Women in the winner's circle: 5 takeaways from Netflix's "F1: The Academy"
- Victoria Hernandez
- Jun 27
- 6 min read
Formula 1 is growing at a breakneck speed. The blockbuster film “F1,” which was released in theaters Friday, is bringing the sport to an even larger audience. One element of the sport that is growing is the involvement of women.
F1 Academy is a racing series for women drivers meant to serve as a development program. Susie Wolff is the Managing Director of the series and her vision is clear. The ultimate goal is to get one of these women a seat on the prestigious F1 grid.
Fans can go behind the scenes of the sport in “F1: The Academy,” a Netflix documentary series that was released in partnership with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company. There are seven episodes that give fans insight into the personalities and competition, not unlike the F1 megahit “Drive To Survive."
Here are five takeaways from “F1: The Academy” on Netflix:
F1 Academy has no shortage of intensity
F1 is known as the pinnacle of motorsport because of its speed and technique. There is no question that F1 Academy gives its drivers an experience that would prepare them for the intensity of the big stage. The Academy races on the same track as the Formula 1 competitions and the athletes are all familiar with the danger of motorsport.
One of the riveting scenes of the “F1: The Academy” documentary is when Hamda Al Qubaisi recounts her crash in F4 UAE. She slammed into the wall and broke her arm. In Episode 3, we see the gnarly scar on her wrist framed by bracelets. After the crash, her racing career was in question and she expresses how she still notices hesitation when she’s driving in a competition.
Another reality of F1 Academy is the financial pressure of racing. The documentary explores how some competitors come from wealth, while others like Abbi Pulling see F1 Academy, and the prize of being fully funded for the next level of racing, as their only ticket to continue their careers.
In the same vein of “Drive to Survive,” the F1 Academy Netflix show displays some tension between drivers. In the opening episodes, McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante and Williams’ Lia Block are pit against each other with Block saying, “Bianca has a very strong personality,” while identifying herself as more introverted. Bustamante utilizes social media to build a brand and create income for herself. Others comment how they dislike social media and hint at how taking selfies feels superficial and distracting. Pulling, who *spoiler* goes on to be the season champion, says that she is here for the racing, “not to be an influencer or a model.”
F1 Academy is fueled by family
A major emphasis of “F1: The Academy” is how the drivers are inspired and motivated by their families. Many of them got started in motorsport because of their fathers. Lia Block is the daughter of late rally car icon Ken Block. He serves as her inspiration and her mom is one of her confidants. Hamda and Amna Al Qubaisi also got into the sport because of their father, who raced when they were kids. Watching how the girls support each other as sisters is sweet.
After facing difficulties in her season, Bianca Bustamante goes to visit her grandmother, who is her biggest fan. There’s a scene where Abbi Pulling visits her grandfather, who is a source of motivation and support, and she gives him one of her podium caps.
The show also shares Chloe Chambers’ moving story. Her parents adopted her and her two siblings and their bond is very special.
While traveling the world under the pressure of fierce competition can be a lonely and isolating experience, the drivers create their own sense of family with each other, too.
F1 Academy drivers are ahead of the style game
Lewis Hamilton has paved the way for fashion in Formula 1. He’s made it all the way to being a co-chair at this year’s Met Gala. But “F1: The Academy” shows how the women drivers are already ahead of the game.
Amna Al Qubaisi drives a sparkly hot pink Porsche and wears perfectly painted black eyeliner. Wearing a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace is a sure sign the girl knows fashion.
Tina Hausmann has fairly limited airtime on the show, but early in the series, viewers see she has a glitzy tooth gem that makes her smile even brighter.
F1 Academy drivers have to embrace team sponsors just like their F1 counterparts. In one scene, Chloe Chambers wears a cool Palm Angels T-shirt, one of the sponsors of Haas. It’s a refreshing break from the team uniforms.
Bianca Bustamante leads the pack in the fashion game. Throughout the show, she wears denim corsets, bucket hats and layered necklaces. She even graced the cover of Vogue Philippines and a scene from Episode 3 shows her visiting the magazine’s office and her pure joy at seeing herself on a magazine cover.
