Allyship and Safe Spaces in Motorsport

Year 3 University Assignment - UNSW Media

Formula 1 has historically been a ‘boys club since its inception in the 50s’ - money (and lots of it), corruption and grungy politics following the sport like a bad smell most of the time.

But times are quickly changing in the 21st century, more females are breaking the mould of working in motorsport, and younger fans are changing the face of the sport as we know it forever.

But a smaller community of individuals in the sport are looking to create a safe community for LGBTQIA+ people in motorsport because if no one else is going to look out for them, they’ll do it themselves.  

Racing Pride is a global organisation for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in motorsport with multiple esteemed ambassadors including Krystina Emmanouilides and Casey Price from Australia.

Emmanouilides is one of the core members of the founding group of Racing Pride, an Alfa Romeo Stake Formula 1 Senior Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Engineer also printed on her work resume.

Based in Switzerland with the team, she pursued a career in motorsport at 18 overseas but continually looks to bring her ambassadorship to her home country on the Australian F1 Grand Prix weekend every year.

She is also a Girls on Track ambassador here in Australia, a program bringing young females into the industry of motorsport and getting them career ready with networks and internships for a mentorship perspective. 

By bringing both her ambassadorships and speaking on them in multiple panel discussions she hopes this continuous change of fans and inclusion surrounding the sport grows more and more.

“Certainly, motorsport is not the most progressive sport out there, but you know, we’re trying,” said Emmanouilides in a TikTok filmed with ABC News.

Racing Pride, Proud to Play and Motorsport Australia teamed up for a panel discussion on the Wednesday before the weekend of the 2023 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

The guests on the panel included the Racing Pride ambassadors Emmanouilides and Price, alongside Bea Vear and Australian climber Campbell Harrison, with the Female Drive’s Estelle Clapham facilitating the questions throughout the night.

Discussions like this can be an avenue for those within the industry to find connections and network themselves as an ally within the sport - safe spaces are born from trailblazers creating them.

Racing Pride announced on Twitter that this event had been created to allow “the panel [to] share their personal experiences and insights with a diverse audience, including representatives from state and national sporting bodies, motorsport teams, grassroots racers, and fans.”

 The organisation hopes that by creating change at the very beginning of grassroots motorsports and smaller, local communities, the gradual change in mindset can flow through into global sport.

It was also a night to provide an opportunity to those who attended (mostly Australian Grand Prix workers from teams such as Red Bull F1 and Ampol Racing, Alfa Romeo Stake F1 and Porsche Australia) to “build meaningful connections that will continue to promote LGBTIQ+ inclusion in motorsport.”

Allyship and connections is the most powerful thing in making a spearheaded campaign of change. How the motorsport community goes about this is still yet to be discussed.

Casey Price was one of the panellists from the night and spoke about her challenges as a driver.

“The panel discussion was something I was so incredible pleased and honoured to be asked to be on, Krystina and I are good friends and are always having such progressive conversations about what motorsport could be doing for the future,” Price said.

“To have those conversations out in the public domain with an incredible supportive audience who is engaged with the content we were speaking about, our personal experiences and challenges within the sport, it was so amazing.”

The Tasmanian local has created a global brand ‘MINI Girl Racer’ to promote female participation in motorsport but alongside that, is the head of the Pride in Motorsport program around Tasmania.

“When the helmet goes on, I am there to compete equally, it doesn’t matter what my identity or gender is, the race has no bias,” she reiterated.

“I support equality and inclusivity through my brand, racing & community volunteering. I am now living my truth, authentically."

“In 2022, I publicly came out with a photo of myself and my newly announced Wife, Billie. It wasn’t without fear, however, I realised that I wasn’t a different person, I simply took control of my own narrative and stopped being what I thought people wanted me to be.”

Matt Bishop, former Chief Communications Officer at Aston Martin Formula 1 team and founding Racing Pride ambassador alongside Emmanouilides has been a rarity in the paddock since he began his career.

An openly queer worker is alas, still not the status quo.

 “For all its progress, F1 is still largely white, male, and heterosexual. The women are usually in junior positions. The sport is changing, but it’s a slow process,” said Bishop in an interview with LGBTQ Nation.

In Haas Formula 1 team Principal Guenther Steiner’s new book Surviving to Drive (a pun on the Netflix documentary ‘Drive to Survive’ where Steiner grew a newfound stardom) he speaks about Bishop in a complementary way, saying that “he is of the opinion that it is better to go to these places [Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Qatar] and be part of the change than to boycott them.”

“It’s a brave thing for him to do, you know. Especially in a country where it is illegal to be a homosexual.”

“It is the right thing to do though, and I, and I’m sure everyone in Formula 1, stands with Matt and the LGBTQ+ community,” Steiner added in Surviving to Drive.

Formula 1 is known for their continuation of contracts that send their sport to countries where homosexuality is outlawed, most notably Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

But the paddock and those speaking out, including all 24 ambassadors of Racing Pride will continue to create spaces of support and authentically be themselves in the paddock of their given motorsports.

For those looking for allyship and safe spaces in sport, authenticity is the most pivotal importance for them.

Zara Waller was in the audience whilst the panel occurred and spoke about her increased renewal for being an ally to the community.

Waller in her day-to-day life is an aspiring Rally photographer, building her career as a young woman in motorsport in her own right and understands the importance of safe spaces of those who support and appreciate driven individuals.

“I would not be where I am today if I didn’t have people in my corner, you know? I have been a part of the Girl son Track program in Australia and all the females are pushing us to be allies to all in sport - females, queer, whoever is marginalised within our paddocks,” said Waller.

“By attending the Pride in Motorsport panel discussion during the Melbourne Grand Prix weekend, it definitely further opened my eyes towards the LGBTQIA+ community within Motorsport.”

“Their experiences and personal anecdotes of the sport I work within showed how much progress we have made but how we have so much more to do.”

“Hearing personal experiences and stories from panel members, including Krystina who I know quite well through the GOT program, it helped increase my understanding of their unique position within the sport.”

“Even from those who weren’t from the Motorsport industry [Harrison Campbell], they talked about creating safe spaces for everyone by increasing tolerance and increased awareness of language in the industry which is something I feel strongly about.”

Contextually, the first openly queer Formula 1 driver was Mike Beuttler.

Driving at the pinnacle of the sport between the year of 1971 – 1973, his homosexuality was ‘an open secret’ but many did not discuss it in the paddock, due to queer relationships being only legalised four years before in the United Kingdom.

Since then, the sport has not had another openly gay driver in the Formula 1 category, but within the wider paddock the sport has diversified its employees with more women and queer-identifying individuals taking jobs.

So, we know that in the wake of Formula 1’s boom as a sport, the fanscape and workforce has statistically included LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals.

Creating safe spaces and increasing our allyship to support them to stay and enjoy the paddocks we share around the world is the message of Racing Pride and its trailblazing ambassadors. 

On our Australian shores, Price is waving the flag for the LGBTQIA+ community in grassroots motorsports whilst Emmanouilides continues her ventures overseas as a proudly queer woman.

These two are role models that the Formula 1 and wider motorsports community won’t mind spotlighting.