Creators whose online identities are tied to F1 racing have recently been changing their handles, but they seem reluctant to say why. But it could be because they’re being asked to do so by F1 itself, which is rumored to have sent cease and desist letters to certain creators whose accounts are using F1 branding to make money.
One of the more sudden rebrands was for F1 fan podcast The Paddock Project (formerly known as F1r the Girls). When Paddock announced the change, he made no mention of having received a cease and desist order, instead writing that the new name “reflects where we are and where we’re going.”
F1 influencer Mikaela Costas, who also recently changed her name (from “shelovesf1” to “shelovesvrooms”), appeared to allude to the cease and desist order in a video asking viewers to “imagine” being told “you can’t give away the tickets you bought.” Responding to a comment on the video, Costas said, “There’s a reason why everyone’s rebranding now, and it’s not just for fun.”
F1 commentator Toni Cowan-Brown said in a video that she had “heard” rumours about the injunction for at least the past six months, adding that F1 was targeting “people who are branding and exploiting F1” and creators who are pretending to be connected to the organisation in any way.
Formula 1 did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Cowan-Brown contrasts that with the NBA’s approach, which doesn’t go after people who post NBA content online even if it includes actual game footage. The league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, once said, “highlights are, to a large extent, marketing.”
Still, F1 has been particularly aggressive in protecting its brand in the past, once sending star driver Lewis Hamilton a “voluminous legal letter” demanding he stop posting F1 footage on social media, before Liberty Media bought the sport and relaxed guidelines that barred drivers and teams from posting footage from the paddock.
