Anyone watching a Formula 1 race today will notice that the profile of fans has changed dramatically since Liberty Media took control. They are much younger and include more women compared to five years ago. Research and audience data support this, showing that the average age of an F1 fan is 32 years, younger than sports series like the NFL and the NBA. Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series is widely credited with this transformation, but is that the whole story? How should Formula 1 cater to its young female fans, and will these new fans stay engaged, or is there a risk they might drift away?
During an event at the Soho House in Austin, four personalities gathered to discuss this. The former F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer, Will Buxton, an F1 journalist and the face of “Drive to Survive,” along with content creators Toni Cowan-Brown and Cristina Mace.
Szafnauer first outlined the building blocks of the Liberty Media revolution that has brought us to where we are now: “First, putting the sport and behind-the-scenes aspects on Netflix has been genuinely helpful. The sport has always been the same, but under Bernie’s era, it was a well-guarded secret. Netflix made it known to everyone with its features. I think the other thing that Liberty has done, and it was a stroke of genius, is introducing cost caps so the richer teams didn’t have such a big advantage. We can compete. This has helped a lot and will help in the future. In 2026, a cost cap is expected for engines too, which should help reduce the grid’s disparities. And the third thing is the money distribution is a bit more even.”
Regarding “Drive to Survive,” Buxton explained that it was a series of fortunate events that created the phenomenon: “I went to school; none of my friends liked F1. And now, it’s trendy. It’s nice that people like F1; they talk about it. It’s no longer a niche thing. I think the key to ‘Drive to Survive’ was a perfect storm of mistakes that made it so brilliant. The first was the year when Mercedes and Ferrari wanted nothing to do with it. The producers had to look for other stories. They found Gunther Steiner, Daniel Ricciardo, Otmar, and all these great characters who weren’t fighting for the title but had unique and fascinating stories. Then COVID-19 arrived, and everyone sat at home watching Netflix, and there were two series to watch. Then Liberty and the FIA somehow managed to start the championship in July (2020). So, it was the first international sport to kick off.”
Toni Cowan-Brown argued that “Drive to Survive” was crucial, but only the spark for the explosion of F1’s popularity, not the fuel. “The flip side was that the first season of ‘Drive to Survive’ in 2019 was watched very little. Then came the pandemic in March 2020; we had no live sporting events, we were stuck at home, and we were dying for good content; we discovered it and watched seasons one and two. But then came content creators, the relative economy grew mainly because of the pandemic, and then TikTok came along.”
“I first went to a race in Schumacher’s time with my father,” she continued. “I fell in love and fell out of love with this sport many times, mainly because I never felt it was a sport for me. It wasn’t spoken to me the way I wanted. That’s where creator economy comes in. Anyone can pick up a phone and create content for their community the way they want. The amazing thing about young women, which Taylor Swift described very clearly, is that they self-organize, create word of mouth, shout from the rooftops. But, more importantly, they create relevance. They are a huge economic force. Yet, they are still ignored, discredited, and not respected. I find it absolutely fascinating. F1 is so lucky to have them because they are the ones creating all this relevance: buying tickets, attending GPs, purchasing merchandise, tuning in, subscribing to F1 TV, bringing their friends. How can we not respect this group, this demographic?”
Cristina Mace, a rapidly growing influencer who posts on TikTok under the name Cristina.fastcars, explained what she finds interesting about F1 and what she tries to communicate to her fans.
“It’s curiosity. This is a sport where you are always learning, cars change all the time, and the regulations change every two years. So, there’s always something new to learn. There are always people asking questions and wanting you to answer. So, you have to try harder and harder. These little details make Formula One truly unique. Yes, we’re designing a car. Yes, the drivers need to have a general understanding of physics and be able to provide good feedback. It’s fascinating not just by the drivers, but by all the people working in F1, how smart they are and how they manage all these problems while traveling the world. It’s really fascinating to learn their stories: where they are going, where they started from. I think that’s the key, the stories that Formula One makes you discover.”
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“I have a degree in science,” she continued. “And I also have a degree in performing arts. So, I know how to tell beautiful stories, and I know how to tell their scientific aspect. That means spending time paying attention to science and explaining it properly to people who are confused while still treating it in a way that they don’t feel overwhelmed. Because that’s the main problem with engineers and anyone who knows physics and chemistry: they get bogged down in their specific vocabulary. The goal of my content creation is that I consider myself somewhat like a curator of ‘What will be curious to people on Twitter today?'”
Digging deeper into what’s in F1 and the content that content creators like Cristina generate that attracts this vast female audience, she identifies it as a community matter.
“We, as girls and as women, love to do things together and have fun together. It’s much less daunting to get into it when we do it as a group. So, you feel less isolated. We also have fun differently. We make friendship bracelets, tell jokes, and think of particular songs that make sense as drivers’ personalities. There are all these very particular aspects of female culture. And when we have fun together, that’s what it’s all about. In the case of Formula One, we all watch the same program; your friend recommends something, and, of course, you end up watching it.”
While all of this may seem incredibly promising for F1, Cowan-Brown also tempered the enthusiasm by highlighting, “I think we’re in a moment; we’re in this bubble. And I believe it’s just the peak, but I also think we’ll start to see a moment of plateau and even the risk of a decline in the sport, for a myriad of reasons, but particularly because as a sport, we’ve focused too much on the peak and we need to understand what the funnel is to keep enthusiastic fans engaged and make them stay longer.”
“F1 has a global audience, more female and younger; the average age is 32, the NFL is 50. I think the NBA is 42. We have a young and vibrant audience. And I don’t think we’re speaking to them. I go back to the idea of a young female audience. But I think the truth is we pat ourselves on the back for bringing in this new core of people, but we’re not speaking to that audience.”
The final word goes to Buxton: “The level of interest and viewership numbers we have here in America now is something we could only dream of 10 or 20 years ago when we were broadcasting this sport. It has gone through a period of great splendor. But I agree that when you advertise something and sell it based on a dream, then you have to make it come true. I think the way the sport is offered here in the United States, in particular, might be ripe for change if we want to see market share not only growing but increasing because F1 should compete with NASCAR, college sports, the NFL, and basketball. That’s the goal.”
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