Formula E: tackling inequality in motorsport
Published
2020
In July this year, the BBC reported F3 driver Enaam Ahmed’s comment that “levels of diversity” in motorsport are "20 years behind other sports." Ahmed didn’t see direct discrimination but said “it doesn’t feel representative” explaining “racing is an elitist sport.” Six-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton has openly raised his voice many times on the same subject, recently telling the Sunday Times: “Thousands of people are employed across this industry and that group needs to be more representative of society” in order to “become as diverse as the complex and multicultural world we live in.”
Working in communications at global all-electric racing series Formula E, my instinct - or instructions - could easily be to defend the need for change, or improvement, but I’m not going to. Instead I’m going to peel back the surface, share with you where we are on our journey and explain why we need you to join our movement if we’re going to achieve our goals. We need your voices, insights and experience to guide us and to hold us to account.
Formula E is unique. It was founded with the purpose of progress. Created to counteract climate change by accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, the team at Formula E work every day to deliver better futures through racing. A sport of the future, ready and waiting to connect with fans of the future.
When I joined the team six months ago, I immediately found the culture both welcoming and accessible. Friends and colleagues from underrepresented groups tell me they feel the same. I’m a female in my thirties in an executive role and I feel accepted, respected and encouraged in an industry typically seen as ‘a man’s world’. As a junior female in my twenties starting out in motorsport, I couldn’t have said the same. A spotlight has been shone on the importance of women in motorsport over the last decade, now the same needs to happen for other areas of diversity, including, importantly, sexuality and identity.
At Formula E, we know that we can and must do more to promote inclusivity. Earlier in the year, after a coronavirus-enforced pause in racing, Formula E published an open letter signed by both our founder and our CEO which opened: “We’re back, and we want to come back better.” Our commitment explicitly includes, “Greater opportunity in our sport for underrepresented groups,” as we stand “United against discrimination in any form."
While we’re delighted with the warm reception to these words, we also recognise the need for action – long-term, substantive, intentional action. To quote Formula E team ROKiT Venturi Racing’s team principal and founder of Dare to be Different Susie Wolff, “It’s great to show support and communicate a desire to make the world a better place, but fundamentally it’s action that results in real change… there is a massive challenge ahead to create true diversity, not just in motorsport but in all aspects of society. We are all stakeholders in the future, the time to act is now.”
