The new equation in the F1 formula

 When Formula 1 roars back to Sepang in October, it will not only usher in a new fan base but also the brands that speak to a new set of consumers.

From Tengku Elena Tengku Mahamad

Like many Formula 1 fans across the country, I was genuinely excited by the news that the sport will return to Sepang this October.

It has been almost a decade since the last Malaysian Grand Prix, and for those of us who grew up spending race weekends glued to the television or making the pilgrimage to Sepang, it feels a little like welcoming back an old friend.

As the excitement around F1’s return began to sink in, I found myself thinking about something else entirely. The F1 returning to Malaysia is not quite the same F1 that left in 2017.

The cars are still breathtakingly fast, the engineering remains extraordinary and every race weekend continues to showcase the very best in motorsport.

Yet beyond the racing itself, something has quietly shifted over the years. The culture surrounding F1 has become more open, more connected and, perhaps without many people even realising it, far more welcoming.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the growing number of women who have become an integral part of the F1 conversation.

There was a time when F1 conversations felt almost guarded. If you entered online forums years ago or sat among groups discussing race weekends, the atmosphere could sometimes feel intensely technical and strangely exclusive.

There was almost an unspoken expectation that to belong in the conversation, you needed to understand every tiny detail about tyre degradation, aerodynamics, constructors’ strategies, DRS zones and pit stop timing. F1 was admired but for many outsiders, it did not always feel accessible.

For someone who has been watching F1 since 1999, the shift in the sport’s audience and culture today is impossible to ignore.

Over the past few years especially, I have noticed more and more women openly discussing F1 online. Not casually, but passionately and intelligently.

Women are debating race strategies on Threads, reacting emotionally to qualifying sessions on TikTok, analysing team decisions on X, creating F1 edits on Instagram and passionately defending their favourite drivers across social media platforms.

And perhaps the most interesting part is this. It no longer feels unusual.

Recent reports now show that women make up around 42% of F1’s global fanbase, a figure that says far more about the evolution of the sport than many people realise.

I do not believe women suddenly became interested in motorsport overnight. Rather, F1 itself evolved and, in doing so, transformed the way people connected with the sport.

For many years, F1 largely marketed itself through speed, engineering excellence and technical sophistication. While these elements remain central to the sport, modern F1 has become much more human in the way it presents itself to audiences.

Today, people are not only watching cars race around circuits. They are following stories, personalities, rivalries, friendships, disappointments, and moments of vulnerability that make the sport feel emotionally alive.

Drivers today no longer exist only behind helmets and carefully managed media appearances. Fans now witness their frustrations over team radio, their humour during interviews, their interactions with mechanics and their personalities away from the racetrack.

Team principals and engineers have become recognisable figures within F1 culture itself. The sport feels less distant than before, and perhaps that emotional accessibility has changed who feels comfortable participating in the conversation.

Social media accelerated this transformation significantly. F1 today is no longer confined to race weekends alone.

Conversations continue long after the chequered flag through memes, livestream reactions, commentary videos, fan edits, online debates and communities built around shared emotional investment in the sport.

What makes this particularly fascinating is that F1 did not necessarily change the core of the sport itself. The racing is still as complex as ever, the engineering remains highly technical, and the strategies continue to be incredibly sophisticated.

What changed was the atmosphere surrounding the sport and the way audiences were invited into its world.

The changes can also be seen through the brands now associating themselves with motorsport culture. Beauty and lifestyle brands such as Sephora and Charlotte Tilbury have become involved in F1-related collaborations and women-centred racing initiatives.

Collaborations involving Mickey Mouse and Sanrio also reflect how F1 culture has expanded beyond the traditional image many people once associated with motorsport.

At the same time, figures such as Maria Teresa de Filippis, Susie Wolff, Doriane Pin and Giovanna Amati serve as reminders that women have long been part of the motorsport landscape, even if the sport is only now beginning to create larger spaces for their stories, talent and presence to be seen more visibly.

Years ago, many people would probably have laughed at the idea of F1 existing in the same cultural space as beauty brands or animated characters.

Tobacco and alcohol brands were once the backbone of F1 sponsorships. Yet today, these collaborations feel surprisingly natural because audiences themselves are multi-dimensional.

A fan can love race strategy while also appreciating fashion, humour, storytelling, aesthetics, and online culture.

F1 seems to have recognised this reality instead of forcing audiences into narrow stereotypes about who “belongs” in motorsport.

Perhaps that is the most remarkable thing about F1’s evolution.

The sport has shown that when spaces become more welcoming, more emotionally engaging and more connected to people’s everyday media habits, audiences naturally become more diverse.

Women are no longer simply appearing at races as spectators in the background. They are shaping conversations, influencing fan culture, creating content and becoming visible voices within modern F1 communities.

As F1 returns to Sepang this October, Malaysian fans will have the opportunity to experience this new era of the sport on home soil.

For longtime supporters, it will be a chance to relive memories that have never really faded, while a younger generation will witness F1 at Sepang for the very first time.

I sincerely hope this return is more than a one-off appearance. Sepang has always been one of F1’s finest circuits, and Malaysian fans have never stopped loving the sport.

Perhaps this October will remind the world what made racing in Malaysia so special and mark the beginning of a new chapter, one that sees Sepang once again become a permanent fixture on the Formula 1 calendar. - FMT

Tengku Elena Tengku Mahamad is a communication and media studies academic at Universiti Teknologi Mara.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.