A question of culture

Racecar’s Deputy Editor highlights the issue of diversity in motor racing

- STEWART MITCHELL

The rhetoric across the motorsport world at the moment is that we must fight racism, that it isn’t diverse enough and needs to change. It’s safe to say that the upper echelons of motorsport, such as MotoGP and Formula 1 is, as James Alison, Technical Director of Mercedes Formula 1 team put it, ‘just nerdy white blokes.’ So, what is it in particular about the higher echelons of motorsport that mean that this is the case?

Motorsport is a complex amalgamation of business, sport and technical exercise. Mike Blanchet’s column in this issue of Racecar Engineering (p7) discusses the fragility of these three elements when approached from the perspective of a privateer / customer team, and a manufacturer in Formula 1.

Like any other sport, in racing there is a way to get ahead of the competition individually (athletes), technically (equipment) or strategically (gameplay). However, unlike some other sports in the world where there is a coaching squad of a few people, some owners and the athletes, in the higher tiers of racing there are hundreds and in some cases thousands of people that make up each race team or work in the motorsport network.