A Question of Culture – Racecar Engineering

Motorsport is a huge multifaceted industry with personnel working in all sciences, engineering, logistics, sponsorship, business management, accounting, IT, manufacturing, design, marketing, media, photography, and many more. However, as Lewis Hamilton highlighted in 2020, “the institutional barriers that have kept Formula 1 highly exclusive persist.” Said institutional barriers that Hamilton refers to could be considered to be the culture of motorsport.

Often when people discuss race, the word culture comes into conversation. Culture by definition is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behaviour and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. In a bid to not least improve the diversity of motorsport, but also its culture, a few movements have started in the motorsport community.

Race winner Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates on the podium with Marga Torres Diez, Mercedes AMG F1 Power Unit Engineer. 09.06.2019. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 7, Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal, Canada, Race Day. Credit: XPB Images