Last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix brought a new test from Formula 1: A specific, kid-friendly broadcast designed for younger audiences. Giving instruction to a broadcast group comprised of teenagers was Danica Patrick, a former NASCAR and IndyCar driver turned occasional Sky Sports F1 commentator. There’s only one problem: Patrick actively discourages the mere prospect of one day being able to race in F1 because of their “feminine mind”.
During the race broadcast, a young commentator named Scarlett asked Patrick when we might see a female F1 race car. Patrick’s answer starts off quite logically, as transliterated by King Alanis and assert yourself:
As I’ve always said throughout my career, it takes 100 boys to find a good one, and then 100 girls. It takes a long time to find a good one, doesn’t it? It’s just, the odds aren’t in favor of always having one or more of them.
In this context, Patrick is absolutely correct. With fewer women in the racing ranks, finding someone capable at the F1 level can be more difficult when compared to the mass of men who race every year. We will struggle to find that truly talented woman among the 100 special female racers because those 100 women will take longer to enter motorsport.
But then Patrick continued:
And at the end of the day, I think the essence of sport is masculine. It is ferocious. You know, you have to drive the car – not just the car, because it’s a skill, but the mindset it takes to be really good is unusual in a woman’s mind, in a woman’s mind.
You have to be, like, to me, I know if someone tries to subdue or give me a hard time, I’ll go into active kill mode, right? You just want to go after them, and that’s not a natural woman’s mindset. I say that because I asked my friends about it, and they said, “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Patrick is undoubtedly the most successful female driver of her time, and it’s certainly worth hearing her thoughts on the subject – but we don’t have to wholeheartedly accept what they are. After all, Patrick recently headlined her podcast, where she hold a discussion about the ability of aliens to edit human DNA to limit lifespan. And if you’ve been following Patrick for a while, you’ll probably know that her controversial views on health, physical, and sociological concerns have spanned several years.
Well, we should listen to Patrick. We should also understand that it’s entirely possible that she has limited beliefs about women in general, or that what she understands as a “masculine” mindset could instead be more accurately called a “competitive” mindset.
More than anything else, however, it’s important to note that sports broadcasts for young children are probably not the ideal venue to share deeply discouraging messages with a large group of younger audiences.
