Formula One is in its slay era, big time. So much has been written about how many new fans the sport has gained in the U.S., but the trend is very much true in Australia too. In 2017 the Melbourne Grand Prix looked to have hit a serious slump, with peak TV viewership declining for three consecutive years to 3.4 million. But six years later with a whole new vibe, the 2022 Grand Prix reached 3.6 million on Channel Ten properties alone, plus another 611,000 who watched on Foxtel or Kayo. That’s a lot of new fans (and more money) for the sport… for that, it can thank women.
A survey by Heineken, sponsor of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, found that 65% of new F1 fans in Australia are women. Huge! How did this previously male-dominated fandom become so popular with the girlies? You won’t be surprised to hear that the Netflix docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive has a lot to do with it. Stephanie Bendixsen, who you’ll know as iconic gaming journalist ‘Hex’, is one of those new fans. “I’m pretty nerdy through and through, and I think a lot of people who aren’t interested in sport would look at racing and just be like ‘why should I care?’ Drive to Survive gave me a lot of reasons to care beyond just ‘this car goes fast’.”
The drama of a racing season storyline (DTS has been likened to Real Housewives) is one factor. New fans we spoke to in the Zee Feed community definitely enjoyed the ego-driven power struggles and driver backstories, but it was far from the only reason they’ve fallen in love with the sport. Just like ‘old’ fans, they like the danger, speed and sound of the cars, admire the skills of the drivers, and thinking about how money influences it all. DTS gives them an accessible education on the jargon, technical rules, and crucial background context. “You’re hearing a lot of race chatter and conversations, but as a newcomer to the sport you don’t understand,” Steph says. “Will Buxton [an F1 journalist in the show] does a great job of concisely explaining those finer points so that you get this instant understanding.”
THIS. even when they don’t say it it’s sooooo clear that’s what they mean 🙃 https://t.co/eJKzdGRmkd
— Formula Whatever (@formulawhatever) March 8, 2023
So while haters will say ‘Netflix fans’ don’t know anything and female fans only care about cute drivers, the new army of F1 girlies are armed with real, growing knowledge. They’re watching the entire race season, following the off-track developments, and forming opinions about the sport. And younger women are expressing their passion in frankly innovative ways. The Cut’s recent article about the ‘fangirlification’ of F1 highlights themed romance novels and TikTok subgenres as some of the methods women are using to build communities around the sport compared to the traditionally male fanbase.
Cracking open the sport with new ideas is a good thing. Sponsors are following suit, moving away from exclusive events and experimenting with more accessible activations to welcome fresh fans. For the first time, Mercedes-Benz and the Australian Grand Prix will not hold the ‘traditional’ (read: stale) Ladies Day lunch. A representative told Sydney Morning Herald “it was quite clear a lot of our female guests wanted to see Formula 1 on track and [the lunch] didn’t offer that.”
Heineken is hosting the Player 0.0 sim racing challenge in public sites around Australia – inviting Aussies to race around a virtual F1 racetrack, with those who post the fastest times in each city winning a trip to the 2023 Melbourne Grand Prix. Some longtime fans told Zee Feed that a decade ago, they would have been shocked to see cool initiatives for their once-niche hobby in general spaces like Westfield Parramatta or Chadstone Shopping Centre.
The energy and new opportunities that female fans create is directly correlated to the financial growth of the sport. The power of the Teen Girl Dollar creates massive wealth and crucial cultural relevance. Would Liberty Media, owners of the F1 group, be named the World’s Most Valuable Sports Empire for 2023 by Forbes, if it wasn’t for this legion of new fans?
Despite the growth and excitement new fans are bringing to the world of F1, some old school fans are not always receptive to newbies. To be fair, this isn’t specific to motorsports – it happens in other sports, in music, and as Steph knows well, in gaming. “Across any community, people can be like, ‘You’re not as big a fan as me because I’ve been there since the beginning.’ Fans can be very protective of the thing that they love and they’re scared of anything coming in and changing it.” Being a fan forms a part of your identity and says something about you as an individual. It’s not surprising that some people will get territorial about newcomers ‘encroaching’ on their sense of self.
In this still male-dominated space, the hostility towards female fans is well documented. Whether it’s getting grilled IRL, memes and online jokes, or vile comment threads on digital platforms, some male fans get upset when they realise girls are into F1 too. “There are a lot of parallels with my experience in video games,” Steph says. “There were always women playing games but not being vocal about it because the scene was very male dominated. To learn or even ask questions was scary because people would put you down for just developing an interest in something.”
Advice for new female fans
So, here’s the advice for new female fans finding their feet in the F1 fandom. First, embrace your newbie status – not as something shameful, but just as a simple fact. This worked for Steph when she was entering the gaming community as a young girl and is just as effective now. “The first thing I say is like, ‘I’m just new to this, and here are the reasons why it’s interesting to me’. I try to be clear about the specific reasons why I’m interested.”
Next, ask lots of questions. Opening up the dialogue between new and old fans of F1 is already creating ripple effects of positivity, with the Heineken survey finding 67% of new fans are spending more time with loved ones through bonding over the sport. The older fans that we’ve spoken to – some who’ve been following F1 for more than 20 years – say the new popularity of the sport has helped them build friendships with people they wouldn’t normally have much in common with.
“Once you get people talking about the thing that they love, they actually can’t stop and they want to share with you as much as possible! If I’ve learned anything, it’s to not be afraid of telling people that I’m excited to learn.”
And lastly show your support to other women and newcomers achieving great things in the F1 community. Recommend your favourite female podcasters, gas up the women presenters, generate the positivity that you’d like to see. “A broader range of voices being added to the community improves it overall – we’ve seen that in gaming. We end up with better content, different stories and opportunities and ways to participate in it,” Steph says.
It’s infectious in the best way, making things more fun for fans new and old.
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