Amy Mansell spent years helping brands find their place in Formula 1. Now she is building something for the fans who arrived with them.
The Formation launched this week as a membership community, live event brand and online platform for women who love F1 – and its commercial proposition is as deliberate as its founding story.
Mansell, whose work as Global Chief Partnerships Officer at ELEMIS produced F1’s first beauty partnership when it joined Aston Martin Aramco, has identified a gap that no brand has yet found a direct route into.
Three in four new fans entering F1 are women, there are now 350 million female F1 fans – 42% of the sport’s global fanbase – with no dedicated community of their own.
The Formation is built on the argument that the brands which move now will own that relationship before anyone else does.
“Brands are increasingly waking up to the value of the female fanbase but very few know how to reach them in a meaningful way,” Mansell told Sector.
“We offer something that hasn’t existed before: a direct, targeted way to engage female F1 fans at scale, in a community they actually want to be part of.
“That is a very different conversation to a logo on a car.”
The commercial model is built around an events programme launching in the second half of this season, with a full global calendar planned for 2027 and conversations with prospective partners are already under way.
“Less than 1% of F1 fans will ever attend a race,” explained Mansell.
“The future of fan engagement is not in the grandstand – it is in community. In the spaces where fans connect, share their passion and build relationships with the sport and with each other.
“The Formation is building that infrastructure for female F1 fans specifically, and doing it before anyone else does. The brands that move now will own that relationship. The ones that wait will be following.”
The advisory board
Brands are increasingly waking up to the value of the female fanbase but very few know how to reach them in a meaningful way.
Amy Mansell
The Formation launched with a board drawn from across F1’s commercial and broadcast landscape.
Broadcaster Natalie Pinkham, Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix President Katharina Nowak, NKrush founder and Chief Executive Officer Natalie Neal, and motorsport marketing strategist Silvia Schweiger have all confirmed their involvement.
“When I approached the women on our advisory board, every single one said yes immediately,” said Mansell.
“That told me everything. They are women who are passionate about driving real change.
“Having women of that calibre behind The Formation from day one is not just a credibility signal – it is a statement of intent.”
Inspiring the next generation
Beyond the commercial model, The Formation carries a longer-term ambition around the next generation of women in motorsport – one Mansell described as having become personal.
“Having a young daughter has made that mission even more personal for me,” she said.
“I want her, and every girl growing up today, to see Formula 1 not just as something they watch, but as a world where they can belong and build a future – whether that’s as an engineer, strategist, mechanic, broadcaster or marketer.
“I think that’s an incredibly exciting opportunity, not only for us as a community, but also for brands that genuinely want to invest in the future of women in motorsport.”
