A community built by the women inside the paddock, for the women watching from everywhere else
Here at HEY GIRL we love, love, loveeeee motorsport. We’ve already featured female racing drivers and motorbike riders in these pages, so when we found out about this cool new platform for women who love F1 called The Formation, we were properly buzzed.
The Formation launched this week ahead of the British Grand Prix as the world’s home for women who love Formula 1. Women now make up 42% of F1’s global fanbase, and three in four new fans coming into the sport are women too — that’s 350 million people worldwide who love this sport and have never really had a home built around that. The Formation is stepping in to change that.
"Women aren't a niche audience in Formula 1. We are hundreds of millions of fans around the world."
It’s the brainchild of sports marketing executive Amy Mansell, who spent two decades in elite sport and sponsorship before pioneering F1’s first major beauty partnership. She’s brought together an inaugural advisory board of women working right across the sport, including Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham, Miami Grand Prix President Katharina Nowak, NKrush founder Natalie Neal and marketing strategist Silvia Schweiger, with more names still to be confirmed.
Membership is free to join from day one, and gets you into a group chat community that comes alive every race weekend, a members’ newsletter and early word on events before tickets drop. A paid tier, Formation Club, is coming soon for anyone who wants to go further in — priority booking, ticket discounts and a more curated inner circle. Beyond the community side, curated race-weekend experiences are being planned at venues across London, Miami and beyond — think intimate lunches and panels with women from inside F1, not just another watch party.
The whole thing is built around the experience of women as fans, but the door is open to anyone who carries that same spirit and love for the sport.
We love that kind of thinking. Real community isn’t about building walls — it’s about building a room big enough for everyone who shows up with the right energy. And beyond the fandom side, The Formation’s got its eye on the bigger picture too, funding and championing the female motorsport pipeline for the next generation coming up through the sport.
Meet a fan: Darcey Bloye a female F1 super fan.
While we were getting buzzed about all this, we thought — who better to chat to than an actual fan. So we caught up with young media student, super F1 fan and friend of HEY GIRL, Darcey Bloye, about her love of the sport.
“What I love about F1 is I really enjoy seeing how it evolves year by year, with different teams improving and cars developing. I also love the community within F1 and seeing how the drivers express themselves through their individual brands. I find that when I see a female racing driver I am more drawn to her, as it feels more personal and as if she is proving that gender is not a barrier in motorsport. I also love seeing femininity brought into the sport as I feel it naturally compliments its values.”
"I definitely think that having a wider female fanbase makes for a more passionate atmosphere."
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Darcey. This is exactly the energy The Formation is tapping into.
Here’s to the next generation of women who love F1, and to everyone building the room for them to walk into.
And speaking of motorsport… little secret, keep it between us… ha… we’re thinking Issue 8 might just be revving up around engines and the world of motorsport. What do you think? Watch this space.
Sign up for free and take your place at wearetheformation.com, and follow along @wearetheformation on Instagram.
HG x
P.S. Know a cool womxn doing brilliant things in motorsport or other areas, that we should be shouting about? Get in touch — info@heygirlmagazine.com