F1 Is For The Girls

As my car rounds the corner into the hotel’s driveway, I see them: Dozens of screaming F1 fans holding posters and clamoring to peek inside the vehicle. It’s the night before the Mexico City Grand Prix, and I’ve got a room booked at the Ritz-Carlton, where an F1 driver or two is known to be staying. That’s who they’re hoping to catch a glimpse of, not my deeply un-famous self. I almost feel bad, as if I’m letting them down. But as they recede, I take a moment to survey the crowd, and I’m intrigued by what I see. Many — most, even — are women.

I’m in town to report on the state of F1’s female fandom, but if I’m being honest, I’m still skeptical of the much-vaunted stats: Per the FIA, the league’s governing body, in 2022, 40% of supporters worldwide were women (up 8% from 2017), as are a whopping three-fourths of new fans.

Admittedly, I may be biased. The big F1 fans in my family are dudes (my father and brother), and I’ve long since lost touch with the sport, now that I am a 31-year-old independent adult, no longer a grumpy teenager resentfully forking over the remote. (Those Full House reruns weren’t going to watch themselves!) But still, isn’t it all pretty boy-coded, all car go fast and vroom-vroom?

Over two days — qualifying and race day — I was delighted to be proven incorrect. What a surprise, to both be wrong (extremely rare for me, obviously) and happy about it!

It all began with a few key observations taken during qualifying, which I take in from the comfort of Mercedes’ lounge in the Paddock Club — essentially, the VIP area — courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy. Members can spend points on exclusive packages, which can look a lot like what I’m experiencing: a stay at a Marriott property, Paddock Club tickets, access to the Mercedes lounge, a tour of the Mercedes garage, and other perks.

First, I clock a makeover station (among the many brand activations in the Paddock Club offering full faces of makeup, bouncy curls, and polished nails. Interesting. Then, Mercedes driver George Russell makes an appearance in the lounge, and all at once, it hits me: Almost all of these drivers are extremely attractive, like boy band-level beautiful. Also interesting. Perhaps that’s part of the draw. (The following week, my suspicions will be confirmed when a friend admits she first got into the sport because the drivers were hot. Respect.)

Finally, my eyes are opened further when I meet Deb Doran, a 33-year-old Texan who’s redeemed a Marriott Bonvoy package for the weekend. Immediately, it’s clear that Doran is a real-deal stan. Not only does she watch the sport religiously — a treat she likens to waking up to Saturday morning cartoons as a child — but she throws on vintage races to enjoy while working out. She also collects podium caps, which she and her husband display in their home, and is working toward collecting all 12 of the Lego race cars sold at her local grocery store.

Doran was introduced to the sport by her husband, and got into it gradually. “Then Drive to Survive came out during the pandemic and I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is way more than just watching cars go around,’” she says.

For the uninitiated, Drive to Survive is a 2019 Netflix docuseries about F1 teams, which reveals the behind-the-scenes drama and machinations that affect race-day performance. Not only has it been a big success for the streaming platform, with seven seasons already out and an eighth on the way, it’s been credited for introducing the league to a whole new contingent of fans — many of whom, yes, are women. (After all, what is a docuseries but gussied-up reality television?)

At the Paddock Club, Alice Menahem looks serene as a professional dabs on her foundation. Menahem works for Pepe Jeans, which is collaborating with Red Bull on a racing-inspired collection — and is the child of a driver who once took part in Le Mans, the oldest endurance race. As a lifetime F1 fan, she’s definitely noticed a change in the fandom’s demographics. “You can see the crowd at the races, that it's so many more women now than just a few years ago,” she says. As a result, she and her team have begun collaborating with women content creators as part of their marketing strategy.

Soon after my conversation with her, qualifying wraps up, and it’s time to return to the hotel. The fangirls, I see, are still outside.

When I return to the track the following day, I pick up on a different feeling in the lounge. People seated at tables are leaning in rather than kicking back; there’s a whole lot more chatter. Race day energy, I gather. As the cars are finagled into position in their starting marks, I take a minute to speak to another Marriott Bonvoy member who’s redeemed a package to be here in the Paddock Club.

Karina Macariegos, 42, lives here in Mexico City, and is very excited for the race. (She’s also a bit nervous about her English. It’s great, I assure her. Much better than my Spanish.) “Some of my best, very, very, very good friends are fans,” she says. “I think it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger in the female community.” She points out that growth isn’t just among fans: More women are working on the teams, with the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), and otherwise in and around the sport.

It’s true: Slowly but surely, the tides are changing. Nearly a third of the FIA’s workforce are women, and almost half of them are in senior positions, the FIA reported in 2024, per the BBC. Moreover, women’s representation on the teams themselves — while still relatively low — is improving. Between 2021 and 2024, Mercedes employees jumped from 12% women to 18%, while McLaren’s went from 13% to 20%.

I saw them in the Mercedes garage’s viewing area, where engineers clambered around the car, taking measurements and making adjustments — including some women with their hair pulled back into tight ponytails. While there are no women drivers at present, and only five have ever competed in an F1 Grand Prix, the 2023 founding of an all-women series, F1 Academy, may soon change that.

Not long after Karina and I reenter the lounge — we had to step out to hold a real conversation, what with the whole place abuzz — the race itself kicks off. I’m surprised by how the time flies. My grumpy teenager self could’ve sworn these dragged on and on, but the winner, Lando Norris, completes 71 laps in one minute and 37 seconds, and before I know it, it’s over. Mercedes doesn’t place on the podium, but they don’t come in at the back of the pack either. When I inch through Mexico City traffic back to the hotel, vroom-vroom over, I realize.

The following week, when I’m back at home, mourning the loss of the room service and daily turndowns I’d become accustomed to at the Ritz, I have the chance to speak with Peggy Roe, Marriott’s chief customer officer. She’s in charge of the company’s partnership with Mercedes, which has expanded under her purview, but she’s also a fan herself: After experiencing it all at a Singapore Grand Prix six or seven years ago, she was hooked.

Like other women I spoke to, Roe said that part of getting into F1 is just learning how the team’s dynamics affect the race and what goes on behind the scenes. But she also had a unique perspective as an experienced marketer. “The actual race time is not very long, but there's a lot of people that come and there's a lot going on around it, which gives brands and businesses an opportunity to really activate all around it,” she says. “It creates this aura during the weekend of the race.”

I consider this, and how it relates to so many aspects of the sport. The fact that its grand international events give it a luxurious, jetsetting air — not to mention the touch of glamour lent by F1’s WAGs — makes it particularly well-suited to the social media era. That an Emmy-winning docuseries affords viewers unrivaled access to its inner machinations and extremely handsome stars doesn’t hurt.

The sport, I realize, isn’t just about car go fast: It’s about everything around it, too. And many of those things are as sleek and stylish as a race car.