"There's no straight path...but if you can see it, you can be it!" - how the F1 Academy is looking to change the game for women in STEM

For 75 years, Formula 1 has been an almost entirely male-dominated sport, with only a handful of female participants, both on and off the grid.

However this will soon change, as the women-only F1 Academy series, launched in 2023, looks to promote not only female motorsport drivers, but careers in STEM fields for women as a whole.

Ahead of this season’s Dutch Grand Prix, I spoke to Karin Fink, commercial director, F1 Academy, to hear more about the work the series is doing, and where it hopes to be in the future.

Key players

Now in its third season, the F1 Academy offers 18 drivers the chance to fight for a championship across some of the world’s most demanding circuits, with practice sessions, qualifying and races integrated into Formula 1 race weekends.

Unlike Formula 1, where teams fiercely compete for the smallest bodywork or performance upgrades, the cars in F1 Academy are all identical Formula 4-spec, levelling the playing field, with the main differences being the partner and sponsor liveries. The series has attracted a wide range of partners, with individual drivers receiving support from the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Tag Heuer, Charlotte Tilbury and TeamViewer - TechRadar Pro’s host for the trip.

"We've made a lot of progress in our commercial partnerships,” Fink says, “which is really important, not only from a financial perspective, but also getting our voice, our message out - so we look for partners who can work with us to amplify that message - we don't want someone who just wants to slap their logo on the car and wait for us to do the work."

"So the way we communicate and make our message known in the world of female sports, establishing ourselves as one of the key players in that development is very important."

Already an existing partner of the Mercedes F1 team, TeamViewer was the F1 Academy’s first technology partner, helping the series as part of its work to improve gender equality, promoting opportunities for everyone across STEM fields, and sponsoring the Wild Card entry at the Zaandvoort race, where Esmee Kosterman finished an impressive 7th.

Kosterman’s car featured a special livery adorned with images of over 200 women, role models who have inspired women across a range of industries, in workplaces, in paddocks and in their personal lives.

Kosterman’s race number also referenced recent findings from TeamViewer’s Women in Sport Tech report which found 86% of women believe that having visible female leaders is key to gender equality in the workplace - something the F1 Academy is trying to boost.

“(TeamViewer) were so passionate about coming into the sport, with the view of really opening it up to female career growth and finding your pathway somewhere where it's not always super available to everyone,” Fink notes.

"It's the partners that have really added credibility to us as well - they took a leap of faith, and we really do appreciate their support...it really shows that we have something that is worth consideration, and creates real value and relevance in their field."

“We're always open to developing further - the team is always looking at working on developing the actual racing series...and now we've established our baseline, it's something we can really hone in on and create some added benefit - and technology is such a huge part of everyday life these days, so of course we want to be at the forefront of that, and want to integrate it into our series as well.”

Fan connections

Like Formula 1, F1 Academy has also benefitted from the “Netflix effect”, with a TV series helping open up the sport to a whole new audience. At race weekends, the series also tries to be open and interactive for fans, offering an open paddock for people to visit, as well as autograph sessions with the drivers.

Fink says the reaction has been “100% positive,” adding, “it's really about showing girls our drivers are what they could be - I know it's a bit of a stereotype, but if you can see it, you can be it!"

"Connecting with our fans is really important - I think there's so much more that we can do.”

The series also runs the Discover your Drive programme, where local students are brought in to speak to key players in the sport to show off opportunities in motorsport and STEM as a whole.

"The reality is, for everyone who comes in, there's no straight path,” says Fink, who herself worked her way up from waitressing in the Formula 1 Paddock Club as a student, “and I'm pretty sure for a lot of the roles in technology, in the industry, we want to show that if you want it, you just say yes to any opportunity, you put your hand up.”

Looking forward, it’s clear Fink and the entire F1 Academy series has ambitious plans for the future.

There has not been a female participant in a Formula 1 race weekend since 2014, when current F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff drove in a practice session for Williams at Silverstone, and although five women have driven in a Formula 1 race in the past, only Lella Lombardi has ever scored a point, coming in sixth at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

“The opportunity is there - what we need to cultivate is the impression that it's not just a male sport,” says Fink.

"As opposed to other women's sports, like WSL or WNBA, I don't have to fill my own stadium, that advantage is enormous, and something we try to capitalize on.”

"When I look at the WNBA, the WSL...I go there now to events and meet my counterparts in those areas, so we can start to talk about our work not just as the disruptors, but as the leagues and series that are establishing ourselves...giving everyone the same base that they can build on.”

"We've had so much support from Formula 1 as an organization, we always want to add value to the race weekend, and be seen as someone who has earned their place to be here, and is respected by the fans, by the rights holders, by the participants - and the F1 teams have shown us so much support as well, we often get team principles and drivers come to join us on the grid.”

"We want to see our drivers advance…but it's a long process, it won't happen straight away. Formula 1 is 75 years old, and predominantly focused on male drivers, so I think we have a long way to go, but I'm 100% sure it's going to happen."

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