A dozen girls whizzed around an English karting track, part of a pioneering drive to draw women into motorsports and maybe even race to the top in male-dominated Formula 1. A special test day in October in Nottingham aimed to address a major gender gap in F1, one of the flashiest of sports. Italian Lella Lombardi was the last woman to compete in an F1 Grand Prix in 1976, and the absence of women on the circuit is linked to young girls’ limited exposure to motorsports, according to gender parity organisations. More Than Equal, a non-profit that supports women drivers, said girls start karting two years later than boys on average. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, for example, got into the format aged just eight. “These are the first steps that a girl could take,” Cameron Biggs, coaching and academy pathway manager at Motorsport UK, told AFP. “We’re really trying to join the dots between grassroots and elite.” Formula 1 is one of the world’s few non-segregated sports but is one of the most male-domninated....