Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has suggested women drivers are unable to cope with the "brutality" of racing in Formula 1.

 Currently, there is a lot of attention being drawn towards female racers as preparations continue ahead of the new W Series, a new racing category aimed at finding the best talent in the world.

Also, Alfa Romeo development driver Tatiana Calderon is continuing her rise up the ranks by becoming the first female to race in Formula 2 this year and has tested an F1 car last year.

However...

"If you're driving at 300 [km/h] and have a wheel-to-wheel fight, then brutality is part of it, I do not know if that's in the female nature," the old shark Marko reportedly told Kleine Zeitung.

The Austrian then followed up by rehashing the oldest argument in the book.

"You have to be fit in Formula 1 and you need an insane power from the shoulder," he continued.

"In the old Gösser curve at the Red Bull Ring, you drive with 4G [of force through the corner]. These are huge physical demands and that is maybe too difficult and too strenuous for women.

"There are now power-assisted brakes, but still you have to go in there with a lot of effort and you're encased in the cockpit [in temperatures of] 40, 50 degrees.

"The hot cables run past you, we've seen top drivers who were just about to collapse in Singapore, and I think the physical strain [for women] is way too big."

Don't worry Helmut, I'm sure plenty of today's female drivers are much fitter than you ever were.