What is fashion’s contribution to women in Formula 1? This is just one of the questions Master in Fashion Marketing and Communications student, Alvia Merchant, asks in light of the exponential growth of the sport and the upcoming Monza GP.
It’s 2026, and the “girls only like Formula 1 for pretty drivers” is getting old. With women now making up over 40% of the global fanbase, the industry is forcing a conversation it should have had decades ago: why have only five women ever raced in a Grand Prix? The answer isn’t a lack of aggression or interest. It’s opportunity, access, and visibility.
The idea that women don’t understand cars is based on stereotype, not fact. Bertha Benz was the first person to drive a combustion vehicle over a long distance, fixing mechanical issues on the side of the road. Yet, today, women represent only about 10% of competitors across all racing levels. The More Than Equal report shows boys and girls perform at the same level in karting until age 10. The split happens in the teenage years, not because girls lose speed, but because they lose funding.
If you want to know what real representation looks like, look at the Red Bull pit wall. Hannah Schmitz, Principal Strategy Engineer, is the person the World Champion trusts with his legacy. When Max Verstappen won the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix from 10th on the grid, he didn’t credit luck; he credited Hannah’s cold and calculated technical genius. She is proof that when you remove the barriers, female talent doesn’t just participate, it dominates.
Despite experts like Schmitz proving technical worth, the industry’s attempt to fix the gender gap has often been embarrassing. A recent example is Sky Sports and its short-lived TikTok initiative, Halo. Marketed as a little sister account, the platform aimed to engage a younger female audience but quickly became a case study in what not to do. It was shut down in just three days after being called out for its patronizing, “pink-washed” content. We understand aerodynamics and tire degradation just fine. Treating female fans like they need a simplified, “Barbie-style” version of the sport only deepens the divide.
Until 2018, women on the grid were often limited to grid girls. F1 Academy, launched in 2023, is the first real attempt to build a bridge. It isn’t about separating women; it’s about providing the seat time and professional support denied for 70 years.
Susie Wolff knows what it means to be the only woman in the room. In 2014 she became the first woman in 22 years to take part in an F1 race weekend. Now she runs F1 Academy as Managing Director. She is proof that the women who fought for a seat at the table are now building the table itself. As she said herself, “it has always been a man’s world, but we’re breaking that down now.”
And breaking it down looks like 17-year-old Mathilda Paatz lining up on the grid for Aston Martin. It looks like Doriane Pin lifting the 2025 F1 Academy championship trophy. It looks like a generation of girls who no longer have to wonder if there’s a place for them.
In 2025, Laura Mueller became F1’s first ever female race engineer at Haas. In a sport where women spent decades being treated as secondary, decorative at best and invisible at worst, she is now the most important voice a driver hears on race day. Not a guest, not a symbol, but the person in charge. If you’ve ever felt that swell of pride watching a woman succeed in a space that was never built for her, you know exactly what that means.
In 2026, the Australian Grand Prix renamed Turn 6 at Albert Park In Her Corner, dedicated to Hannah Schmitz and Laura Mueller. A corner of an F1 track now carries two women’s names. History written straight into the tarmac.
Yet the fight for representation doesn’t end when women reach the grid or the pit wall. It extends into culture, sponsorship, and visibility. It is exactly here that fashion enters the conversation. The Charlotte Tilbury x F1 Academy partnership is a masterstroke in cultural timing. As the first female-founded beauty brand to sponsor the sport, it’s not a marketing stunt, it’s a smart, intentional way of dismantling a make-up versus motorsport binary. By funding karting scholarships and using its massive platform to elevate drivers’ stories, the brand provides tangible support rather than just a logo on a car. It signals a major shift: beauty and brains are no longer on opposite sides of the track. In an industry where female fans are often dismissed, this crossover proves that inclusion is both visible and powerful.
And it isn’t standing alone. Tommy Hilfiger designed car liveries for F1 Academy drivers. Luxury skincare giant ELEMIS sponsors Aston Martin. Sephora became F1 Academy’s official beauty partner for 2026, backing rookie driver Natalia Granada and running glam bars at 18 Grands Prix, including inside the Paddock Club. LVMH, the most powerful luxury group in the world, home to Louis Vuitton, Dior and TAG Heuer, signed a historic 10-year global partnership with F1 from 2025. Fashion didn’t stumble into Formula 1, it recognized the value of an audience the sport had spent decades overlooking.
Naomi Schiff understood this shift before many of the brands did. A former racing driver, Sky Sports F1 broadcaster, Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, and fashion ambassador, she has built a career across spaces that were once considered separate; motorsport, media, and fashion. “The Formula 1 audience is 40% female,” she has said, “so we have to cater to that.” Her career reflects a reality the sport is only now catching up to: women are no longer trying to find their place in Formula 1. They are helping define what it becomes next.
But despite this momentum, the finish line is still miles away. We are entering an era where more women than ever are working, contributing, racing, buying merch, analyzing data, and showing up to the track, yet we are still met with a test. We are still being questioned on our knowledge, interrogated on our real motives, and forced to prove we aren’t just there for a photo opportunity. The industry is shifting, but the culture is still catching up. We’ve proven we belong in the paddock, on the pit wall, and in the cockpit. The credentials were never the issue, the door was.
CREDITS
Written by:
Cover image:
- NSS An Vandevorst, SS12 WARRIORS
- Formula 1 image by Dave Smith
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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