Enzo Ferrari famously remarked, “If you ask any child to draw a car, they’ll sketch a red one.” Sofia Valente Pierini was a quintessential example of this when she was young.
“Every Sunday, we’d visit my maternal grandfather, my Nonno, who would have his small early 2000s tube television set up on the kitchen counter,” she reminisced. The Formula One Grand Prix was always on, and Valente Pierini’s gaze would instinctively follow the Ferraris.
In 2025, her favorite driver, Lewis Hamilton, donned the legendary red uniform for the first time, and by June 2026, he secured his inaugural Grand Prix victory as a Ferrari driver.
“Being a fan of both Hamilton and Ferrari has been an emotional journey,” Valente Pierini confessed. Since 2022, she has been creating F1 content under the handle @formulasofia, chronicling the emotional rollercoaster of being a Ferrari supporter. “Watching him stand at the top of that podium was incredible; it felt like a return home.”
Valente Pierini is part of a fresh wave of content creators who are transforming the F1 media landscape for a younger and more diverse audience—one that might have had a distant connection to the sport through a faded Ferrari flag in their grandfather’s living room.
In conjunction with the wildly popular Netflix series Drive to Survive, user-generated content is engaging a new F1 fanbase, similar to how radio historically attracted baseball and hockey enthusiasts.
Different sports suited to different media
Each new broadcasting technology has had features that made them particularly suitable for specific sports. According to Stacy Lorenz, vice dean at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus and a professor focused on the sociology and history of sport, the online content surrounding F1 is the latest example of media synergy propelling a sport into cultural prominence.
For instance, Lorenz mentioned how radio played a significant role in elevating baseball to America’s pastime and solidifying hockey’s place in Canadian culture. The play-by-play commentary and color analysis were ideally suited to the sequential nature of baseball.
“The pauses that allow storytelling between pitches fit perfectly with that narrative style and storytelling,” he noted.
Likewise, Lorenz pointed out how dynamic sports like basketball and football flourished on television, utilizing multi-camera setups to capture the action across the entire field for viewers at home.
A thrilling lap at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix. With a limited number of drivers competing simultaneously, fans find F1 an accessible sport to embrace. (Getty Images)
In Lorenz’s perspective, F1’s connection with short-form videos and streaming represents the next natural evolution in this sequence. He specifically highlights the significance of the “placeless consumer,” referring to fans who aren’t geographically tied to a sport, unlike a Leafs supporter residing in Toronto.
“I believe F1 exemplifies the most advanced form of that experience available today,” he asserted. “You can engage with these sports live no matter your location, while also immersing yourself in the surrounding culture, narratives, and stories through various media.”
New ownership, new ideas
James Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver who hosts the podcast Off Track with Hinch and Rossi and provides commentary for F1TV, claims that everything transformed when Liberty Media acquired F1 in 2017.
<p"When Liberty took over, there was a natural inclination to embrace the online and digital aspects that had been lacking in Formula One previously," he stated.
James Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver now offering commentary for F1 TV, noted that a change in ownership ushered in a new era for F1 media. (Getty Images)
According to Laurel Walzak, an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of RTA Sports Media, the Liberty acquisition led to a significant transformation in the sport.
“It’s similar to what hockey did a decade or so ago when they recognized that to engage more fans, they needed to show players without their helmets,” Walzak remarked, referencing initiatives like arena walk-in cameras and in-game interviews. “Formula One has excelled in this area on social media.”
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Why we’re still watching Formula 1: Drive to Survive, 8 seasons in
Hinchcliffe believes that Drive to Survive has demonstrated how simply fans can follow F1 drivers as if they were characters in a reality show. With only 22 drivers participating across the sport and all competing each race weekend, having cameras in the paddock ensures a constant supply of content.
“These drivers have big personalities and egos, which are essential ingredients for a successful reality program,” he noted.
McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris celebrating a ‘McLaren One-Two’ at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix. Hinchcliffe believes F1 drivers are the characters that invested audiences seek. (Getty Images)
Online content a big draw for fans
Valente Pierini describes F1 as a tightly-knit community, as many drivers have been friends since their childhood days in junior racing leagues.
“The content landscape is filled with a lot of drama among them,” she mentioned. “Yet, at the end of the day, there’s something truly beautiful about the community.”
Cadence Willie, who shares F1 content with over 80,000 followers on Instagram as @cadencebraking, argues that F1-centric sections of the internet allow fans to customize their experiences further, as algorithms tailor content to their specific interests.
“You could definitely say the Netflix bubble has burst,” Willie commented, noting that the new content generated in social media circles is as enticing for new fans as Drive to Survive.
With every F1 car fitted with numerous cameras and team radios, content creators have an abundance of footage to utilize, enabling them to cater to specific niches and delve into what Willie describes as the various kinds of F1 lore, whether memes or notable relationships.
“Once you’ve covered the basic information, it doesn’t take much to lead you to the next level,” Willie stated. “There is truly something for everyone.”
Valente Pierini aspires for the new wave of digital accessibility in the F1 realm to also make the sport more affordable. Despite being an F1 content creator living in a city that hosts Grand Prix events, she finds it challenging to afford tickets.
“It’s always been viewed as a glamorous sport, and now young people everywhere are tuning in,” she said. “I wish it were more accessible to the general public.”