Formula 1’s popularity has been accelerating for years, but its growing female fanbase is helping shape the sport’s next chapter. Whether you’re a lifelong motorsport obsessive or discovered your love of racing through Drive to Survive, women are becoming an increasingly influential part of F1 culture.

And the numbers speak for themselves. Female fans now account for 42% of the global audience, up from 37% in 2018. Teams like Aston Martin Aramco have seen their female US fanbase grow by 36%, with half of the F1 team's current female US fans being under 35. Meanwhile, the sport’s 2025 Global Fan Survey found that 75% of respondents who’d discovered racing within the past year were women.

Yet, despite this growing fandom, motorsport remains a male-dominated industry, with no female drivers currently competing on the Grand Prix grid.

So, what happens when a sport starts paying attention to the women who love it? At this year’s Austin Grand Prix, the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team offered a glimpse of what that could look like, bringing F1 into spaces where women already connect, rather than expecting them to fit into an existing motorsport mould.

Take its collaboration with Austin-based community No Girl Walks Alone, which brings women together through friendship and shared experiences. Alongside technology partner Arm, the team hosted an evening walk through downtown Austin, bringing together 200 female motorsport fans with a matcha in hand. Among those taking part were the team’s Head of F1 Academy Jessica Hawkins and rising racing talent Mathilda Paatz.

The TikTok Creator Collective wearing the team’s new womenswear apparel drop.

The idea was simple: create an opportunity for women to connect over their shared passion for F1, while building friendships and a sense of community beyond the circuit.

For Arm, that sense of belonging is central to the partnership. As Anahita Crawford, the company’s Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, explained, it’s about “the power of the community and of belonging, creating connections, supporting one another”.

Elsewhere, female-led F1 community Pink Paddock Club brought a Texas twist to race week with its Champagne Cowgirls event. Alongside a live podcast recording with Hawkins, guests enjoyed music from Defected Records DJ Tiffy Vera and a personalised keyring-making workshop with local creatives Craft & Yap. Plus some serious gifting from Official Skincare Partner ELEMIS. At its core the event’s purpose was to create plenty of opportunity for fans to connect over their shared love of the sport and walk away feeling truly seen.

For Austin local Celeste Alvarado, her love of F1 began five years ago when she attended the Grand Prix despite none of her girlfriends sharing her interest.

“Once you’re in it and you see the community and the fanbase, and you find your favourite drivers, you’re in it for life,” she told Cosmopolitan UK. But finding that community hasn’t always been easy. “It’s so hard sometimes to feel comfortable to go to events as a woman without a group and just show up by yourself,” she explained. “But F1’s for girls too and women as well.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Dallas-based sisters Alexis and Jordan Zakrewsky, who met fellow F1 fan Nicole Colunga from Austin for the first time at the event. Colunga, who discovered her love of the sport through Drive to Survive before attending her first Grand Prix at COTA in 2024, explained: “We didn’t know each other before tonight, but it’s such a great way to meet other female fans.”

And that’s precisely why spaces like these matter. They’re not just bringing fans closer to the sport, they’re bringing them closer to each other.

By recognising the passions and communities already thriving around motorsport, Aston Martin Aramco is helping lead the way in welcoming a new generation of supporters. From creating spaces where people feel seen, heard and connected to championing talent like Hawkins and Paatz, it’s an approach that goes beyond race weekend and points towards a more inclusive future.

This approach is also reflected in the team's ongoing work with Global Partner TikTok, and more specifically, the Creator Collective initiative. Developed in collaboration with TikTok to champion emerging talent and broaden access to the sport, the initiative (now in its second year) sees a cohort of emerging UK-based creators given unparalleled access to the world of Formula One.

As Aoife Moran, Head of Global Brand Partnerships at TikTok, explains: “Creating more space for women in motorsport – whether that’s as fans, creators or future engineers – is a key part of building a more inclusive sport. Expanding opportunities for female creators to tell their own stories and access the sport behind the scenes is something we’re incredibly proud to play a role in.”

One thing is clear. The sport’s emerging fans aren’t just along for the ride. They’re shaping what comes next. And, quite frankly, we’re here for it.