It’s no secret that the motorsport industry is heavily dominated by men. Anyone who’s watched Drive to Survive on Netflix will know that all top-tier drivers are men, and most of the team principals and pit crew—with a very few exceptions.
The pattern continues in other types of motorsports. Motorcycle racing has spawned a few stars that are women, while endurance racing has seen its first all-woman team win in 2022. However, across the board, women have to really fight for their place on the grid.
The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile/International Automobile Federation) states, somewhat backhandedly, that, “motorsport is one of the only sports where men and women can compete as equals.” While we don’t think this is necessarily true, as there are plenty of competitive arenas where gender is largely irrelevant, it is shocking that as of 2023, only 1.5% of licensed motorsport drivers are women. While it would be great to see more women taking the racing line, there is another avenue into a fantastic career in motorsport via technology.
Technology in Motorsport
Motorsports, particularly at a highly competitive level, are driven by technology. To get the edge on competitors, cars need to be faster and safer than ever. Top-level teams like Red Bull spend £230 million or more per year constantly updating and improving cars, and occasionally even get into trouble for overspending! But where does this money go?
Data Analysis
A central core of modern motorsport is data collation and analysis. Understanding data as granular as how a car’s downforce changes with a 1mph change in wind strength could be the difference between a win and second place. Teams use platforms like AWS to store increasingly huge volumes of data and trawl them with AI and machine learning models to find patterns and anomalies that determine car setup choices, tyre selection, or even what type of paint to use on the car.
Simulation Software
When a driver talks about “ spending time in the simulator,” they literally mean full simulators that provide an experience that’s as close to driving the real track as possible. This helps them learn every track off by heart and improve specific corners or practice rolling starts.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
As well as simulators, VR and AR play an important role in design and performance optimization. A combination of image capture and 3D lens technology allows engineers to view and manipulate designs and start to understand how car concepts will function in the real world.
Safety and Performance Enhancing Tech
Technology has played a major role in improving the safety of motorsport without reducing the thrill of the race. Impact sensors help teams know the moment something has gone wrong. Tracks are redesigned with better barriers in place and less dangerous turns. Data flows from trackside back to engineers sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles away to ensure nothing is missed that could put drivers in danger.
Learning the tech skills that drive innovation and safety in motorsports is a great way to break into the industry—and one that many women are taking advantage of.
Tech Skills Make Motorsport More Accessible for Women
While racing opportunities are still few in number, women who want to make their mark on the motorsport industry can do so with their tech skills. Watch any racing programme and you’ll soon notice where the women are: behind laptops and monitors, in the garage, or trackside, monitoring unfathomable volumes of data.
Tech skills from aerodynamics to mechanical engineering to electronics to data analytics are all more important than ever to successful race teams. Learning these skills gives women a clear way into motorsports with a potentially top-level bound career trajectory.
Women Are Driving Growth in the Motorsport Industry
Why do racing teams need to employ more women? It’s partly to do with an understanding of the fanbase. 40% of Formula One fans are now women, and that number is increasing all the time. People love to see themselves represented in the media they consume, so it makes sense for savvy motorsport leaders to nurture that shift. This doesn’t just mean encouraging more girls to get into carting and eventually racing. It means employing women across all aspects of the industry, from pit crew specialists and engineers to data analysts.
One of the most successful Formula One strategists—a role that includes high level statistical data analysis— is Hannah Schmitz of Red Bull. She’s one of the few women ever to go up on the Formula One podium to accept the constructor’s grand prix winner’s trophy, and helped lead the team to World Champion success in 2022. Her tech skills have led her to the absolute pinnacle of motorsports—and there’s no reason why those opportunities can’t exist for other girls and women, too.
In our next tech education blog, we’ll continue looking at women in motorsport with an exploration of initiatives encouraging girls and young women in tech and engineering to give motorsports a try. We’ll also highlight some of the amazing success stories of women making it big in motorsport, from pioneering racer Maria Teresa de Filippis to Samantha Nyidkadzino, a trailblazing electronics design engineer who now works for one of the biggest names in Formula One, Mercedes-AMG Petronas. We’ll also look at ways to get girls into motorsport, and places where women are already winning such as Extreme E and W Series.
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