Bernie Ecclestone: Women drivers would not be 'taken seriously' in Formula 1

He did add that he expected to see many more women in other Formula 1 roles in the future, including in executive roles, following in the footsteps of Williams deputy principle Claire Williams.

Speaking at an Advertising Week Europe conference, Ecclestone said he felt "Women are more competent and they don't have massive egos," making them more suitable for non-driving roles.

Ecclestone's comments come less than six months after Susie Wolff - the most recent woman to pursue a career as an F1 driver - quit after failing to make significant headway in her seven years racing for the German Touring Car Championship.

"It was the harsh reality that the dream wasn’t going to come true," said Wolff.

Though there have been five female drivers in F1 history, only two of them - Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi - have started in an F1 race, a combined total of 15 times.

Meanwhile British driver Pippa Mann, who has competed four times in the Indianapolis 500 and is a race winner in the U.S Indy Lights series, responded on Twitter: "Perhaps someone should remind him that @IndyCar doesn't have power steering, and we're strong enough to drive those."

Given Bernie's track record of foot-in-mouth moments, we should hardly be surprised by this.

We're not, however, convinced that a valid enough argument exists to support this viewpoint - nor should this outdated culture dissuade more women from trying to forge careers in F1.

Susie Wolff's 'failure' does not mean no woman can succeed in F1, and the sport should be encouraging the 50% of the world's population that is not currently racing in F1 to put that right, rather than making dismissive remarks.