Two legs are kicking around on the Julianalaan in Overveen, the street that will soon become the Zeeweg in the direction of Zandvoort. Sometimes the father pushes the boy forward, his hand on his shoulders. A Red Bull backpack larger than the boy’s torso, socks with the black and white checkered pattern of the finish flag: it is clear where the two are cycling this morning.
It is a familiar image: the love for Formula 1 that is passed on from father to son. Yet something is changing. You can see it in the current that flows along the boulevard towards the entrance of the Grand Prix Zandvoort on Saturday morning, ready to watch the training and qualifying. Certainly, the vast majority are male. Friends in orange T-shirts, friends in the dark blue-red of Red Bull, lots of knee-length jeans, especially the summer uniform of the Dutch man. But all that blue stretch denim is regularly interrupted by flowing skirts. The female supporter advances.
Formula 1’s fan base is becoming more diverse and younger, marketing research firm concluded Nielsen last year in a survey of 167 thousand enthusiasts worldwide. In 2017, only 10 percent of the participants in the survey were women, in 2021 that was 18.3 percent. Especially in the Middle East and Africa many participated. In 2021, the share of respondents who did not follow the sport for a long time also appeared to have grown considerably. Remarkable, given that Formula 1 is typically a hobby passed down from generation to generation, a sport with a steady, loyal fan base.
It’s not a coincidence. After all, Formula 1 is also a hyper-commercial sport. And to be successful in business, you need to reach as wide an audience as possible. In recent years, efforts have been made to target new target groups: women, young people.
Liberty Media, owner of Formula 1, entered into a partnership with Netflix for Drive to survive, a documentary series about the ups and downs of drivers on and off the track. The makers got virtually unlimited access, unique for a traditionally closed stronghold where fans had to guess who really was hiding under that helmet. Drive to survive is a hit: when the fourth season appeared on Netflix in March, it immediately topped the list in 33 countries.
Content role
In 2018, the pit girl was banned, women should play a more prominent, substantive role in Formula 1. Initiatives were launched to enthuse girls for motorsport. Since 2019 there has been the W-Series, a championship only for women, with the ambition to eventually push the drivers through to the premier class. Still, Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali said last week that it is “very unlikely” that a woman will start there in the next five years.
That statement again led to criticism from Sebastian Vettel, according to the German racing driver, Domenicali would discourage girls. Bernie Ecclestone, the previous Formula 1 boss, said in 2016 that women, no matter how well they drive, “wouldn’t be taken seriously.”
On the sunny boulevard of Zandvoort, a matrix sign also reveals another side of the presence of women in Formula 1. It contrasts with the proudly waving flags. The visitors trudge past in good spirits, but the text on it shows that things are sometimes less pleasant: ‘Unsafe situation? Then send SOS to…’
The sign is a reminder of the hangover from the Austrian Grand Prix in July, of a sport that wants to emancipate, but at the same time struggles with it. In Spielberg drunk Dutch harassed women. The news went around the world, drivers spoke out. The misconduct put tension at the event in Zandvoort this weekend: would things also go wrong at home?
Family event
Robert van Overdijk, director of Dutch Grand Prix, emphasized at the time that Zandvoort has a different atmosphere: men go to Austria with a group of friends, in the Dutch seaside resort it is more of a family event. ‘Here they have their wives on one hand and their children on the other,’ said Van Overdijk, so they would be more quiet. Still, women reported to security this weekend as well. ‘Less than five’, the organization said on Sunday.
“After Austria, my phone has been red hot for a week and a half,” says Svenja Tillemans (33), founder of Formula 1 women, a fan club that comes together to watch the races and goes to a Grand Prix once a year. “Women queuing to get drinks have been pinched by men in their buttocks and breasts. They yelled, “There’s gotta be a dick in there.” She herself was not there in Austria, but she has also experienced something like this at a competition.
Tillemans founded the fan club for women six years ago because she was tired of the nasty reactions on social media. ‘What do you know about Formula 1?’, she was often told when she spoke, or: ‘your only right is the kitchen sink’. Female fans are often assumed to be just watching because of the drivers. Red Bull boss Christian Horner also fell for this prejudice early this year when he described the new generation of fans as “young girls who look for the handsome drivers”. After much criticism, he nuanced this statement.
There is a rooster mentality among male fans, says Tillemans, competition. ‘You must know a lot about it, you must have been watching for a long time, you must be for Max Verstappen.’ That is the difference with her fan club, she emphasizes: even those who were not brought up with the love for the sport feel welcome.