship at the same time and in the same places as F1, they have promoted it a lot, they have given it a very strong input so that it appears in the news, on the networks and even to get the F1 drivers and teams to notice the girls who race in the W Series.”
“And specifically, Jamie is a great driver and she is showing it. And I hope that if it is not in five, it is in four or three, we will see her in higher categories, because that would mean that the W Series have triumphed.”
Cristina Gutiérrez in the Dakar 2023… And the return of Alonso?
After climbing to the podium in her category (T3) in the Dakar 2022, Cristina Gutiérrez will arrive in Saudi Arabia at the end of December looking to at least repeat the result.
“The 2023 Dakar for me is a key date in the season because it is one of the most important tests that I have in the year. I am consolidated in T3, it will already be the third year”.
“Seeing the result, I’ll try to beat it. Getting another podium on the Dakar in a row would be incredible. It’s true that you always have to be very careful on the Dakar because it’s very long and many things can happen, but hey, a podium and even trying to win it would be a dream”.
It was precisely in the dunes of the Dakar that Fernando Alonso tested in the 2020 edition. In his debut, he finished among the 10 fastest in 8 of the 12 stages, and although two incidents prevented him from being in the top 10 overall, the feeling he left it was very good.
In fact, Cristina Gutiérrez believes that she would have no problem fighting to win if she decides to return: “I would love to see Alonso again in the Dakar, because he is a born competitor and it has already been seen that with almost no experience in Cross-country he He did really well when he was there.”
“I think that if he came back, he would do it more prepared at the level of tests and others and of course he could perfectly opt for victory, and he already showed it by being very fast in the first Dakar he did”.
Finally, he was asked about Formula 1, which after the titanic fight Max Verstappen – Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 season, has left a more decaffeinated course this year with the superiority of the Dutchman and his team.
“It’s being a bit… well, that, of clear dominance by Red Bull and Verstappen. And well, it’s true that compared a bit with last year, it has lost a bit of that adrenaline that we felt in each race”
“But it is a championship that is in full growth and with all the changes in the regulations of the cars there have been many variations of positions, but I see it as quite interesting for a couple of years that the competition can be equalized and that we can have a championship like last year, so competitive”.
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