Formula 1 has a serious diversity problem.
Only 1% of employees come from Black backgrounds, and Lewis Hamilton is still the only Black driver the sport has had in 75 years.
Of course, money explains everything about why motorsport looks the way it does. Did you know developing a young racer from age 5 to F1 costs an average of $33 million? And unfortunately, many of us don’t have those kinds of dollars to have us front and center in the sport, in order to rise to prominence.
But this past weekend at Willow Springs Raceway in California, two Black teenagers raced to prove those numbers don’t have to be destiny.
Nathan Ampofo-Anim, 17, from the UK, battles sickle cell anemia between races. Monde-jnr Konini, 16, a second-generation South African from Scotland, just won the UK Pro Championship but is currently crowdfunding to get to California. They competed in FAT Karting League‘s first World Finals held in the United States, where the winner earned a fully funded F4 season. That’s the critical stepping stone before Formula 1 that typically costs families hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The league was co-founded by Ferdi Porsche and former Ferrari and Williams F1 engineer Rob Smedley specifically to dismantle the financial barriers keeping Black and brown families out. Traditional karting costs around $200,000 per year. And FAT Karting League was able to cut that to $5,000 by standardizing equipment and focusing on talent instead of budget.
“The most astonishing insight we produced through our own research was that the average cost to take a young racer from 5 years old to F1 is $33,000,000,” Porsche explains. “This means that all but a tiny minority will ever realize their potential. Most will never even get the chance to showcase their talent at the grassroots karting level.”
The Hamilton Commission found several reasons why motorsport lacks diversity. First, young Black people felt careers in the sport weren’t for them and that they wouldn’t fit in. Not to mention, hiring practices favor elite universities and most motorsport hubs sit far from urban areas where most young Black people live. These are all systemic barriers that compound early and often.
Ampofo-Anim’s sickle cell disease, (a chronic blood disorder) can leave him bedridden for days. ‘For me motorsports is my therapy,’ he says. “It is one thing that I look forward to after an episode of crisis to make me feel like there are good days ahead.” When he can get on the track, everything else falls away.
The lower costs at FAT Karting League mean Ampofo-Anim can focus on racing instead of constantly fundraising while managing his disease. “Sickle cell has changed my approach to motorsports, it’s helped me build resilience,” he says. “It has also helped me learn to maximize the good days that I get, knowing that there will be days that I won’t be able to do everything that I want to.”
Perhaps one of the biggest turning points of his career (yes, I said career for a 17-year-old), was when he met Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2016. Back then he was just a kid with a dream. “Being a person of color, I always gravitated towards him as he was the only driver I saw on TV that actually looked like me,” Ampofo-Anim remembers. “I can also relate with his struggles and resilience as I have been through a similar path.”
Likewise, Konini also understands what it means to be one of the few Black faces in a predominantly white sport. He’s been living it his entire racing career. “In a sport where you don’t often see young Black racers reach the top, that alone drives me,” he says. “It makes me want to be one who proves Black representation at the highest level in motorsports can be done through pure hard work and dedication.”
Konini is leading the UK standings by 25 points going into the finals, but he still had to crowdfund to get to Willow Springs. He won the championship and still needs to raise money to compete.
Konini said he went into the World Finals looking to prove that he had what it takes to champion FAT Karting League the following year in F4,” Konini says. He also hoped to prove that with the right resources and support, people who look like him have a fighting chance at excelling in this sport.”
FAT Karting League’s model is based on the idea that talent exists everywhere but opportunity doesn’t. ‘By lowering these barriers and making it more accessible we are seeing a sharp increase in more underrepresented communities being able to participate,’ Porsche says. The league stays sustainable by attracting enough drivers to keep costs down as they expand globally.
For Ampofo-Anim, competing internationally brings complicated feelings. ‘It also makes me think about what could be for many others that look like me if funds weren’t an issue,’ he reflects. ‘I am confident that I have the skill, resilience and work ethic to be able to race on an international platform, but a lack of funds created massive obstacles just to get to where I am today.'”
This past weekend at Willow Springs, both Ampofo-Anim and Konini raced for more than a funded F4 season. They’re proving that when you remove financial barriers and create actual equitable access, the talent shows up. “I am grateful for the opportunity, support and platforms that both Driven By Us and FAT Karting League has provided to make this dream possible,” Ampofo-Anim says.