Danica Patrick’s time as an F1 analyst for Sky Sports has been anything but smooth. The former NASCAR driver, who has seven Cup Series top-10s under her belt, has faced criticism for some of her takes and actions in the F1 paddock.
But the friction between her and the F1 world goes back much further, right to the top, in fact. She was once publicly disrespected by none other than ex-F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, who made a blatantly misogynistic remark.
Yes, Bernie Ecclestone Really Said That About Danica Patrick
In 2008, Patrick became the first woman to win an IndyCar race. She won the 2008 Indy Japan 300, a feat no other female racer has matched since. Rahal Letterman Racing gave Patrick her first IndyCar appearance in 2005. She won three pole spots in her first season, equaling Tomas Scheckter’s record for a rookie year. Her outstanding performance at the Indianapolis 500 and in the whole IndyCar Series that year garnered her Rookie of the Year accolades.
While Patrick’s rise in the IndyCar Series drew massive attention, it did little to earn favor with then-F1 boss Ecclestone, who remained unimpressed.
Ecclestone was asked about Patrick’s Indianapolis 500 success in 2005. “Yep, she did a good job, didn’t she? Super. Didn’t think she was going to make it,” he replied.
But it was his follow-up take on women in racing that truly revealed where he stood.
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“You know I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas … women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”
This wasn’t Ecclestone’s first sexist comment about women in racing, and it certainly wasn’t his last.
In a February 2000 interview with Autosport, Ecclestone claimed that women would never succeed in Formula One. He went on to say that if one did, “she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. … What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”
In 2016, Ecclestone claimed women drivers are not taken seriously in F1.
“I don’t know whether a woman would physically be able to drive an F1 car quickly, and they wouldn’t be taken seriously,” he said.
The world of motorsport has often been criticized for its exclusionary attitudes toward women, and NASCAR is no different. Katherine Legge broke a seven-year drought for female participation in the Cup Series when she raced earlier this year, following Patrick’s final Cup Series race in 2018. Since then, Legge has faced significant criticism, much of which extends beyond her performance behind the wheel.