After Allowing Women to Drive, Saudi Arabia Happily Accepts All-Male F1 Lineup
For the fifth year in a row, this weekend marks the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. A track that sits just outside of the capital, Riyadh, and borders the coast of the Red Sea. Despite the picturesque scenery, the track has a sordid history. The country’s own regulations on driving shed a critical light on the culture of F1 and cause discerning fans to ask the same question: where are the female drivers?
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has been called the “fastest street track” with good reason. Average speeds for drivers sit around 250 km/hr. Yes, that’s average. It's also got the most turns out of any F1 track, though most of the 27 turns are “high speed kinks” according to former driver Jolyon Palmer. The track was built for speed, encouraging drivers to be swept away with their own racing. Give it a Google: it's practically a slingshot sweeping drivers along back and forth.
It's not just the drivers who face a challenge from the Saudi Arabian track, a country where women were only granted permission to drive in 2018. The partnership between the FIA and Saudi Arabia has been under attack from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The former stated that allowing F1 races in the country "is part of a cynical strategy to distract from Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses," also known as “Sportswashing.” The FIA argues these claims by claiming it has made its position clear to its racing partners about how F1 races are to be hosted and organized. Others have said that Saudi Arabia hosting the F1 Grand Prix is a sign of openness from the historically closed-culture country.
Look at the F1 lineup this year. What about last year’s or the year before? See any Sara’s or Michelles on the lists? If you were to look back even further, you’d only see five female names make their way on the rosters. Do women just not like fast driving? Maybe, but until little girls start getting Matchbox cars for Christmas, it's kind of hard to make a call. F1 has no regulations explicitly restricting female participation in the sport. However, the structure of the sport, from the lack of power-wheel steering to the plain, old physical effects of G-force, certainly isn't conducive to female drivers…as it exists now.
The tires start rolling at 8:00 p.m. in Riyadh or 1:00 p.m. EDT this Sunday. Red Bull took the trophy home for three out of the last four races, and it was Max Verstappen who won two of them. Though judging by the season he’s having, there’s no telling how he’ll perform. At least we can be sure of seeing my personal favorite racing team, the Aston Martin safety car.
