Jessica Pryde is a member of that rare breed that grew up in Washington, DC, but is happily enjoying the warmer weather of the desert Southwest. While she is still working on what she wants to be when she grows up, she’s enjoying dabbling in librarianship and writing all the things. She's the editor of Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters, and her fiction has been published by Generous Press. She can be found drowning in her ever-growing TBR and exclaiming about romance on When in Romance, as well as on social media. Find her exclamations about books and internet ridiculousness on BlueSky (JessIsReading) and instagram/threads (jess_is_reading).
In 2019, Netflix released the first season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, a longform documentary series taking viewers behind the scenes with the drivers and teams in the multinational elite motorsport racing series, Formula One (F1). While there were plenty of people interested in F1 around the world before the release of the show, their footprint in the United States ran a bit lighter, in part because they didn’t have a race in the US, and American racing fans leaned a little more in the oval-shaped category. But the revelation (especially during the COVID-19 lockdown) that F1 was interesting and dramatic, on top of the fact that there isn’t a single unattractive person behind the wheel of one of those cars, drew a lot more interest to the sport. (And we’re not going to talk about Fake Fans. Whatever gets you into something, if you respect it and enjoy it, you’re a fan.)
With the increased popularity and attention, it’s no surprise that there would be an influx of romances centering F1 or something like it in the years that followed. Starting with indie authors, and then spilling over into traditional publishing, romances with at least one central character who was a driver popped up, until there was a good slew of them to look at. The traditionally published ones started getting the illustrated cover treatment, which made me wonder about who was being admired and who was being represented in the sport. Much like hockey, F1 is a heavily white sport, with the majority of its drivers coming from Europe and its whiter commonwealths. And like the jump to hockey after the realization that the other sports weren’t particularly white enough, the shift to F1 seemed like it might be out of desire to live in a sport that had to be white, if you were basing your romance on anything near reality.
But that isn’t actually the case with Formula One romances, if you look across the board. It’s not that the central characters are all white—in fact, I think there might be more South Asian drivers in F1 romance than there have been in the entirety of the sport (two). You can find women drivers and neurodivergent drivers, as well as openly queer ones—all nonexistent in the real world at the moment.
But there is one particular bit of representation that is distinctly lacking.
Even if you’re not a racing fan, you might have heard of Sir Lewis Hamilton. He’s one of the most famous F1 drivers of the modern era, and is not only the first but the only Black driver in the sport. He has been driving at the most elite level since 2007, and ties with the most famous F1 driver of the previous generation, Michael Schumacher, for the record number of championship wins in the history of the sport. I have been watching that handsome Black man drive laps around international cities for longer than I’ve been talking about romance novels on the internet, and was legitimately surprised when worlds collided that I wasn’t seeing more romance inspired by him. While I’m not one to encourage RPF (real people fiction), it is startling to look at the breadth of F1 romance available and not see a single Black face in the selection.
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That’s not to say they don’t exist. I can name one self-published romance that was published several years ago, before the influx. There’s one coming out later this year that has multiple romance storylines. And there’s a supporting character in a sports-adjacent romance whose romance I am crossing my fingers for in the future. A further search indicated that there might be a few more bouncing around, often written by white authors—not something I discourage, but I do hesitate to pick up something by an author who might not be able to write from their own experience when it comes to a Black Formula 1 driver’s particular experience. These three books approach the topic from a place of experience, while also giving us a range of romance vibes for any reader.
Overtake by Lucille Lillian
When Myra and Calvin meet on vacation, they’re each trying to get away from something. Myra has just been laid off from her job and has no idea what she’s doing with her future, and Calvin is on his way to winning his first Formula 1 championship, but his public image is a dumpster fire. When they meet, their chemistry is for the books, and he proposes a fake relationship that will help both of them out.
Faster by Andie J. Christopher
Andie J. Christopher put her foot in this book, and that boot was on fire. Through three interconnected romance stories, we get to dive into the world of Formula 1 and the drama that goes on on the track and behind the scenes: woman getting revenge on her cheating husband with his racing rival, only to discover there might be something between the three of them; the first woman racer who has the hots for the team principal; a publicist trying to clean up the image of a cocky playboy, and countless stops on the road to the World Championship.
Losing Sight by Tati Richardson
Tanika is a sports reporter who has to admit that her eyesight is weakening with her age. As a Black woman in the public eye, she’s hesitant to add anything to her appearance that would make her look even less desirable in the eyes of the top brass, but eventually, she has to admit she needs glasses. Her relationship with her handsome optometrist is the center of this story, but her platonic relationship with F1 driver Colin Bello (who has a major crush on her) is a delight as well. We can all hope to see Colin again in a future Tati book, even if it’s not the next one.
Eventually, Sir Lewis will age out of the sport, and unless Damson Idris decides to make a career change, there won’t be any Black representation in Formula One in real life. It would be nice if we could at least see Black F1 drivers in our romance fiction.
English (US) · 