Saeran Ramaya

Formula One

Going into 2020, Formula One (F1) race promotion and events chief counsel, Saeran Ramaya, was looking forward to a record year with 22 races on the calendar in celebration of the sport’s 70th anniversary. Then the global pandemic threw the calendar into disarray, threatening every live sporting event around the world.

The Australia Grand Prix was called off two days before the event on 14 March due to a positive coronavirus test in the McLaren team, a move which amplified the uncertainty over whether races could continue. As the lawyer in charge of promotion and events, Ramaya understood the global F1 community wanted races to go ahead safely and she needed to devise a legal framework with promoters to allow this. The speed at which Ramaya was able to reorganise a global events calendar shows her legal ingenuity and leadership skills.

A new event calendar was created with contracts tailor-made for the Covid age. Within four months, Ramaya renegotiated six race agreements and negotiated contracts for four new races to be added to the calendar – in normal times contracts for new races can take a year to negotiate with a two-year lead time until the event itself.

Of the 22 original races planned, nine went ahead and eight new events were added. In the hard-fought world of competitive sport, Ramaya is a world leader who is both innovative and agile. She maintains a keen interest in F1 despite taking a maternity break in mid-July and will be back later this year, when 23 Grand Prix are planned.