How Hafsa Samahri Built Influence Beyond the Racing Paddock

For millions of people, motorsport begins with what happens on the track. The speed, drivers, rivalries and dramatic race weekends create the excitement. Hafsa Samahri chose to look at something happening behind all of that.

She became interested in the business that makes racing possible.

Sponsorship agreements, marketing strategies, fan behaviour, media value and the economics surrounding Formula 1 became subjects she wanted to understand more deeply. That curiosity gradually developed into a career that now connects motorsport marketing, entrepreneurship, fitness leadership, public speaking and academic research.

Today, Samahri works across the worlds of Formula 1, the World Endurance Championship and MotoGP. She is also the founder of WNTR Media, Deputy CEO of Passage Fitness and a Forbes Middle East Council Member.

Her journey shows what can happen when someone stops viewing an industry only as entertainment and begins asking how the entire system behind it actually works.

Hafsa Samahri Saw The Business Behind Racing

Samahri did not build her professional identity simply by discussing race results.

Her content focuses heavily on the commercial side of motorsport. She studies why companies sponsor teams, how racing series make money, how major events create economic value and why some brand partnerships connect with fans while others disappear into the background.

That approach helped her develop a distinctive voice in a crowded industry.

Instead of only talking about who won a Grand Prix, Samahri often asks what the race means for a city, a sponsor or the wider sports economy. Formula 1 became particularly valuable to her as a business case because it brings together technology, luxury, tourism, media, hospitality and global brands.

Over time, those ideas started attracting a growing professional audience.

Her LinkedIn community has now grown beyond 17,000 followers. Favikon currently places her among the leading Motorsport and Racing voices on the platform, including a number one ranking in France.

Building WNTR Media From An Interest Into A Business

Samahri eventually turned her understanding of marketing into entrepreneurship by creating WNTR Media.

The business was established around marketing, sales strategy and commercial consulting. Its direction later became increasingly connected with sports marketing, sponsorship activation, brand positioning and digital growth.

A major step came when Samahri announced the expansion of WNTR Media into Dubai.

The move made sense for a professional increasingly focused on motorsport and the business of sport. Dubai and the wider Gulf have become important destinations for international competitions, sports investment and major brand partnerships.

For Samahri, entering Dubai was also about understanding how brands can communicate with audiences in the region rather than simply importing campaigns created somewhere else.

Her approach to sponsorship reflects that thinking. She regularly argues that putting a logo in front of fans is not enough. Successful partnerships need cultural understanding, storytelling and a reason for audiences to care.

The Journey Has Included Difficult Moments

Building visibility in motorsport has not always been comfortable.

Samahri has publicly shared an experience from 2022 when an organisation in the industry asked her to change an important part of her appearance as a condition of working with them.

She refused.

Years later, she spoke about how the experience continued to influence the way she approached professional opportunities, particularly in environments where she did not often see people who looked like her.

That moment adds an important layer to her success.

Professional growth is often presented as a smooth collection of achievements. The reality can include rejection, doubt and situations where people feel pressure to change themselves simply to enter a room.

Samahri continued building without allowing that experience to determine where she belonged.

Her growing visibility in motorsport now represents more than career progress. It also demonstrates why different voices entering traditionally narrow industries can change what the future of those industries looks like.

Education Remains Central To Her Career

Samahri has continued to treat learning as part of her professional strategy.

She completed postgraduate studies in Rome and received recognition from Rome Business School for her master’s thesis. Earlier, she had also received an Executive Women in Business Grant from the institution.

Her academic journey is continuing.

Samahri is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration in International Marketing at the Swiss School of Business and Management. Her research focuses on the economics of global motorsport, sponsorship systems and the commercial strategies that influence the industry.

It is a natural extension of the questions she has been exploring publicly for years.

Rather than separating academic research from practical work, she is attempting to connect the two. Race weekends provide real business cases, while research offers a deeper framework for understanding why certain strategies succeed.

Leadership Extends Beyond Motorsport

Motorsport may be the most visible part of Samahri’s professional identity, but it is not the only one.

As Deputy CEO of Passage Fitness, she is also connected with a major fitness business operating across Morocco. Passage Fitness has developed multiple clubs in cities including Casablanca, Rabat, Oujda and Tetouan.

The position adds another dimension to her experience.

Running and growing a consumer focused fitness business requires understanding customer experience, branding, operations and lifestyle behaviour. Many of those skills also appear in sports marketing, where emotional connection and community can become just as important as the product itself.

Samahri has also expanded her presence as a speaker.

Her involvement in the Dubai GameExpo Summit brought her into conversations around esports and the intersection between gaming, sim racing and motorsport. It showed that her interest is increasingly moving toward the broader future of sports entertainment.

A Growing Voice In Global Motorsport Business

Recent years have taken Samahri from writing online about motorsport economics to becoming increasingly present around the industry itself.

She has attended major racing events, analysed everything from the Monaco Grand Prix to endurance racing in Dubai, and engaged in conversations involving teams, federations, brands and other motorsport professionals.

Yet the foundation of her work remains remarkably simple.

She researches.

She asks why.

She explains what happens behind the spectacle.

That consistency has helped turn a personal interest into professional credibility and a growing community.

Hafsa Samahri’s journey is still developing, but that may be what makes it interesting. She is building a career across motorsport, media, business, fitness and research rather than allowing one title to define her.

For anyone trying to enter a competitive industry, her story offers a useful reminder. Expertise rarely appears overnight. It grows through curiosity, uncomfortable experiences, continuous learning and the discipline to keep showing up.

For Samahri, the race itself was only the beginning. Understanding the business behind it created the real opportunity.

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