Who is Formula One really for?

Now, because of branding shifts after Liberty Media acquired the franchise in 2016, you can ask seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for his skincare routine on Instagram, watch Charles Leclerc act like a K-Pop idol, and take part in trends like #F1TwtSelfieDay.

The newfound accessibility of Formula One through social media and Netflix’s Drive to Survive has ushered in a new generation of female fans. Last year marked an all-time high in female viewership, with women comprising 40 percent of the global fanbase and 65 percent of new fans.

@andiesyyap Replying to @Andie Syyap 🏎️ @Formula 1 @Andie Syyap 🏎️ I still can’t believe that Charles Leclerc actually won the Monaco Grand Prix 🥹❤️!!! After years of dreaming about it, having so much bad luck, he finally did it! It was so moving hearing him talk about his father & Jules, and how he was thinking of them this race. His radio message also after he won 😭, omg that was so wonderful to hear 🥰!! A massive congratulations @Charles Leclerc, his family, Ferrari, the whole country of Monaco…he did it guys, he did it 🥹❤️🇲🇨!!! #charlesleclerc #lordperceval #monacogp #raceday #formula1 #f1 #ferrari #cl16 ♬ MONACO NATIONAL ANTHEM - Abaco

”It seems they’ve recently exerted more effort to get more women involved,” says Cher, a 23-year-old fan from Parañaque. “They’re hiring more female engineers and reporters, and are investing in the development of the F1 Academy under race car driver Susie Wolff.” More F1 teams, such as BWT Alpine, have also been hiring more women in digital media, resulting in a rise in content targeting the “female gaze.” Content creators like Lissie Mackintosh and the Philippines’ own Andie Syyap of That F1 Girl PH are mainstays in keeping up with all things F1.

The “fangirlification” of F1 has long begun. Whether or not it’s here to stay is the question.

I was a Michael Schumacher fan before I became an F1 fan. Most girls I know got into F1 through their fathers who were either Senna-obsessed or Schumacher diehards. My dad was the latter—he once saved up his lunch money to buy a Deutsche Vermögensberatung cap commemorating Michael’s 2002 championship win.

I didn’t become a proper fan until one blisteringly hot summer day in 2022, scouring the German-language section of Netflix to prepare for another year of German classes. I hit the play button on the Schumacher documentary with my only thoughts being, “Schumi? The guy from my German worksheets?”

I was impressed by him as a sportsman, but what really piqued my interest was his ability to incite a sense of pseudo-patriotism in post-Berlin Wall Germany. At a time when Germans felt ashamed to fly their country’s flag, the red, black and gold of Ferrari somehow allowed them to do just that. They felt like they couldn’t be fully proud of being German, but they could be proud of Michael. I became a Schumacher fan overnight, and then I got into the next best thing: Formula One.

Much to my surprise, it didn’t take too long to find a community within the local F1 fanbase. I was only one of many college-aged Filipinas who wanted a safe space to talk about F1. On Twitter, we exchanged tips on receiving signed drivers cards, laughed at memes about drivers we liked and didn’t like, livestreamed grands prix together, and began saving our lunch money to buy overpriced F1 merchandise like our fathers before us.

Still, it felt like we weren’t allowed to exist outside our little bubble. Though most of us lived in Metro Manila, we had yet to meet, and one resounding notion in our online friend group was, “I wish we could all meet up at a women-only sports bar and watch Formula One together.”

Adri, a 23-year-old fan from Alabang, feels that Filipinas can’t fully enjoy the experience with male fans “gatekeeping” the sport from younger, mostly female fans. “I’m frequently asked why I’m interested in the sport in the first place, assuming that I only enjoy it because of the attractive drivers.”

It feels dismissive of how Filipina fans genuinely engage with the sport. “People seem to forget that we’re also drawn to the strategic battles between teams, the cutting-edge technology on display, and the pure thrill of competition. The dedication required to follow the sport, staying up late to watch drivers whose faces are hidden behind helmets, demonstrates a passion for the sport's complexities that goes beyond superficial aspects,” adds 22-year-old Anri.

It doesn’t help that key figures in the sport, such as Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, think that F1 is “bringing in a lot of young girls because of all these great-looking young drivers.” But with F1 teams posting thirst traps and K-Pop-inspired fan cams on social media, so what if female fans think drivers are cute? F1 teams want us to have crushes on their drivers. That’s how they generate viewership and create additional revenue through merchandise. Those TikToks of drivers winking at the camera aren’t for straight male audiences, they’re for us. We’re eating it up as their social media teams intended.

Still, it is too presumptive to say that women are the “new” target market of Formula One. Following the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) launched the #DriveItOut campaign after receiving multiple reports of abuse and harassment that targeted women. While drivers like Vettel and Hamilton described the behavior as disgusting and worth meriting lifetime bans, the campaign merely encouraged audiences to block and report abusive posts on social media. This was highly criticized by fans everywhere, demanding that the FIA do more.

Just recently, sexual harassment allegations against Christian Horner came out, disappointing many longtime fans. This feeling was only exacerbated by fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo downplaying these allegations as “noise and distractions.”

When asked about the issue, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll responded with a meager “I just like driving cars.” Drivers have since then garnered criticism both online and offline, with fans claiming that F1 is not a safe space for women if a female employee was harassed at the same paddocks drivers’ wives, mothers, and daughters frequented.

Creating safe spaces for women doesn’t stop at encouraging us to block our tormentors, it also means letting men know that abuse isn’t tolerated anywhere. Our group chat started adding male fans at some point, and when one of them made a sexist remark, the other men in the group took it upon themselves to call him out on his behavior and promptly removed him.

We also need to expect more from the drivers we support and the teams that are responsible for them, since their behavior is indicative of what men think is socially acceptable within the sport. Young impressionable men look up to these drivers. Whether they like it or not, they’re setting an example. If Formula One truly cares about creating lasting female viewership, it needs to properly invest in the safety of women.

Until then, despite a shift in marketing strategies, it is clear that the target market of Formula One remains the same: rich, mostly white men— a choice that couldn’t be blatant enough. All it takes is one look at the driver roster to know who Formula One really is for.

The fan base is changing. The survival of Formula One depends on how willing it is to change alongside its viewers.