\u201cThe red ripple at the back, that represents what Alisha is doing,\u201d McCrea explained, \u201cLike, the ripple effect of women entering fields that they haven\u2019t been in before and how that makes it possible for others to even have the imagination and the idea that that\u2019s something that they could want for themselves. And the ripple effect that results from a woman succeeding in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmowski, who is in her first full-time season in F1 Academy in 2025, echoed a similar sentiment, though putting the spotlight on the championship\u2019s impact rather than herself. The inaugural season of the all-women racing series took place in 2023 without F1 team involvement or even live broadcasting. Now, all 10 F1 teams support drivers, broadcasts are aired in more than 160 territories and there\u2019s a Netflix docuseries similar to \u201cDrive to Survive.\u201d There are similarities with the other junior categories, such as Formula Two and Formula Three, in terms of how races are arranged as support on F1 weekends.<\/p>\n
During the Miami Grand Prix weekend last month, at an autograph session, numerous young female fans told Palmowski how she inspired them. To Palmowski, the ripples represent just that \u2014 \u201cthe movement that F1 Academy is doing within motorsport in terms of us being role models and increasing female participation within the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing that the F1 Academy car would be a canvas in motion did impact how McCrea created the design. Not only did it need to work while the car was navigating the track at speed, but it also had to be readable at a distance, whether in person or on TV. McCrea\u2019s eyes lit up as the rendering of her design popped up on the screen during the exclusive interview with The Athletic. It was the first time she\u2019d seen the drawing mocked up since submitting the final design.<\/p>\n
McCrea initially began with around 80 different ideas. She looked at past motorsport liveries, drew inspiration from Palmowski\u2019s story<\/a>, and considered whether Palmowski would want to stand out even more in this male-dominated space. But password management company 1Password, a partner of the F1 team and the Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans Academy Programme, helped McCrea narrow down the concepts as a cohesive story took shape. As Palmowski put it, this design \u201crepresents just a celebration as well of female excellence and talent within sport, design and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWithout partners like 1Password, I wouldn\u2019t even have the opportunity to be on the F1 Academy grid this year,\u201d Palmowski later added. \u201cThey create real chances for young talent, emerging talent, and the next generation of racers, leaders, engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n Palmowski is currently fourth in the 2025 F1 Academy standings, with one victory and this second place at the Miami round in May (Hector Vivas \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) remains one of the fields where women are underrepresented. Data from the World Bank shows that 35 percent of STEM employees in the U.S. identify as women, per the Women Tech Network<\/a>. But according to a 2024 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report<\/a>, the number of women working in the high-tech industry hasn\u2019t budged much since 2005. Jeannie De Guzman, 1Password\u2019s COO, acknowledged progress being made, though she said \u201cwe\u2019re not where we want to be,\u201d and that what is being done in motorsports and tech might help increase the number of women in the STEM workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing that representation, I think, really matters,\u201d she said, touching on watching the Netflix docuseries on F1 Academy with her daughter. \u201cAnd so F1 Academy exudes that. So that\u2019s really great. The partnership that we have with Alisha\u2019s team directly supports that mission of recognition, of letting people know that it exists, that we\u2019re investing and that it\u2019s going to bring together that next generation of really powerful women, and they need to be there and stay there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re meant to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n But barriers to entry remain considerable. Motorsports is one of the most expensive sports in the world, creating an obstacle for many competitors and team employees. But F1 Academy has helped save some drivers\u2019 careers. Abbi Pulling mentioned in the docuseries, \u201cF1: The Academy,\u201d how she might not have been able to compete again without winning the championship in 2024, and she sold merchandise to help pay for her further career (Pulling now competes in the 2025 GB3 championship).<\/p>\n In Palmowski\u2019s case, Red Bull is providing \u201ca huge financial backing,\u201d along with the team sponsors such as 1Password.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put a lot in as well, by personal sponsorship, by support, travel, hotels,\u201d she said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve done 36 flights this year, which is a lot more than I have ever done in my whole life. I know it\u2019s not on a par with F1 drivers, but it\u2019s still a lot more than I\u2019ve ever done before. So, it\u2019s extremely expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n F1 Academy is still only in its third season, but has resulted in tangible progress, as seen by the subsequent driver career progression of Pulling, Bianca Bustamante and Marta Garc\u00eda (2023 champion) progressing in their careers. But the series still faces criticism, such as the car\u2019s speed perhaps not being the best preparation for the drivers to step up the ladder, or accusations that the series is just a PR push that won\u2019t help their development.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can see progress being made, and it\u2019s because of people that think to invest, to put money where their mouth is, to actually put together programming, having an actual program that has coaches and support system, a series on TV,\u201d De Guzman said. \u201cThis is not just somebody spending a little money to check the box. This is real infrastructure around this. And so I think that today, for example, I am optimistic that, despite the critiques, everything that we do at 1Password, that Alisha\u2019s team is doing, is going to continue to bring up that percentage of female individuals in the workforce \u2013 whether it\u2019s motorsport or tech, to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n It all starts as a thought, an idea, a dream taking flight \u2014 a dandelion seed carried by the wind.<\/p>\n For Palmowski, the seeds represent her growth journey in the all-women series over the last few months and the learning curve she navigates lap after lap. And the thing about art is that it carries depth and symbolism, yet people can interpret it in many different ways, finding parts that call to them or tug at their heartstrings. As personal as it is, the livery on her car in Montreal this weekend carries the weight of a movement, not a moment, as F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff always says about the series.<\/p>\n \u201cI want people to look at this car,\u201d McCrea said, \u201cand look at Alisha and say, \u2018This is smashing the stereotype of what F1 racing can be.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n (Top image: ???)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull Racing\u2019s F1 Academy car demands attention. Driven by Alisha Palmowski, it\u2019s normally uniform with Red Bull\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,4979,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-174074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-motorsports","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114661459637638688","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2213244562-scaled.jpg\")
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