Why Are We Still Not Talking About Women in F1?

By Olivia Howard Geography with Study Abroad Third Year

The new F1 season begins on March 16th in Albert Park, Melbourne. Chatter about Hamilton racing in red, and the fact it has been 5 years since the first race of the season has been held in Australia is everywhere. What is no one talking about? Women. 

F1 is the height of motorsport, where engineering genius meets driving talent, it is a community obsessed with ‘pushing the limits.’ Yet breaking these in the form of gender seems of no importance in this almost comically male-dominated world. 

As F1 ACADEMY, a behind the scenes access to the all-women driving category, is about to grace our screen globally; many news outlets have found themselves asking why it is we still haven’t seen a woman win points in the F1 since Lella Lombardi 50 years ago. The answer — it’s a structural failure.

Some blame biology, pointing out that men have higher VO2 max scores. Others cite the sport’s demands, as if women aren’t competing at the highest levels in other physically demanding disciplines like tennis, cycling, football, or any other sport for that matter. Max Verstappen has suggested that if a woman is talented and works hard enough, she’ll get there—completely ignoring the fact of access. 

F1 is dependent on money. Sponsorships and financial backing matter as much as lap times or race strategy. Thus, with our capitalist society driven by the prospect of economic success, and with women making up less than 10% of those in motorsport, this leaves sponsors hesitant to take a chance on them. For example, The W Series, a foundation which sought to give women a stepping stone to F1, collapsed in 2022 due to lack of funding. A lack of funding thus means fewer opportunities, which means fewer female drivers breaking through the ranks because of such access issues. F1 is expensive, and can not be funded the same as football or tennis, a good racquet or pair of boots doing the job. 

To a potentially naïve business mind, this to me seems like a missed business opportunity from rich investors. More female drivers means new fans, a new market, new sponsors and fresh narratives - a brand new profitable commercial field. 

These concerns of course come alongside the self-perpetuating cycle of a lack of representation -  girls don’t see themselves within this sport. For years the accepted discourse has been that this is simply not a world in which women should exist. With Jess Edgar and Abbi Pulling some of the trailblazers today, young, bold women are starting to break the mould. Despite this, Susie Wolff says it will still be ten years before women will enter the major F1 championships. 

This phenomenon is not one which only affects female drivers or athletes. As of 2024 only 31% of those employed in all fields related to F1 were women. There is a lack of female engineers, executives, and mechanics - an issue which stems back to education systems, systemic sexism and a lack of young girls supported in taking up STEM careers. There are initiatives such as ‘Race Into STEM’, a programme by BWT Alpine F1 which are aiming to address the vacuum of women in non-driving positions. So bear this in mind when looking for a team to support - the proof is in the activism ! Similarly, non-related F1 institutions such as TechGirls and SciGirls are promoting girls to enter STEM work fields such as automotive engineering and the like. 

Mercedes and Red Bull are aware of the responsibility they have in this field - spotlighting engineers such as Margarita Torres Diez and Hannah Schmitz on their respective multitude of platforms. Both companies affirm the crucial roles these women play in engineering and race strategy for the teams, hoping to change the face of teamwork in F1. 

The truth is women are just as capable, and as with many sports, training plans, nutrition and other athlete development programmes are starting to be tailored around female needs. For example, ground-breaking research is being done by More Than Equal into how menstrual cycles affect F1 performance - resulting in knowledge with the potential to transform training plans to best suit women's complex and nuanced hormone changes. 

F1 loves to talk about progress and innovation - but until real changes happen — women will remain on the side lines. Hopefully organisations continue to push for change -  but frankly until attitudes and ignorance on every level of this industry start to shift it looks like this will be a very slow process. More than this - those of us waiting to see the tide turn must hope that Witherspoon’s new Hello Sunshine’s production F1 Academy will be an immediate success. Let’s pray it gets our populations talking, acting and fundraising for women in motorsport, in whichever vein this may be, like never before. 

Featured image: F1 Academy