Meet Kimerah, Lydia and Skye – three F1 enthusiasts, with a combined 150k followers on TikTok, who are steering their passions into content. Their stories drive change and redefine what it means to be a female fan in the fast lane. Here’s the exclusive guide on how to become an F1 TikTok creator.
Name: Kimerah Ramnath
Got into F1 by: Flatmate
TikTok: @f1kimiz
Name: Lydia Faulkner
Got into F1 by: TikTok feed
TikTok: @live.laugh.lyds
Name: Skye Upshall
Got into F1 by: Dad
TikTok: @skyeofficial
When did you decide you wanted to start making F1 content?
Lydia: I started making content in February 2022. I kept seeing everyone’s TikTok and I was like, ‘I can do that’. I’m not going to say I’m funny, but my friends have always said to me ‘you should make videos’, but I refused to download TikTok. I was suffering badly with my mental health, I wasn’t going into university, and I was bored. I remember talking to my family about all these ideas, my mum said, ‘why don’t you just film it?’. So, I just pressed post one day, and the rest is history.
Were you nervous when you posted for the first time?
Kimerah: Oh, absolutely. I am 27-years-old, but I still worry about that. I was worried if people from my work were going to see it. But then I was like, you know what? Who cares? If this is going to make me happy, why can’t I do it? If I can do it on the side of my day job as an IVF scientist, which I absolutely love, and then have this as well, why not?
Have you had negative comments which have stuck with you?
Kimerah: I’ve been on the internet since I was 14. I think I’ve developed a thick skin, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t look at people’s comments sometimes and think, why are you saying that? I think I cop a lot of flak from men because they just don’t understand how sport and fashion can intertwine. I’m clearly making them angry, but I’m also creating a change and I think it’s a good change. So, if it makes them upset, I’m sorry to them but if my content isn’t geared to you, what you can do is just click that block button and go on with your day.
How did you grow your content?
Lydia: I’d like to think I was posting different content. I was just speaking from a fan perspective. The comments I would receive were ‘this is how I feel’ and people still message me that nowadays , which is nice to know people can relate to me. I guess it was just a mixture of being consistent and posting what I thought were good videos. I just have good people that do follow me. I think I interact with them well. It’s always felt like I’m building a community.
What makes F1 as a sport and content creation so captivating?
Kimerah: It’s the drivers. It’s the drivers and their individual personalities. This relates to the 1D-ification of F1. Because One Direction was so different in their personalities and offered so much to so many different audiences. And I think that Formula 1 drivers give off that same appeal. They’re all so different. There are personalities in the NBA and the NFL, but I don’t think personalities shine through like they do in Formula One, because there are only 20 of them, and other sports are so much bigger. You get attached to people, you get attached to their teams. It’s kudos to them for just being who they are.
Skye: F1 is the most exciting sport in the world because it’s competitive, but the margins are so close normally. I think younger people are suddenly really respecting the whole F1 thing. And the sport is becoming more of a hot topic to talk about. And that’s when social media comes in because it’s our form of socialisation.
Have you had any challenges building your brand?
Kimerah: I think being a woman of colour is extremely challenging in the content creation space and you don’t want that to be a barrier in your life. But when you get into it, you sort of see other people getting opportunities that you feel you’ve worked extremely hard for. It’s sad to say because I never want that to be an excuse in my life. I think that there’s a certain privilege that some people have that they don’t understand. But that’s why I think it’s extremely important that I do create content because I want to show girls and boys, just like me, it doesn’t matter what your skin colour is or where you come from, you can still achieve what you want to.
What is the current stereotype of a female F1 fan?
Kimerah: If you’re a female Formula 1 fan, every single person is going to label you as a Drive to Survive fan, whether that’s the pipeline that you chose to get into the sport or not. People say women who like Formula 1 are only there to look at the drivers because they’re hot. But my thing is, when they’re racing around the track, they have their helmet on.
Skye: It’s hard to say because I think the stereotype is coming from men and I’m not a man. It’s that we don’t know what we’re talking about or that the only reason we’re watching it is because of a boyfriend or dad. And don’t get me wrong, that is generally right because we haven’t had drivers to aspire to. We can’t go, oh, I want to be like Lewis Hamilton.
Will female supporters and content creators have a lasting effect on the sport?
Lydia: I think so. I think whenever you get women involved in anything, they have the spending power. Women traditionally have been the people with the money to buy the merch and they will interact with the sport. I think just from my little community alone, if we stay interested in a sport, it will keep going.
What’s been the best experience you’ve had from the F1 TikToks?
Kimerah: One of the biggest achievements that I got out of content creation was working with Pride Hub. It was the first ever LGBTQI inclusionary space in motorsports. It was run by Racing Pride, who are a UK organisation, Proud to Play which is an Australian organisation, and Motorsports Australia. It was just so nice to be part of volunteering for something that’s creating a bigger change and allowing people to feel safe within a sport. I also got the opportunity to interview drivers including Oscar Piastri and George Russell which was hugely stressful, but they were so nice to me.
Skye: A big one is when I went to Silverstone, and it was just the best weekend of my life. We got to meet F2 drivers. I was a foot away from Lando Norris. Overall, I think it’s the people that I’ve managed to meet and the events I’ve been to.
If you could give advice to someone who wants to start, what would you say?
Lydia: I would just say the fear of posting is always greater than the fear afterwards. You just have to literally go one, two, three, post. If you don’t know where to start, start with a trend.
Skye: Make sure it’s fun for yourself. But also, be committed with it because even if it takes you an hour or two to make one video, that could be the video that makes you viral.
