(Motorsports news) Anyone who attends a F1 race today will see that the spectator demographic has shifted considerably since Liberty Media took over. They are much younger and more female than they were five years ago. According to research and audience data, the average age of an F1 fan is 32 years old, which is younger than sports leagues such as the NFL and NBA. This metamorphosis is often attributed to the Netflix Drive to Survive series, but is that the complete story? How should Formula One communicate with its young female fans? And are these new admirers committed for the long run, or will they wander away?
We got together four figures to debate this during an event at Soho House in Austin. Former F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer, F1 broadcaster and Drive to Survive face Will Buxton, and female content developers Toni Cowan-Brown and Cristina Mace are among those involved. “Number one, putting the sport and the backstories on Netflix really, really helped,” Szafnauer said of the Liberty revolution that took us to where we are now. The sport has always been the same, but it was a closely guarded secret during the Bernie era. Netflix made the sport and its meaning available to everyone.
The other thing Liberty did that I thought was brilliant was to institute a cost cap, so that the wealthiest teams didn’t have such a huge edge. And we are capable of competing. That was extremely beneficial and will be beneficial in the future. A cost cap for powertrains is also coming in 2026, which could help bring the sector closer together. When it comes to Drive to Survive, Buxton claimed that the phenomena was produced by a sequence of lucky accidents: “I went through school, none of my buddies liked F1.
And it’s now cool. It’s cool to like F1, because everyone is talking about it. It’s no longer a niche interest. The key to Drive to Survive’s success, in my opinion, was a perfect storm of errors. The first year, Mercedes and Ferrari refused to participate. As a result, the producers were forced to seek out alternative stories. They discovered Gunther Steiner, Daniel Ricciardo, Otmar, and other wonderful guys who weren’t competing for the world championship but had fascinating stories to tell.
Then COVID-19 arrived, and everyone was sitting at home, watching Netflix, and there were two series to watch. Following that, Liberty and the FIA managed to get the Championship up and running in July (2020). As a result, it was the first international sport to get off the ground.” Toni Cowan-Brown contends that Drive to Survive was significant, but it was merely the catalyst for F1’s meteoric rise, not the fuel. “On the other hand, Season One of Drive to Survive was barely seen in 2019. Then the epidemic struck (in March 2020), and we were all deprived of live sporting events, cooped up at home, desperate for decent material, when we discovered it and binge-watched Seasons One and Two.
But then came the content makers, and the creative economy expanded as a result of the pandemic, and then came Tik Tok. When she digs deeper into what it is about F1 and what content creators like Cristina are doing that attracts such a large female following, she discovers that it is a communal issue. “As girls and women, we love doing activities and having fun together. And it’s a lot less intimidating to enter the climate when we do it as a group. As a result, you feel less alone. We also have distinct tastes in entertainment.
We construct friendship bracelets, tell jokes, and consider music that are appropriate for the drivers’ personality. There are all these very specific girl cultural things. And that’s truly what it’s all about when you’re enjoying them together. In the case of Formula One, we’re all watching the same show; your friend recommends something, and you’re stuck watching it with her because she’s fascinated with it. It’s one of those situations where we just work together and have fun. And we’ll just take it from there as long as you make sure there’s a good safe space for us to enjoy it together.”
