It all started at my 10-year-old brother’s go-karting birthday party. As a dozen little boys zipped around the track, I wasn’t paying attention to the birthday cake and balloons. I was looking at the cherry red replica of a Ferrari race car sitting in the lobby. When I stepped into the car and imagined flying around the track at over 200 miles per hour, my fascination with Formula 1 (F1) was born.
Watching a race feels like entering another world. The highlight of my week is when I wake up early on the weekend to watch a Grand Prix (an F1 race). And I’m definitely not the only one. According to Formula 1, many Grands Prix attract over 300,000 fans to the racetrack, and millions more around the world live stream the events. According to Total Motorsport, the cost of hosting a Grand Prix ranges from around $20 million up to $50–60 million. However, the overall revenue far surpasses this cost; according to Formula 1, the yearly revenue for F1 in 2025 was a staggering $4 billion, up from only about $2 billion in 2019.
The meteoric rise of F1 can be attributed to an ever-increasing number of female fans. In 2017, Forbes estimated that just 8% of F1 fans were women. But at the end of 2025, Motorsport Network found that female fans now account for 3 in 4 new fans. More women are also breaking into the industry itself, such as with the 2023 launch of an all-female formula racing series, F1 Academy.
F1 is now far from an exclusively male space, featuring female engineers and strategists on the pit wall, female presenters and journalists in the paddock (F1’s central operational hub for teams, drivers, and media during a race weekend), and rising star drivers in F1 Academy. F1 now serves as proof that women don’t just belong in technical, high-pressure environments, but that they can absolutely thrive there.
As the number of female fans skyrockets, women also have the opportunity to shape the sport’s future, influencing how the sport is marketed and engaged with online. During a race weekend, TikTok, Instagram, and many other social media platforms are flooded with debates, edits, and commentary about everything from paddock fashion to technical updates on the cars, making it easy to connect with other women who share the same passion.
For women who have never considered watching F1, the sport offers far more than cars just going in circles around a track. It is a blend of exhilarating races and cutting-edge engineering. It’s glamorous, prestigious, and iconic. And most importantly, it’s a chance to become part of an ever-growing community of driven, passionate, and creative women.