F1, A Men’s Club
By: Joy Rebecca Tanoni
Edited by: Fiorina Siamir
Known to be a men’s club with over one billion viewers around the globe and its nonstop rising fame, F1 has had its controversies and truths that are now being revealed. Gender Inequality and integration within the industry have finally been uncovered. The question is, when did it all begin, and how is it now?
Over the past decades, F1 has become something special to millions. A large audience watches every move the industry makes, especially the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), which is the governing body for many auto racing events.
As the sport's popularity rises, issues rise, assumptions are made, and truths are unravelled. From fans to drivers, people have expressed their frustration with the inequality and integration within the industry. This article will discuss what has caused all of this to begin and how the archaic standards and patriarchy implemented in the industry are finally being called out.
Why are there no female drivers in F1?
Forbes said it best, “anything that’s F1 turns to gold”. F1 has captured the hearts of millions and millions of people over the past couple of years. With profits rising and attendance facing explosive growth, it’s clear why F1 is known as “the pinnacle of motorsports”. F1 has now also been labelled the fourth most watched sport worldwide, meaning hundreds of millions are watching their every step. With eyes, technology, and many crazy fans around the sport, there is bound to be a scandal, controversy, or problem to be unravelled.
Every sport heavily watched by the world has had controversies that have left fans and viewers in disbelief. So, it should not really come as a surprise for F1 controversies to start rolling in the tabloids. Anyway, if you’ve been a fan of F1 for many years, it’s been clear that a woman’s presence, while there have been remarkable engineers, strategists, and managers, doesn’t compare or balance with the presence of men.
Historically, it always seemed to be a missed opportunity for most women who wanted any part of the sport. In fact, only five female drivers in history have entered the World Drivers’ Championship, and only two have qualified and raced. In the last decade, only one female driver, Susie Wolff at the 2014 British Grand Prix, has taken part in a Grand Prix weekend.
If we dive deeper into what happened to all the female drivers, some may say they were short of luck. Several female drivers who wanted to make it to championships often had setbacks and difficulties preventing them from shining. Furthermore, once a female driver fails to meet the qualifications, other male drivers immediately replace them, which happened decades ago. Now, the F1 grid is filled with male drivers.
In addition to looking at the historical aspect, looking at the biological aspect. All racers are required to partake in vigorous training and work. When tested, women have just enough potential, like every other male, to excel in many aspects of driving if given the right training and push. But when we look at the training part, many male drivers we see today were raised on track, meaning they had karting lessons ever since they were toddlers. Many little girls were not given the same opportunities as children as little boys to learn how to drive or take control of the wheel. This disadvantage leads to a possible setback in a female driver’s career as a male would have likely been trained all their life to drive, while the female driver may not even if they have the same amount of potential.
Besides these reasons, many have researched why there are almost no female drivers in F1. A student at Monash University researched the reasons for gender inequality in Formula 1 racing. One of her last points was that ‘sponsors stay away,’ which is evident in any sport. So what’s wrong isn’t just the F1 industry and many of its fans but society's failure to leave the patriarchal mindset.
The Treatment Towards Women in F1
It’s clear that women aren’t fairly represented in F1 and the motorsports industry as a whole, even though many F1 fans are women. Just because women have not been able to break into F1 recently doesn’t mean they don’t have the skills to do so; they simply need more training, support, and sponsors. But unfortunately, men still comment on why women watch or participate in the sport. While lots of improvements in gender equality have been made over the years, many people still have their old habits and post comments discriminating against women online.
After a great race, an article and several comments were made stating that female fans were only watching F1 to see the ‘attractive men’. There is an assumption made by men that women can’t be interested in the sport just like them, that women are assumed to be just interested in looking at men. One article or comment can be extremely destructive, especially given the immense exposure that F1 has gotten. This exposure then becomes a reason why women will have to fight daily for a spot in F1 as a racer and, apparently, as a viewer, too.
Other than nasty and degrading comments posted online, there were reports of sexual harassment at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. There were reports of female fans suffering sexual harassment by the fans at the Austrian GP and security at that event. In this event, unsolicited physical advances, non-consensual photographs, and verbal abuse all occurred to fans who were all women. So, an event where thousands of people come to watch a race is not a safe space for women? This shows how F1 has an evident sexism issue, even if it’s not directly the F1 or FIA.
All this discrimination, lack of respect, and unfairness women face in F1 does not end just there, and it doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. Just a few months ago, there was a case with Susie Wolff, a Scottish former motorsports racing driver who’s now the managing director of the F1 Academy. She was accused of allegations of a conflict of interest between her husband, Toto Wolff, the Team Principal and shareholder of the Mercedes F1 team.
So, there was a case of conflict of interest in the sport, and the FIA had to investigate and issue a statement where things went completely downhill for both Wolff and the FIA. While the FIA said no names were given for who would be investigated, media reports then identified the anonymous people who would be investigated as the Wolffs. The public publicly scrutinised Wolff’s integrity and job due to her marriage.
With F1 dealing with numbers in viewership they’ve never seen before and more eyes on the sport than ever, people will tend to focus on what may be bad about F1, and gender inequality is more evident than ever. While there are a handful of reasons why women can’t break into the sport as drivers, the room for misogynists and sexism is unacceptable and just based on the world’s mindset towards women, and this unfair treatment towards women is seen in every industry. Our society was built by men, so it is ruled by them, and each industry is led by men. It can and should be our job to change that because, just like the fact that women and men have the same amount of potential to become successful racers, this also applies to everything else.