F1 Academy embraces womanhood without stereotyping
“F1: The Academy” does a good job of emphasizing the series is for women and embraces femininity without relying on stereotypes. The drivers each express themselves differently with varying levels of femininity and each is held up as equal.
There’s the glitzy and fashionable Bianca Bustamante and Amna Al Qubaisi who both love wearing makeup and jewelry. Lia Block’s nails are always carefully painted, and she painted the women’s bathroom in her racing complex pink.
Lola Lovinfosse races in a car sponsored by Charlotte Tilbury. She says the sponsorship is a perfect fit for her because she likes looking feminine. The show doesn’t dive deeper into the significance of the makeup mogul sponsoring the series, but Tilbury’s partnership is breaking boundaries and showing women entrepreneurs what’s possible.
Other competitors, including Abbi Pulling and Doriane Pin, let their frizzy hair fly and have a much more natural aesthetic. Pin has an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and explains how she lets the hair and makeup crew do their thing.
There is a funny moment when the drivers are discussing the Dutch Grand Prix and Pulling tries to describe the track.
“Zandvoort is very… undulating,” she says. “It’s very undulating. I didn’t want to say ‘ovulating.’ I was really close to that.”
It’s a moment that is just for the girls and provides a good laugh.
Another note is that even though there are hints at tensions between different personality types and how the drivers choose to market themselves, there is no cattiness. This is very refreshing for a show all about women.
The docuseries allows the drivers to be themselves and celebrates them all equally is essential. It shows that there is a place in motorsport for every woman woman and how they choose to express themself.
F1 Academy’s Netflix show lacks a bit of context
All documentary projects are given a window of time and resources and it is impossible to tell the full story of F1 Academy in a seven-episode series that clearly focuses on one season. However, there are some holes that were clearly left open that didn’t have to be so gaping.
“F1: The Academy” focuses on the second season of the series. There is little to no mention of the inaugural season and its winner, Marta García. The Spanish driver even made a post on TikTok about how puzzling it was to not even be mentioned in the show. She is currently racing in the Le Mans Cup and even presented the pole position award to Oscar Piastri at the F1 Spanish Grand Prix. Including a bit more of her story would show how F1 Academy isn’t just a fun hobby, but helps the drivers boost their profile and connect with the world of F1.
There’s other details that racing fans would want to understand that aren’t explained. For example, Mercedes’ Dorian Pin is shown multiple times with engineers and teammates in red polos, not the Silver Arrows’ usual black uniforms. No, they aren’t members of Ferrari. They’re members of PREMA Racing, who actually manufactures and runs her car. A key element of F1 Academy (that is very quickly touched on in the show, but not fully explained) is that the teams on the F1 grid sponsor the cars, but the cars are built and powered by other motorsport teams. If the goal of F1 Academy is to provide opportunities for women in motorsport, shedding more light on these teams, not just the seemingly impenetrable F1 teams, would be helpful.
There’s also no mention of W Series, F1 Academy’s predecessor that followed a similar format and got support from Caitlyn Jenner. Some of the drivers featured in the show competed in W Series before it was shut down due to financial issues. It would be important to note that F1 Academy is not the first F1 support series meant just for women.
And there’s more head-scratching omissions. Managing Director Susie Wolff explains how she is in a position of authority to run F1 Academy because she has experience racing alongside Lewis Hamilton and sees how F1 works from the inside out. She is the wife of Mercedes’ team principal, Toto Wolff. It is nice how the docuseries briefly mentions his role while maintaining Susie as the center of the story and letting her accolades stand on their own.
But don’t think Wolff is the only woman to ever touch the world of F1. Other women in the F1 space include Haas’ Laura Mueller, who was promoted to Race Engineer for Estaban Ocon this season. And although controversial, Danica Patrick was rumored to have an opportunity to test an F1 car. Fleshing out the fuller picture of women in Formula 1 would not have taken away from F1 Academy’s impact, but given an opportunity for even more inspiration.
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