‘F1 the Movie’ is a sports drama that took the world by storm. F1 has been on the rise in recent years, and the creation of a film centered around it has only attracted more people to give the sport a chance. While watching Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes attempt to win a race in the fictional APXGP may be entertaining, the movie has one glaring issue: the way it portrays women.
The first of the two female characters who bring anything to the movie is Jodie, played by Callie Cooke. She is one of the pit stop tire gunners for APXGP. Her first appearance of consequence happens during the Silverstone Grand Prix, the first race portrayed in the movie. Out of all the crew members, she is the one whose wheel gun jams. While this isn’t a problem in itself, as she switches to a new one, she drops the old to the ground, right by the F1 car. The team’s second driver, Joshua Pierce, hits it as he leaves the pits.
Choosing the only female mechanic on the team to be the one who screws up a stop is not the most feminist decision. Especially with the addition of the moment in which, after Pearce’s attack, she is defended by Hayes. She does go on to tell the driver not to come to her rescue as it makes her seem weak in front of the team, but the damage is already done.
Jodie does get to redeem herself and is seen as a valuable member of the team by the end of the movie, but her character arc still isn’t favourable for women working in F1. All it does is reinforce the assumption that women start from being weak and can then go on to build their strength in the sport, while men are always good at what they do. In reality, there are many competent and well-trained women in F1, who don’t make race-compromising mistakes.
The biggest female role is that of Kate McKenna, the APXGP technical director, played by Kerry Condon. At first glance, it is a great representation of women in F1. She is the first ever female representation in her role. She is smart, well-educated, respected by her peers, and able to design a car that ends up being capable of winning a Grand Prix. The problem is, the closer one looks, the worse her character gets.
The most obvious issue is her relationship with Hayes. Despite stating that she would never get involved with a member of her team, before the movie is over, she ends up sleeping with him in her Vegas hotel room. Afterwards, she is treated like a woman in love, hanging on his arm as they talk on the balcony and looking at him with puppy dog eyes. All while Hayes seems to have anything but her on his mind.
Women working in motorsports are often told that they must only be a part of the world because they want to get men’s attention. Even female F1 fans can often hear that it’s obvious they are ‘only watching for the hot drivers’. Including an important female character only to immediately pair her up with the main character only adds fuel to the fire. The harmful stereotypes will never be broken if women’s ultimate dream is always men.
On top of that, while McKenna is presented as talented and clever, her best ideas for the new design of the car come from Hayes. It isn’t rare for experienced F1 drivers to use their expertise to help the team design the best possible machine, but in the context of the movie, the driver’s help seems almost like a condescending lifeline.
The world of F1 is not an easy place for women to make a place for themselves. Every female engineer, technician, or even journalist has to work twice as hard as her male counterparts, only to be seen as their equal. It is a shame that the fictional world created by ‘F1 the Movie’ perpetuates the same stereotypes that plague them daily.
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