Women control two assets that brands are perpetually chasing
Shift Happens #12 | Weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture.
Thank you for being here. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Idée Fixe, the newsletter for curious minds. I’m Toni Cowan-Brown, a tech and F1 commentator. I’m a former tech executive who has spent the past five years on the floor of way too many F1, FE, and WEC team garages, learning about the business, politics, and technology of motorsports.
⏳ Reading time: 5 minutes
Shift Happens, weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture. A quick roundup of the headlines in and around motorsport you should be aware of. I hope you enjoy this new curated format.
After the Ford press trip in Detroit last week, I have just landed in London for the Autosport Business Exchange summit and the Autosport Awards. I’ll be moderating a panel on brand partnerships in motorsports and the shifts we are seeing here, and I’m also presenting a few awards, which is a first. I’m then off to Monte Carlo for the WRC rally, also a first, and then a quick stop in NYC for an exciting panel discussion. It’s safe to say that 2026 is very much in full swing.
The lead lap
I got to speak with Yohana Belinda a few weeks ago about the F1 female fan economy for a piece in Jing Daily. The piece explores how Formula 1 has transformed into a cultural and commercial juggernaut, propelled by its rapidly expanding female fanbase. I highly recommend reading it.
The article examines the intersection of luxury, fashion, and motorsport, positioning F1 as a premium marketplace where brands like LVMH are making significant long-term investments. As someone interviewed for the piece, I wanted to share some of the core insights and expand on what this shift means for the broader sports and culture landscape.
The economic case for the female fan is compelling and often misunderstood. During my conversation with Yohana Belinda, I emphasised a point that brands frequently overlook: when you convert a female fan, you’re not simply adding one consumer to the ecosystem. Women self-organise. They plan for friends and family. They travel as groups. This creates a multiplier effect that transforms individual engagement into collective movement, exponentially increasing both reach and spending in ways that traditional fan acquisition models fail to capture.
Women control two assets that brands are perpetually chasing - money and cultural relevancy. With women (in America, for example) accounting for 80% of all purchasing decisions, their growing presence in F1 represents far more than demographic diversification. It signals a recalibration of how the sport positions itself commercially and culturally. According to F1’s own survey data cited in the article, 75% of new fans are women, predominantly young and concentrated in key growth markets like the U.S., India, and Southeast Asia. These aren’t passive spectators; they’re active participants in shaping what F1 means beyond the track.
Esme Buxton, founder of The Paddock Journal, articulated this shift perfectly in the piece: “For many female fans, F1 is a lifestyle. They want to immerse themselves in the world as much as possible.”
But there’s also a critical historical context that risks being lost in the excitement around F1’s “new” female audience. As I stressed in the interview, women have always been integral to Formula 1. The narrative that women are suddenly discovering motorsport erases decades of contribution. Women served as timekeepers in the sport’s early days - Judy Stropus was legendary in this role. Perhaps more tellingly, F1 featured more female drivers in its first 30 years than in the last 40. We’re not witnessing the arrival of women in F1; we’re witnessing the conditions that finally make their presence visible and valued. This distinction matters because it shapes how we approach systemic change. Token representation - a female driver here, a beauty brand partnership there - isn’t sufficient. For meaningful transformation, we need women at every level of the sport’s architecture: drivers, engineers, team principals, race promoters, series holders, and ownership. The current moment offers an opportunity to build on a legacy that’s always existed rather than pretend we’re starting from scratch.
The article also tackled the problematic language that has historically surrounded women in sports which I found interesting. The term “WAGs” - wives and girlfriends - carries decades of stereotypes and reductive assumptions. The broader implication extends well beyond motorsport. Across industries, we’re witnessing a fundamental restructuring of how cultural institutions approach female audiences, not as secondary markets or “girlfriend demos” but as primary drivers of trends, community, and commerce. The traditional playbook of treating women as ancillary consumers is being exposed as not just ethically limited but commercially shortsighted. The female fan doesn’t just participate in culture - she very much shapes what becomes culturally relevant. In sports, entertainment, and beyond, that’s a market force that can’t be ignored.
The number of the week
45 days until we go racing in Australia for the first Grand Prix of the 2026 season.
Three stories that need to be on your radar
Look at the Audi Revolut F1 team kit. Really look at it. Monochromatic. Greyscale. Clean lines. White logos only. It’s a thing of beauty. Now think about what they just replaced: the Stake Kick Sauber era. Black base, neon green accents, a collision of sponsor logos fighting for attention. It wasn’t bad, it was simply normal. Normal for F1, where team kits typically look like a sponsorship Tetris game where every brand demands their own colour. To me, It signals that Audi entered F1 on their terms. They’re not cobbling together a grid of sponsors -they’re curating a premium brand experience. In a sport where visual chaos is the norm (and at a time when Pepsi Co., KitKat and Doritos joined the grid), Audi just reminded everyone: true luxury whispers. Link.
Inside Red Bull’s mammoth power unit project with Ford. Red Bull's powertrain, an incredible project in partnership with the American car giant, Ford, received a lot of airtime during the Formula 1 team launch event in Detroit last week. As part of the press trip, we got lots of insights into how they worked together, how Ford contributed and what this all means. Link
What the two Red Bull Racing drivers are most curious about when it comes to the 2026 car. Any guesses?
One video worth your time
What if I told you a Formula 1 team with no factory, zero discipline, and a crew that cared more about partying and drinking than racing still managed to challenge - and even defeat - the biggest names in the sport? This is the unbelievable story of Hesketh Racing.
One [event] that caught my eye
It’s launch season in Formula 1, which means the start of the 2026 season is official in full swing. I was fortunate enough to attend the Ford press trip last week in Detroit to attend the Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls livery launch. Over the years, launch season has become somewhat of a carefully choreographed spectacle. What began as modest factory presentations in the 1980s and 90s has evolved into a big marketing exercise, with teams investing time and money in theatrical reveals that generate headlines and social media buzz weeks before the first race. These events serve as the opening salvo in F1’s perpetual battle for attention, transforming what could be simple car unveilings into elaborate productions complete with augmented reality, celebrity appearances, and cinematic production values.
Yet paradoxically, as the spectacle has grown, many teams now reveal render cars or show cars rather than their actual challengers - the real machinery often doesn’t appear until the first test session, preserving some competitive mystery while still feeding the pre-season hype machine. Thus, the focus has pivoted to the livery itself, which does have a particular significance beyond mere aesthetics. These paint schemes represent hundreds of millions in sponsorship dollars and often signal major partnership shifts that can reshape a team’s competitive trajectory. So as we moved away from factory presentations where we may see glimpses of the actual car, now we are presented more with the ‘marketing’ and business direction of the teams.
McLaren’s return to papaya orange in 2017 wasn’t just a colour change, it was a statement of identity and ambition. Mercedes’ decision to run a black livery in 2020 to highlight racial justice issues demonstrated how these reveals can transcend sport entirely. For fans, the livery is often the first tangible sign of change, whether it’s a title sponsor departure, a technical partnership announcement, or simply a fresh visual identity for the season ahead.