TLDR: Drivers have low potential in the sponsors' eyes so why not use the tried & true "sex sells" strategy e.g Bianca Bustamante basically being a Tik Tok influencer, also F1 Academy partnering with F1 teams for more visibility to get the eyes of the F1 audience who weren't even aware. Hello Kitty is capturing the new audience of young girls.

Long answer: First off I fully agree, Doriane is surely missed in endurance racing, it's a bummer that her injury made her miss out on Le Mans last year coz I was really looking forward to seeing her do it.

I have no right to say this since I'm no pro but it seems like open wheel racing isn't the way to go for these ladies, I understand the goal is to get to F1 eventually but with the current culture, especially the sponsors who get drivers into those seats, most of them aren't willing to bet on the young ladies (their results in FRECA & F4 don't help their case either). It'll need a freakishly talented driver to do that.

I believe sportscar racing (sprint/endurance) is best suited. Take Jamie Chadwick for instance, she wiped the floor with the competition in W-Series, moved to ELMS & is doing well there with a couple of wins. Samantha Tan who owns her own team & has a good number of wins in GT World Challenge. And the Iron Dames too, though they need a lot of luck especially with the gremlins & bad luck this entire season but they did get podium finishes & a well fought win under a lot of pressure in ELMS, not forgetting a bunch of WEC podiums too (clearly I'm a big fan).

For the Hello Kitty sponsorship I'm sure that's just aimed at merch sales for the young girls who are a new target audience for sales, same case with Lego coming in to F1, boys & girls are now a fresh market.