‘Women should dress how they want. We shouldn’t have to dampen our femininity or accentuate it; we should be who we are unapologetically.’

Samantha Rose Manto at Chicago NASCAR track in February 2024. Image Credited to her Instagram ‘samanthassocial.’

The female founder of Grid Clique, the global racing community encouraging women into motorsport, identified the lack of femininity in racing. Sponsors such as Charlotte Tilbury, ELF Cosmetics and Barbie, are bringing new layers to motorsport, one in which female drivers can wear their race suits while also being feminine. 

‘We rarely see women on the podiums. There have been none so far in the 2023 season. But we do see the Monaco models and the cheerleaders in Miami and Texas.’ At each race in Formula One, the winning team can feature a team member to stand on the podium with the drivers to accept the constructor’s trophy. In the 2023 season, no woman was featured on the podium. 

Twenty-three races. Twenty-three podiums. Zero women featured. 

With the average Formula One audience superseding one million viewers, podiums are vital screen time and media content opportunities for teams, yet none chose to feature a woman and F1 Academy wasn’t even broadcasted in 2023. If there are no examples of women in motorsport, it’s not likely that young girls will believe it to be a viable career option. With the 2024 F1 Academy season starting on the 7^{th of} March, it has been hitting the news. Not only is it being broadcast this year, but each race is featured alongside a Formula One weekend.

In an interview with Formula One, F1 Academy Managing Director Susie Wolff MBE and Charlotte Tilbury MBE, announced the partnership between F1 Academy and Charlotte Tilbury. With Charlotte Tilbury being the first female-founded beauty brand to partner with F1 Academy, the media went wild. With comments from motorsports presenters such as Natalie Pinkham saying, ‘What a partnership’ and Lissie Mackintosh commenting ‘ABSOLUTELY,’ we can see the positive influx of attention associated with such a proudly feminine brand. 

Lola Lovinfosse pictured with her Charlotte Tilbury livery in February 2024. Images credited to the ‘F1Academy’ Instagram.

Motorsport is notoriously male dominated, the sponsorships being no different. With the usual sponsors being engineering or technology based, a make-up brand is nothing but iconic. And with female engineers commenting ‘can confirm @charlottetilbury is Wet Race and Pit Wall proof’ and ‘I can confirm garage / pitlane proof too!’ women are rallying behind the progressive partnership. 

The pink and red lip-print designed livery is bold among the stripes of red, white and blue that often cover racing cars, making a strong statement of femineity in the paddock. 

Speaking to Formula One Susie Wolff MBE stated, ‘I want to thank Charlotte for believing in our mission and enabling us to reach a new audience of young women to showcase the opportunities available to them in our sport. Our message to them is simple: dare to dream.’

In 2014, Wolff took to the Silverstone track at the British Grand Prix becoming the first woman to take part in a Formula One weekend in 22 years. Since retiring from racing, Wolff moved to team management. In early 2023 she took on the role of Managing Director at F1 Academy aiming to diversify the sport; a partnership with Charlotte Tilbury being just that. 

‘My brand was created for everyone, everywhere, and as a female-founder I’m thrilled that we’re the first ever beauty brand to support these powerhouse drivers,’ said Tilbury. 

Whilst also identifying the need for femininity in motorsport, Samantha noted how the infrastructure of motorsport tracks are unequipped for women. ‘There is limited Wi-Fi and signal,’ she said, ‘making it difficult for people to communicate with each other.’ Following Samantha’s observations, they reminded me of my own experience at the Silverstone circuit. 

On my second trip to Silverstone in 2023, at 7am as we pulled up into Cartmel Camping, I was graced with my period. Mine, being as unpredictable as Nicholas Latifi, decided to grace me in the middle of a field on my twenty-first birthday. I would be fine, I thought. Surely there would be supplies for me somewhere in the multi-million-pound track. The place is massive! So on the first day my hunt began. 

Walking into the track, weaving my way to an information tent I asked the first person. ‘Hi, this is really awkward but is there any chance you guys have a shop or anything where I can get some sanitary items?’ 

The ladies face froze. ‘Umm we don’t have any here but if you find the medical tent, just down there, they should know more. Sorry I can’t help you!’ Wincing at the probability of leaking through my trousers on the first day, my friends and I made our way to medical. The questions continued. ‘We don’t have any, but there’s a shop in inner track. Good luck!’

Approaching the inner track gate, lacking a ticket, we begged the poor, and awkwardly shuffling, security man to help us out. Quickly swinging the gate open for us, we sped through. 

To keep a long story short, there was no shop, only a stern pair of security guards sneaking me two pads subtly outside of hospitality. Each day I had to find multiple information tents, hoping the workers would have a few spare sanitary items in their bags. Even the medical tent lacked the supplies I needed. With the amount of funding in racing, a simple medical shop should be the standard. 

The second failure in infrastructure was the single portaloo standing next to the fifty urinals at the main gate. Each section of women’s toilets was dwarfed by urinals, and if not, the wall was a viable option for most male fans… By day two, blocks of unisex toilets were locked shut, and the single portaloo in mention, was out of use. So we added toilets to our hunt. 

Although I loved my experience at Silverstone, I distinctly remember the disappointment of spending over £700, to not be able to obtain any official access to sanitary items. The infrastructure of motorsport tracks is not something that I would identify as ‘female-friendly’ as they often make our experiences tricky and more complicated than a male fan would experience.