The 2022 W Series was the third and final season of the W Series motor racing championship. The championship was exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series in support of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
Jamie Chadwick became a three time champion following the cancellation of the remainder of the season on 10 October 2022.
Entries
The following drivers and teams competed in the 2022 W Series season. All teams used Hankook tyres, and ran two mechanically-identical Tatuus F3 T-318-Alfa Romeo cars with two drivers. The rounds at Barcelona and Singapore used Tatuus FT-60-Toyota cars loaned by Toyota Racing Series organiser Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand.
All cars were operated by Fine Moments, and 'teams' were purely for sponsorship and identification purposes.
Driver selection
The top eight finishers from the 2021 championship, as well as the two W Series Academy drivers Nerea Martí and Irina Sidorkova, were guaranteed a place in the 2022 season. Sidorkova was later confirmed to not be competing as a result of the restrictions on the participation of Russian drivers following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
From 31 January to 4 February, a five-day test with a Crawford F4-16 car for 15 prospective drivers was conducted at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Arizona, United States. The following drivers took part:
Madison Aust
Júlia Ayoub
Tereza Bábíčková
Lindsay Brewer
Léna Bühler
Bianca Bustamante
Maite Cáceres
Chloe Chambers
Emely de Heus
Jorden Dolischka
Hannah Greenemeier
Nicole Havrda
Jem Hepworth
Corinna Kamper
Lola Lovinfosse
A second pre-season test took place at Barcelona on 2–4 March, with the nine automatic qualifiers from 2021 joined by 12 potential drivers — of which five had previous W Series experience and six were present at the Arizona test; Juju Noda, the only driver to receive a free pass:
Tereza Bábíčková
Léna Bühler
Bianca Bustamante
Chloe Chambers
Emely de Heus
Belén García
Marta García
Megan Gilkes
Jessica Hawkins
Jem Hepworth
Juju Noda
Bruna Tomaselli
The full driver line-up was revealed on 22 March 2022. On 22 April 2022, Abbie Eaton was confirmed as the final driver, with Ayla Ågren announced as reserve driver.
Mid-season changes
Tereza Bábíčková did not take part in the final race of the 2022 season in Singapore due to injury; she had sustained a spinal injury during an incident in the first race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) held at the Red Bull Ring in early September.
Championship changes
Though there were initial plans to introduce FIA-registered standings for formal teams for the season, the championship remained fully centrally-run for a third consecutive year, with 'teams' continuing to be purely for sponsorship and identification purposes. The first of these teams to be announced was Jenner Racing, owned by media personality, Olympic champion and former racing driver Caitlyn Jenner. Three further entries joined the championship: Click2Drive Bristol Street Motors Racing and the cryptocurrency-backed Quantfury and CortDAO teams.
Calendar and results
The provisional calendar was announced on 27 January 2022. W Series continued its partnership with Formula One, so all ten events were part of Grand Prix weekends. An updated calendar was announced on 30 March 2022, with the first and last rounds at Miami and Mexico City confirmed to be double-headers. On 27 July 2022, it was announced that the Marina Bay Street Circuit would replace the Suzuka Circuit due to operational challenges. On 10 October 2022 it was announced the final rounds in United States and Mexico had been cancelled for monetary reasons. This crowned points leader Jamie Chadwick series champion for a third time, as the number of races held exceeded the minimum of six required under the series' rules for a championship to be decided.