From blogger to broadcaster, Katy Fairman has become a well-known presence in the paddock. So, how is she pushing the boundaries and paving the way for women in motorsport?
Katy Fairman is a busy lady.
She knows what she wants, and she is more than capable of getting it, no matter what the old guard of motorsport might think. A young woman with a blog has flourished into one of the driving forces of female journalism in motorsports.
“I think people can tell I'm very genuine, I’m very hardworking, and I know my stuff from watching Formula 1 since I was a toddler.”
Fairman’s career started when she was an A-Level student, blogging about all things motorsport. Some of her earliest entries documented her experience at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, of Fernando Alonso leaving Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen replacing him. Her career grew when she became the editor for WTF1, working alongside F1 journalists Matt Gallagher and Tom Bellingham, before moving into freelance.
Katy began frequently covering Formula E races, hosting and presenting since the series’ first season, whilst attending car launches and rubbing shoulders with some of the most important people in motorsport. A highlight for her was interviewing legendary racing driver, four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, one of her biggest idols in the sport.
Pictured: Sebastian Vettel and Katy Fairman
She’s passionate, on another level of knowledgeable, and she’s interviewed some of the greatest drivers motorsport has ever seen.
“Mission complete: I have made Lewis Hamilton laugh.” Fairman told me, a sense of pride in her voice.
How did she make the seven-time World Champion laugh, I hear you ask?
By stepping outside of her comfort zone and being damn good at what she does.
While other reporters were hounding the 103-time race winner for a comment on the recent allegations made by Felipe Massa regarding the outcome of the 2008 World Championship, Fairman looked for another way in, a fresh angle. It clearly paid off.
“I thought, ‘Screw it, I’m gonna ask him something different’.” She recalls, choosing to ask him about his relationship with recently retired Sebastian Vettel.
“I don’t know how much the other journalists were thinking, ‘Ugh, why is this girl asking about Vettel’, but I like to think I know what will go down well on the internet.
“Lewis gave a really funny answer, he said, ‘Oh, you've reminded me I need to text him, I haven't replied to him’. I still had the microphone, so I said to him, ‘You left Sebastian Vettel on read?’, which he found really funny.”
Small Torque, Fairman’s podcast, launched in February 2023, described as a ‘fun, informal look at the big talking points from the world of motorsport.’ She amassed over 100,000 listeners in just four months. Fairman had been a driving factor of the WTF1 podcast when it started, recording with Gallagher and Bellingham weekly, producing content fans loved. It was a natural progression to launch her own show.
Katy is one of many inspiring female journalists gracing the paddocks of the world. Fairman herself looks up to several, including Sky’s Bernie Collins.
“What an amazing woman,” Fairman emphasised. “She’s a fantastic addition to the Sky Sports team.
“There are other journalists in the industry that I look up to as well, people like Claire Cottingham and Rebecca Clancy, both of whom are not in the paddock this year, which is even more depressing when talking about the statistics, especially with what’s going on at the moment.”
Fairman is referring to allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against Oracle Redbull Racing boss Christian Horner.
“It feels like it’s not a nice time to be a woman in motorsport and I think that’s reflected by the lack of women asking difficult questions to these men about what on earth is going on.”
Katy knows better than anyone the realities of being a woman of motorsport. It doesn’t matter how many times she’s walked a paddock, been published, demonstrated her credibility, she still faces the stomach-churning sexism that most women in the industry face.
“I went to a dinner a few years ago with Formula E for one of the teams and I was talking to a sponsor. They had come on board that season, and I was saying both the drivers are doing so well.”
“It sounds like you fancy them.” The sponsor remarked. Because why else would a woman have any interest in motorsport, if not to ogle the racing drivers? Why would a woman care about something unless it's pink and shiny, like the racecar Katy was directed towards by a security guard at an Autosport International event?
“I was genuinely flabbergasted, I was like ‘What the hell? I'm telling you they’re good drivers!’ I mentioned nothing about their physical appearances, only the achievements that they had done on track.
“For him to say that left my jaw on the ground.”
It gets very boring very quickly having to defend your interests in the motorsports community; ask any female fan and she’ll tell you. Exhausting is one word to describe it. Infuriating is another. We have to know every world champion since Farino in 1950, we have to know the tyre compounds and explain what oversteer is, we have to be able to tell you what Max Verstappen has for breakfast. Well, oversteer is when a car’s rear tyres lose grip, and I hear Verstappen enjoys a bowl of porridge in the mornings.
“I don't ever think about the fact I am a woman, I feel like I'm someone who is really passionate about motorsport and who loves racing-cars” says Fairman. Why should her gender matter, when she’s earned her place on merit?
“In certain paddocks, we really have a long way to go. In print journalism, it’s shockingly bad.”
The sad reality is that there is a frightening disparity between men and women in motorsports journalism, particularly in print, where it’s easy to hide the fact that most of the jobs are filled by white, middle aged men. Sitting in a press conference, it's not unlikely for Katy to be one of, if not the only, woman in the room. That’s not to say she doesn’t use it to her advantage.
“At Formula E testing, I spotted Mark Webber, I went up to him and said ‘Sorry to interrupt, would it be possible to get a quick interview?’” Webber, a nine-time F1 race winner, now manages Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing FE driver, as well as Mclaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri, and Katy secured the interview.
“I went back up to the media centre and I was like ‘Oh my God, I’ve met Mark Webber’, and all of my male colleagues went downstairs to find him.” But Webber declared he was only doing the one interview.
“I don't know if it was by chance but sometimes I think I can get away with a little bit more by being nice and friendly.
“Generally, I haven't found I've been treated too differently, which is what I want, to be on an equal level with everyone else.”
Katy prides herself in pushing the boundaries for women seeking a place in the industry, on and off the track. She was one of the first people to sign up for Susie Wolff-backed Dare To Be Different, now known as FIA Girls on Track.
So, for the next generation of young women looking to get onto the grid, either behind the wheel or with a notebook in hand? Katy’s message is a simple one.
“Have belief in yourself, do a lot of learning, be curious.”
That’s what she did, and it’s safe to say it’s paying off.
Pictured: Fairman in the Monaco Pitlane
Find out more about Katy Fairman here!
Listen to the Small Torque podcast here!
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