\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-2151458554-e1718047823871.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Beauty mogul Charlotte Tilbury is an unlikely evangelist for Formula 1<\/a>. And yet the former makeup artist to the stars is a longtime fan who used to watch the circuit with her dad and drive go-karts as a kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now she\u2019s one of the sponsors pushing forward Formula 1\u2019s new image<\/a> of a brand that is youthful, sophisticated, and, perhaps most importantly, flush with female fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something otherworldly about F1,\u201d Tilbury said<\/a> in a Financial Times<\/em> interview. \u201cIt\u2019s euphoric. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s adrenaline. It\u2019s like everyone\u2019s buzzing. It\u2019s kind of chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n Tilbury\u2019s eponymous cosmetics company, which she founded in 2013 and in which she retains a stake (having sold the rest for $1.2 billion), is the first beauty brand and the first female-founded brand to sponsor Formula 1\u2019s all-female division, called Formula 1 Academy. Formula 1\u2019s decision to add Charlotte Tilbury Cosmetics as a brand sponsor is even more bold considering the edginess Tilbury cultivates with products like a perfume called More Sex and a makeup palette dubbed Glowgasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love breaking rules, breaking the status quo,\u201d Tilbury said. \u201cThe world still isn\u2019t where it should be in terms of supporting women\u2026 Just because things have been done a certain way forever, why do they have to be that way? Why can more women not be represented in sport?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There are good commercial reasons for Formula 1 to pay close attention<\/a> to women fans. Approximately 40% of Formula 1\u2019s fans are women, the competition\u2019s chief executive Stefano Domenicali told Reuters<\/a> in December. That\u2019s a huge increase compared to just a few years ago\u2014in 2017, 8% of fans were women. Under current corporate owner Liberty Media<\/a>, the holding company belonging to the larger-than-life media investor John Malone<\/a>, Formula 1 has been reshaping its image beyond just the sponsorship it brings on. It\u2019s investing in new markets\u2014namely the U.S. and Asia\u2014and considering leaving behind<\/a> those most closely associated with its glamour, like Monaco. Formula 1\u2019s popularity has soared across the U.S. ever since a Netflix<\/a> series called Formula One: Drive to Survive<\/em> chronicled the lives of several of the sport\u2019s top drivers. All that attention helped push the franchise<\/a> to a global valuation of $16 billion<\/a>.\u00a0Charlotte Tilbury Cosmetics and Formula 1 did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Sponsors like Tilbury and her beauty brand embody the sport\u2019s push to branch out beyond its core demographic of wealthy Europeans. As part of Tilbury\u2019s sponsorship her beauty brand gets to plaster one of the circuit\u2019s cars with advertisements. So Rodin Motorsports<\/a>\u2019 car, which can hit top speeds of 165 miles per hour, finds itself covered in a pattern of plump, red lips dangling a lipstick tube as if it were a cigarette. In addition to the car decal, the brand gets to set up a trailer at races for attendees. At the most recent Miami race, Charlotte Tilbury Cosmetics\u2019 trailer offered makeup artists touch-ups to fans whose makeup may have melted in the South Florida sun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While the fit between makeup and race-car driving may still lead to a few raised eyebrows, Tilbury herself seems like a natural fit for the literally high-octane sport. \u201cI\u2019m a complete adrenaline junkie,\u201d she told The Fast and the Curious<\/em> podcast<\/a> in May after the Miami Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tilbury\u2019s introduction to the Formula 1 world as a prospective sponsor, rather than a fan, was through longtime executive and former driver Susie Wolff. As the managing director of Formula 1 Academy, Wolff had the unenviable task of finding sponsors for the series\u2019 15 cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n So up stepped Tilbury.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere weren\u2019t a lot of female beauty brands clamoring to sponsor them and I\u2019m like, \u2018Yes, we are sponsoring these women. We are breaking down boundaries,\u2019\u201d she told the podcast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For Wolff, brands like Tilbury are a logical way to both give women a chance<\/a> and hit her numbers.\u00a0\nA \u2018complete adrenaline junkie\u2019 turned makeup impresario<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want people to think that I\u2019m on a feminist crusade,\u201d Wolff told the Financial Times<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s a real business element to it for F1. I believe we can create value for Liberty Media<\/a>, for the stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to The Broadsheet newsletter to stay updated on the world’s most powerful women in business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n