When John Oliver ripped into FIFA prior to the 2014
World Cup, he gave us the Sausage Principle: “If you love something, don’t find out how it’s
made.” Detail after detail of the murky workings of football’s top body, it
turns out, are clearly at odds with the pure, emotional surges of passion that
define the global devotion to the war-substitute ‘beautiful game’. John Oliver
certainly did nothing to kill anybody’s passion for football (not even his
own), but I must confess to being left embittered. Which, all said and done, is
a rather mild reaction compared to the scale of injustice one is aware of.
Corruption in sport is disillusioning to various degrees and takes away
from the discipline and toil of the people who make competitive sport great. The
shining stage which the talented young athletes of the world occupy exists
against the background of a ruthless, wealthy business class that has found the
best way to milk our love of real-life drama for their financial gains.
It doesn’t help, then, when you realise that in addition to the financial
murk that operates behind the scenes, the most popular sports are also the site
for a far more fundamental, viscerally offensive endorsement of sexism.
I’ve been a Formula 1 fan for sixteen years now, and as I write this I
realise that makes up about one-fourth of the sport’s 65-year history. In that
time the sport has built a bigger footprint across the world, its circus
travelling to shiny new circuits in countries like India, China and the UAE.
There is finally a non-white world champion, and the nationalities that have
raced in the sport are no longer confined to Western Europe. F1 has finally
seen, with varying success, the participation of drivers from countries like
India, Mexico, Indonesia and Malaysia.
But where are the women drivers?
It is telling that F1’s bosses, in their quest for diverse markets and audiences,
have completely bypassed the inclusion of more women on the roster of the
pinnacle of open-wheeled racing. This in spite of the fact that F1 is a sport
for agile individuals with quick-thinking brains and fast reflexes. Attributes
that do not necessitate a separate women’s championship, as good women drivers,
trained well, continue to win in the lower Formulas, a stepping stone into F1.
You could be forgiven for thinking that there must be a “physical” reason why
women don’t make the cut. Turns out, though, that it’s not as great a deal as
it’s made out to be. Training right helps all drivers prepare for the G-forces
they experience at very high speeds. Drivers who build less strength outpace
their competitors by working on endurance. A difference in
muscular strength, therefore, does not rule you out as a race-winner.
Susie Wolff, ex-Williams test driver. Image courtesy the Sydney Morning Herald
The only genuine disadvantage that may impede a racing career is economy.
Racing requires access to cars and karts from an early age, so it is
understandable why the bulk of F1 drivers have come from the world’s most
prosperous countries. A lack of girls entering karting competitions and the
junior racing formulas may also explain why significantly less than half of all
racing drivers are women. But Formula 1 has seen only five women start a Grand
Prix as opposed to over 820 men since it started in 1950.
Which brings us to attitudes. The Old Men of Formula 1 have a knack for
sexism which helps them come up with gems of insensitivity. Bernie Ecclestone,
F1’s chief executive, said women “wouldn’t be taken seriously” when asked about bringing more women drivers into
F1.
It is pretty much a case of the jocks keeping the paddock to themselves. In
the non-driving aspects of the F1 circus, women professionals are a visible
presence, reflecting their greater participation across professions. One of India’s best motorsports writers for example. Or team bosses like Monisha
Kaltenborn and Claire Williams.
Legendary drivers, meanwhile, have done little to help make the sport more
gender inclusive. The greatest driver to never have won a world title, Sir
Stirling Moss, said the difference lay in the mind games. According to him,
women lack the mental strength for the sport. What a relief, then, that he did not add in the popular
jibe of women being bad drivers.
This explains why the maximum women you see at race weekends at the “Grid
Girls”. Unfortunate for a sport which prides itself on being at the cutting
edge of innovation.
If you thought it was just the ancients who hold regressive views like
this, you’re sadly mistaken. The once up and coming Mexican sensation, Sergio Perez, once said he
would prefer that women stay in the kitchen rather than drive in F1.
The sport hasn’t got to where tennis is, so it will be some time before pay
parity between men and women is debated, and an F1 start does a Novak Djokovic on us.
There are signs of a greater change, though. Carmen Jorda, the Renault F1
test driver, is 27, so she does have a chance of a race seat. An outside
chance, but it exists. Meanwhile, the last driver to drive in a practice
session on a race weekend, Susie Wolff, has launched the Dare to be Different campaign to bring more women into motorsport.
F1’s isn’t entirely surprising
though. Recent deaths due to head injuries prompted F1 to try out better
head protection for the cars, with ‘purists’ blasting the move saying it
takes away the risks, and thus the thrill of the sport. There persists the
uber-masculine narrative of knights going out to battle, the risk of death
adding nobility to what they do. No surprises, then, that women who could be
champions continue to contend not with questions of racing talent, but to be
“taken seriously.”