“This isn’t System 1 Fyre Fest,” Alexandra Zigrang assures by means of fun.
Only a yr in, her Barcelona-based trackside journey firm, Off to the Races, has been removed from a failure. In contrast to the notorious music pageant that promised luxurious thousand-dollar villas solely to ship emergency tents and cheese sandwiches as an alternative. The corporate gives feminine vacationers what it describes as a “premium weekend the place the race technique has been engineered for a seamless expertise,” with every thing from VIP hospitality tickets to a glam room within the luxurious resort, full with make-up artists and hair stylists. If that doesn’t sound like what you think about an F1 race weekend journey to be, that’s the purpose; Off to the Races creates an area for System 1’s rising viewers of ladies by catering to their model of fandom — and by turning their off-track expertise right into a “Journey + Leisure” unfold.
It’s like a motor oil-stained bachelorette get together pairing on-track motion with Michelin star meals.
Photograph by: Gael Strachan
Off to the Races has flown keen feminine followers in from 5 international locations, with most hailing from the States, boasting a demographic make-up that just about matches System 1’s common fashionable feminine fan: 30-something and American, like Sara Lett, a 38-year-old tech marketer from Atlanta who joined Off to the Races in June for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lett began watching “Drive to Survive” in 2023 at a coworker’s insistence. Regardless of witnessing the “Biggest Spectacle in Racing” twice whereas rising up in Indianapolis, she by no means developed the gearhead itch. Then she heard the Netflix collection’ opening line: “I am Daniel Ricciardo, and I am a automobile mechanic.”
“I used to be like, ‘bought!’” Lett remembers, a smile spreading throughout each cheeks.
As soon as she heard information of Ricciardo’s future seat uncertainty and Lewis Hamilton’s change from Mercedes to Ferrari, Lett knew she wished to see each drivers dash previous at 200 miles per hour, leaving bits of rubber of their wake as a tangible lasting impression.
Lett deemed her dream of ending up trackside “daunting” throughout her preliminary ticket analysis rabbit gap, however then she discovered Off to the Races whereas scrolling on Instagram — the place the corporate meets terminally on-line feminine racing followers on their very own turf.
Vacation spot System 1
Zigrang chooses locations primarily based on 4 standards: finances, logistics, cultural experiences, and, in fact, nice meals. Belgium’s legendary Spa observe poses logistical issues, tucked within the countryside 90 miles from Brussels, and Monaco received’t be on Off to the Race’s calendar till Zigrang “personally owns a yacht.”
When she first toyed with the concept of utilizing her earlier VIP administration expertise within the worldwide artwork world to launch a System 1 journey planning enterprise, Zigrang discovered that the game’s journey suppliers have been practically all UK-based and arranged by males.
“They actually lacked an attention-grabbing viewpoint. Logistically, they acquired you there, you bought a resort and you bought a ticket and possibly transportation, but it surely wasn’t stylish. System 1, although it’s soiled and quick and loopy, it’s additionally actually attractive,” Zigrang mentioned. “I considered all of the issues I love to do after I journey: eat very well, actually get to know the town, along with having that nice expertise on the observe.”
For instance: System 1 gives ticket packages by means of F1 Experiences with choices starting from a grandstand ticket, resort and transportation bundle to three-day VIP storage passes. On the upcoming Mexican Grand Prix, the latter carries a $25,000 price ticket with out lodging. On the 2025 British Grand Prix, an lodging, transportation and grandstand ticket bundle begins at just below $3,500 for 3 nights.
The Mexican Grand Prix marked the ultimate Off to the Races journey of the 2024 F1 season, following visits to the Spanish and Dutch Grands Prix earlier this yr. The voyage to Mexico’s capital metropolis included a four-night keep at an area resort and a three-day grandstand move with guarantees of podium ceremony views — for about €4,000 per particular person. Aúna, a Meals and Journey Finest New Mexican Restaurant, and Contramar, a Michelin Information eatery, are booked a yr prematurely for post-track day meals. Morning yoga and a tour of the Museo Frida Kahlo supply a second of quiet earlier than the System 1 engines come to life, and a fleet of Mercedes sprinter vans-turned-party buses convey the group to and from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
For 2025, Miami, Barcelona, and Zandvoort already maintain a spot on Off to the Races’ journey itinerary, and Zigrang hopes so as to add Australia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore sooner or later. Subsequent season, a “dash collection,” providing three- to four-day itineraries between choose double-headers, is on the horizon. The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix bundle, which features a related itinerary plus trackside VIP hospitality, prices €5,000 per particular person — although vacationers share a room.
However sharing a room isn’t a dealbreaker. And for just a bit extra money, the ensuing journey permits followers like Lett in on the game’s best-kept secret: the way it feels to be a trackside VIP for a day. “We’re in hospitality, there’s transportation to and from, then a tour of the Sagrada Familia and a bop round to the fan zone,” Lett gushed. “All the best way to a Michelin star dinner and a welcome get together with cool influencers. It simply so occurred that night time that Purple Bull was on the identical rooftop.”
Regardless of brushing shoulders with crew sponsors and web celebrities, Lett nonetheless can’t fairly shake probably the most thrilling a part of all of it: listening to the rumble of 20 engines turning over.
“You actually get goosebumps,” Lett mentioned. “Like, oh my gosh, that is actual. That is occurring, and I am listening to it. You are about to see it in actual life. This isn’t simply on my TV anymore.”
“Do you even know what DRS means?”
Between 2017 and 2022, feminine fandom for F1 elevated by 8 p.c, based on System 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. Swelling north of 40 p.c of the game’s complete viewers, feminine followers did what they do greatest: carved out a web based group to bond by means of TikTok edits, fan-made merchandise, and the switch of nonjudgmental race information. However that wasn’t mirrored within the dwell audiences sweeping the grandstands on the races.
“Many of the girls that have been in attendance have been there with a companion or they have been with members of the family,” Zigrang mentioned. “I felt that was so disconnected from what I used to be seeing on-line, the place younger girls, particularly on social media, have been pushing the game ahead in attention-grabbing methods. You weren’t seeing that translate into attendance in the identical means that you simply had seen males manage themselves traditionally.”
And whereas ticket costs and logistics deter feminine followers from attending grands prix, exclusivity and security issues current their very own drawbacks as nicely. On the 2022 Austrian and Dutch Grands Prix, feminine followers reported being harassed within the grandstands. The FIA raised the problem with circuit promoters and safety.
Moreover, girls who watch the game usually communicate of getting to justify their curiosity whereas fielding questions like “Do you even know what DRS means?” from incredulous male F1 followers. With solely 20 driver names to be taught and an abundance of on-line crash programs, entry into the “higher echelon of motorsport” appears low stakes. Nonetheless, everybody from informal feminine spectators to self-proclaimed fangirls has been met with backlash.
Photograph by: Onno Zonneveld
Off to the Races gives an inclusive resolution. “Plenty of these girls do not, day-to-day, have individuals to speak to about this fandom with,” Zigrang mentioned. And are available the Monday after race day, when the wining and eating has concluded and the ultimate automobile has crossed the checkered flag, Off to the Races’ attendees fly again to their respective corners of the globe — and the friendships solid from the epic all-female getaway received’t stop.
“Now we have an Instagram chat that’s ongoing each different day, if not daily, the place we’re chatting about System 1,” Lett mentioned.
“Individuals are simply excited to have the ability to go benefit from the sport that they love and have a bunch to do it with,” Zigrang mentioned. “For lots of ladies, they’re like, ‘I might have by no means completed this alone.’”