I should probably get it out the way that I support the inclusion of more women in the game. My preference would be reserve-drivers and the F1 Academy sponsored drivers (the 10 that are sponsored by the teams) being included to really pack out the numbers and saying it's a team-affiliation inclusion to get around the fact that will be covered in the fourth paragraph.
I think Jamie has been yeeted from the game though, so once again it's just the one female driver and she's not even real. I may be wrong though.
There was mooting that W-Series would be included a few years ago but it didn't go anywhere, probably because it wasn't under the FIA branch, although F1 Academy is.
However, F1 Academy.... well, it kinda sucks as a level. It's F4- level at best, and even then the drivers don't do all that well when competing in a mixed-gender environment. If you were to put the women in the game then their ratings would be so low that they'd be fundamentally useless, otherwise you'd have to skew the ratings so that the women are better than they actually are. Therefore it either becomes diversity for the sake of diversity where you're chucking the women in to fulfil a D&E tickbox or a wish-fulfilment exercise where you might as well just chuck arbitrary numbers around for ratings. (which if you ask around, might be something people say happens anyway!)
However, I get that until something miraculous happens... this is something they can't do much about. If there aren't women in a suitable place in motorsport, (and nor does that look like changing anytime soon), then what can they do? Jamie has been the shining light of womens motorsport recently and she never even got remotely close to getting a sniff. You've got Doriane Pin and Abbi Pulling as the only ones with minor prospects currently and they're such a long way off, but I just see the women with any modicum of talent going to Indycar NXT and LeMans and not the FIA pathway.
I'd support women being included more and I hope they find a way to do it that makes logical sense. Or, ideally, women can get to F2 by skill and ability in real life now that they have more opportunities so it moots all the arguments going forwards. For F1 25, it's most likely definitely not going to happen. F2 2025 won't be included as MyTeam playables (although there was a rumour that was a potential thing later in the year (along with an earlier release date for it, but I think that's just hopeful thinking of the rumour-mill) so it seems unlikely they'd create 10-17 additional female options after the release.
