F1's young fans who refuse to accept harassment at grands prix

F1

Reports of crowd aggression at the Austrian Grand Prix were far from a one-off, say fans. And as the grandstands become more diverse, they aren't prepared to suffer in silence any longer

Desiree and Virginia Stubbe on an Austrian GP sign

Austria was the third race Desiree (left) and Virginia (right) have attended this season after previously going to Imola and Miami

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After seeing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell show impressive pace at the British Grand Prix, Silver Arrows fans Desiree and Virginia Stubbe were looking forward to cheering on their team at the Red Bull Ring.

The dedicated F1 followers travelled to Austria from their home in Germany, keenly arriving on Thursday so they could walk the track ahead of the weekend’s racing. But the 28-year-old twins’ excitement barely lasted half an hour.

“We wore our Mercedes t-shirt,” says Virginia. “There were two people who said, ‘Why are you wearing this shirt? It’s wrong’.”

It was first of several unfriendly encounters in the Styrian hills, as they were increasingly made to feel unwelcome as the day went on. “There was hostility [to us] because we are Mercedes fans,” says Desiree. “When we wore Mercedes, people shared their negative opinions with us — but we didn’t ask them.”

Red Bull sculture at the Red Bull Ring

This year’s Austrian GP brought widespread reports of harassment

Grand Prix Photo

Although the pair have been watching races for 15 years, they are exactly the demographic that Formula 1 has been attracting in greater numbers: young, female and avid social media users. They have helped boost TV and digital viewing figures, while also dramatically increasing the series’ reach on Twitter, Facebook, Twitch and TikTok.

Now hooked on the sport, this audience is increasingly attending grands prix — the Stubbes have been to eight — and their growing numbers are refusing to accept boisterous, aggressive behaviour that can ruin their race experience.

At a venue dominated by Max Verstappen‘s ‘orange army’ of fans, and with the bitterness of last year’s title battle still fresh, the pair found that changing teamwear, switching to Ferrari and McLaren tops, brought some respite. Others in the crowd were less fortunate.

One Hamilton fan said that a group of men lifted up her skirt, saying she didn’t deserve respect because of her allegiance. Another complained of inappropriate touching, while others reported homophobic abuse.

Formula 1 swiftly criticised the behaviour, as did drivers, including Verstappen, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who called for offenders to be banned from attending grands prix for life.

The rhetoric was strong, but many are wondering why it took so long. In 2020, Motor Sport highlighted the harassment that some women face in the paddock and it doesn’t take long on social media to find fans complaining of intimidating behaviour at other races. Complaints about male conduct towards women at the Austrian Grand Prix date back to before Verstappen’s arrival into Formula 1.

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British F1 fan Adam Jackson, 33 went to Spa-Francorchamps for the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix with three friends — two male and one female, who still recalls an intimidating atmosphere.

“I was speaking to her, just reminiscing, and she was talking about how lairy the crowd was,” says Jackson. “She said that she wouldn’t have felt comfortable being there on her own.”

Some may see the verbal criticism of ‘opposing’ fans as part and parcel of the race experience, but the outcry in Austria — and the response — suggests that the days of aggressive crowds are numbered.

The make-up is certainly changing. Last year, the number of female respondents to F1’s global fan survey almost doubled compared with 2017, and the average age of supporters reduced by four years to 32. There’s increased interest from across the world and F1’s new audience is not prepared to tolerate discrimination, says Virginia Stubbe.

“It’s driven by young people,” she says. “We have to admit that we are kind of relieved that it comes out in public now because we have experienced this for quite a few years and we never said anything because we thought it’s normal. We are happy that some raised their voice and said ‘no, this can’t happen again’.”

Her sister says that their experience varied wildly from race to race, with alcohol and partisan crowds changing the atmosphere dramatically at some events. “I think Miami was the safest place ever,” she says. “The people there were very friendly, fans of different teams, not that drunk, but in Austria there was big binge drinking, so of course alcohol also has an influence on people’s behaviour.

That was echoed by Jackson, a police officer, who witnessed similar scenes at Spa. “A lot of the fans had things like mini fridges full of alcohol on trolleys which they were taking around the track with them,” he says. “Particularly with general admission tickets, you’ve got to get in there early so people are drinking from that time.”

It contrasts with the previous race, the British Grand Prix, where the gender split was approaching 50-50, and where fans of different allegiances, wearing a rainbow of colours, rubbed along without major trouble.

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Adam (right, in blue hood) first attended a Grand Prix race in 1995

F1 should look to similar venues to tackle the trouble says Jackson, who has attended more than 30 races.  “The way they’ve got it set up at Silverstone is brilliant,” he says. “As an example, one of my mates went with his five-year-old son this year and straight away one of the race makers came over, introduced himself and put a wristband on him with my mate’s phone number and said ‘if you get lost from your dad, you come and find one of us in the pink t-shirts and blue trousers’. They’re absolutely everywhere at the circuit – highly visible too.

“I don’t know what the policing situation is at other races but if somebody approaches and says something like an offence has taken place, are those people in place to deal with that person?”

https://twitter.com/vettelsunshine/status/1545842618545889281

For Desiree and Virginia Stubbe, more security at some venues is crucial. On raceday in Austria the sisters wore Red Bull shirts, as part of a commercial agreement for their @formula1_twins Instagram account, but they say that the Mercedes flag that they also took along brought more aggression from fans, who were filling the stands with orange smoke.

“In our grandstand there was the flares and nobody did anything, security just stood there and they acted as if it wasn’t happening, it’s pretty dangerous,” says Desiree. “The security check at the gates was very low, in Miami it was different because you had to walk through this door and then a metallic scan.

“[Flares] were prohibited items and obviously the security didn’t check that and everybody has seen it happening in the grandstand and I was really wondering why they haven’t taken action because it’s not only a danger for the drivers but also for others around and in the end, people pay so much money to go there and then see nothing.”

Orange smoke from Max Verstappen fans at the Red Bull Ring

This is a similar scene to tracks like Spa and Zandvoort where Verstappen fans travel in their numbers

DPPI

The sisters had already planned to attend more races this season but, as they and others wait to see if any substantial safety changes are made, they are keeping their wardrobe under review.

“In Miami we never had the fear to put our Mercedes shirts on and we are also going to Spa and Zandvoort this year and somehow I’m already scared to go there with our outfits because I don’t know what happens,” says Desiree.