Days After Issuing Sexist Remarks, Danica Patrick Takes Controversial Stance on Employing Women in F1

Formula 1 isn’t just a sport anymore. It has such a massive following now and with the ethos of motor racing, the drivers and paddock insiders alike have become role models. The need of the hour as admitted by many big names in the sport is equality and inclusivity. Then, is it too much to ask for from these idols of ours to champion this cause? Well, a recent inductee into the F1 paddock, ex-NASCAR and IndyCar driver, Danica Patrick is unknowingly doing just the opposite.

Recently, during the Hungarian GP weekend, the 41-year-old racing driver turned TV pundit caught deserved flak online after she made shockingly sexist comments during the special ‘Children’s Broadcast’ on Sky Sports F1. Now, a few days later, she’s gone a step further by dismissing the idea of ever having a female F1 driver based on flimsy and bizarre grounds.

Danica Patrick slams efforts to employ women in F1

You’d expect Patrick to be the No. 1 advocate to get F1’s very first full-time female driver on the grid as soon as possible given her position as a female driver who surely would’ve faced the institutional turmoils of this sport. As it turns out though, Patrick has seemingly no interest in being a role model for young women, rather, she’d have this whole idea binned if she had the choice.

During a recent Sky Sports F1 podcast titled ‘Q&A with racing icon Danica Patrick’, she was asked if she thought the sport was doing enough to get closer to the dream of having a female driver on the grid. She was quick to nip that question in the bud with a brutally bizarre response.

She said, “You’re assuming I want that. You’re assuming that is important to me. And it’s not. It’s always like an interesting stance I have on it. I think what makes a sport really popular is great racing. Like you can have half the field out there [with] women and have them be follow the leader and it’s not gonna be interesting to watch.”

Read More: “Needs to Leave”: Angry F1 Fans Make One Demand To Boot Danica Patrick

Patrick’s comments may come as a surprise to the fans, however, if we dig a little deeper, Patrick has always been averse to the idea of helping the unrepresented female motoring community.

Patrick doesn’t believe in sexism

There is a long list of female drivers who have documented their struggles in a male-dominated sport such as racing. That being said, for Danica Patrick, the real reason for dismal representation or a lack of achievement for these drivers isn’t really the society but their own skewed priorities.

In an interview with Miami Living Magazine in 2021, Patrick was quoted as saying, “You know, any amount of it is human. Trust me, living in England and being a teenager with a bunch of teenage guys and having them gossip, or make jokes, or you could tell they’re whispering about you… but it wasn’t about being a girl.”

“That was about being that age, you know? Maybe part of it was about being a girl, but that’s not what I chose to focus on. What I chose to focus on was that I was at a really pivotal age. Teenage years, boys will be boys, and this is just human nature. If this didn’t just happen at the racetrack, it would have been happening in school.” 

Do you agree with Danica Patrick?

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