⛔ What's wrong?
F1 shouts about women being F1’s fastest growing fanbase demographic. F1 Academy is going from strength to strength. Women compete in IndyNXT, the World Endurance Championship, British F4 and many others. Motorsport has a unique platform in that women and men compete in equal machinery.
Therefore, it’s not good enough that we’re in 2024 and the regulations for: F1, F2, F3, WEC, Formula E, British GT and World Rally Championship (I’m sure there are sadly many others) are still not gender neutral.
👫 So, the drivers are referred to as men?
No, this is not “just” a driver issue, these regulations assume that drivers, FIA officials (including the Race Director), Clerk of the Course, Team Principal and others all exclusively use masculine pronouns.
❓ But surely there are bigger problems?
In my opinion, this is the biggest current issue in motorsport regulations and hopefully highlighting the problem will lead to change.
🏅 Which Regulators are getting this right?
Football: the Laws of the Game uses titles for gender neutrality (eg the player). The same rules apply to men and women.
Domestic motorsport: Motorsport UK have pioneered this change. In July 2023, Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers said: “[The use of masculine-pronouns is] unacceptable and we absolutely put pressure on anybody we come across in the motorsport world that is not providing full inclusivity and appropriate language.” (https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/an-overdue-rule-change-is-coming-and-f1-must-follow-it-soon/)
International motorsport: the IndyCar regulations are gender neutral (and have had many female drivers over the years) and use “himself/herself”, etc throughout.
🧠 But I thought F2 and F3 had fixed this?
Good point, Google’s Gemini AI gives the following answer as of 05 October (and while this isn’t an article on the pitfalls of AI, this shows you why you shouldn’t trust AI for information!):
Interestingly, there was significant press in December 2023 that the FIA had updated the F2 and F3 Regulations. However, if you read the latest F2 and F3 Regulations, this hasn’t been done. The June 2024 versions of each still include various uses of masculine pronouns (see some examples at the end).
🙎♂️ So why do all of these international series still use “he” / “him”, etc?
It seems as if there’s some effort to try and fix this but sadly it hasn’t gone far enough. I don’t think motorsport can talk about being inclusive without having appropriate regulations so it’s disappointing that this permeates so many international competitions.
Fixing this is probably an afternoon’s worth of drafting and it should be the current top priority. Personally, I’d suggest using titles throughout for clarity (eg the “driver”) vs any gendered terms at all. The FIA Regulatory lawyers are a fantastic group, have a difficult job, and I hope to hear that this is being resolved.
Nobody would challenge its introduction (unless they want to damage their reputation). I love the idea of someone protesting a result based on a regulation not applying due to a masculine-pronoun. It won’t ever happen because obviously participants will avoid making the sport look bad but that’s exactly the problem: this looks terrible for “inclusive” motorsport. So, come on teams, rights holders, regulators, etc; let's fix it.
If you’d like to chat about sports regulatory drafting or interpretation, then let me know.
Image © F1 Academy
***************************************
EXAMPLES:
F1 Sporting Regulations 2024 Issue 7 (31 July 2024):
Article 3.1: It is the Competitor’s responsibility to ensure that all persons concerned by his entry observe all the requirements of the Regulations.
Article 8.7: If in the opinion of the F1 Commission, a Competitor fails to operate his team in a manner compatible with the standards of the Championship or in any way brings the Championship into disrepute, the FIA may exclude such Competitor from the Championship forthwith.
Article 9.2: Prior to the start of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship competition numbers were permanently allocated to drivers by ballot, such numbers must then be used by that driver during every Formula One World Championship Competition he takes part in throughout his career in Formula 1.
Article 14.3: The Technical Delegate nominated by the FIA is responsible for scrutineering. In this respect he may carry out, or have carried out by scrutineers, at his discretion, any checks.
Article 19.4(c): Any driver retiring before the end of the race must make themselves available for media interviews after his return to the paddock.
Article 26.4: Under no circumstances may a driver stop his car on the track without justifiable reason.
F2 Sporting Regulations – v3 11 June 2024
Article 29.2: In the event of any breach of these provisions for the weighing of cars the stewards may drop the driver such number of grid positions as they consider appropriate or disqualify him from the race.
F3 Sporting Regulations – v3 11 June 2024
Article 39.3: If any of the four penalties above are imposed upon a driver, and that driver is unable to serve the penalty due to retirement from the race, the stewards may impose a grid place penalty on the driver at his next Race.
The F1, F2 and F3 Sporting Regulations are ©2024 Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile