German racing driver Sabine Schmitz is the only woman in the new Top Gear line-up, and the show’s first female presenter in 15 years.
Sabine is a woman who commands a lot of respect in the motoring world, which is why Twitter exploded with joy.
Sabine Schmitz a professional German racing driver is Top Gear's first female presenter in 15 years! 🙌🏾👏🏾
— Sharon Mazingaizo (@sharon1780) February 11, 2016
ONLY new Top Gear presenter that I approve of is Sabine Schmitz. Not only does she have a proven literal track record she's great on TV.
— Angela Night (@Angelheartnight) February 11, 2016
Sabine Schmitz and Chris Harris, they getting some good drivers #TopGear
— Another LFC fan (@Evo1983) February 11, 2016
Can't wait to see the supremely badass Sabine Schmitz on new Top Gear 😍
— katie-vc (@ka7ievc) February 11, 2016
I hoped to see Sabin Schmitz join the new @BBC_TopGear lineup and really happy to see it happen! 😁🚗
— Rachael (@rcrutchley) February 11, 2016
She follows in the footsteps of Kate Humble, Angela Rippon and Vicki Butler-Henderson, who were presenters for the original Top Gear – before it was revamped in 2002 and took a turn for the laddish.
After accepting the Top Gear job in June, Evans told BBC Radio 5 Live that the presenting team would “definitely” include a woman – but what he didn’t reveal was that the line-up would be seven-strong.
Unsurprisingly, not everyone was impressed with this ratio.
Glad Sabine Schmitz is on the TopGear line up but 1 woman 6 men is hardly representative @BBC_TopGear unless The Stig is a woman??
— Emily Greene (@_EmilyGreene_) February 11, 2016
5 men, 1 woman, 1 stig.
Top Gear's reinvention as a non-blokey format is really coming along.
— True Sandwich (@TrueSandwich) February 11, 2016
Nice to see a female presenter again on Top Gear. It’s a shame they only managed 1 out of 6
— Kerry (@allkerryberry) February 11, 2016
Is it just me who thinks that 1 female presenter out of 7 is pretty ridiculous in 2016?! #TopGear @GlamourMagSport
— Becky Warburton (@beckswarbs) February 11, 2016
In this day & age if a tv show has 7 presenters you would expect more than one of them to be female 😳 #TopGear #NotGoodEnough
— Graeme W (@GraWebster) February 11, 2016
So the new Top Gear line up is announced but there's only one female presenter in a group of 7, can I check it is 2016 ?
— Brian Reid (@brtoon) February 11, 2016
So, the BBC has basically said that there are no British female petrol heads good enough for Top Gear… #seriously !!! #TopGear
— Forever Living Edd (@FLP_London) February 11, 2016
According to figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, of the 38.2 million full driving licences valid in the UK in 2015, about 20.7 million (54%) belonged to men and 17.4 million (46%) to women.
With Sabine joining the line-up, women will make up a paltry 14.3% of the Top Gear presenting team.
For the group shot, Sabine posed in a t-shirt featuring the female gender symbol – with horns… And some people thought this was pretty strange.
Just in case you hadn't realised Top Gear had a token female now, they got her to wear a shirt explaining it for you pic.twitter.com/9TvABgF5IM
— kylo gamble (@kelseygambles) February 11, 2016
Just incase we miss that Top Gear has included a female presenter, she is wearing her gender on her top pic.twitter.com/fjOtBUFenY
— Emily Moore (@emilybfreya) February 11, 2016
However, the BBC confirmed this wasn’t their decision: Sabine decided to wear her own T-shirt.
We can’t wait to see her in action!
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