Empty grandstands and a lack of sponsors: Susie Wolff reveals the difficult early days of the F1 Academy and how close the racing series came to failing
Susie Wolff, the CEO of the F1 Academy, has revealed how she managed to secure all ten Formula 1 teams as supporters for the all-female racing series in the 2024 season. After a debut season that highlighted the urgent need for greater visibility for the series, Wolff pursued the ambitious goal of securing every single Formula 1 team for the project.
“I still remember it well when I took on the role,” Wolff said in an interview with Talks At Google. “I drove to the very first race. Back then, we weren’t yet part of the Formula 1 support program, but were racing at the Circuit Paul Ricard—not too far from my home in Monaco. As I approached the track, I thought, ‘That’s strange—there aren’t any cars out here at all.’”
“It was absolutely dead silent. I turned onto the grounds and briefly thought, ‘Did I get the date wrong?’ Because I had never seen a racetrack so deserted. When I drove in, there were literally only the F1 Academy trucks there. No one was there. I had never seen such a deserted track in my entire life.”
Sponsor Frustration and Empty Grandstands
The reception in the paddock was sobering: “I got out of the car and was immediately intercepted by two team bosses who said: ‘Listen, this isn’t working. We can’t find any sponsors. We’re pulling out at the end of the year.’ I just thought, ‘Okay, nice to see you.’ Shortly after, a few female drivers came up to me and said, ‘Hey, listen, we’re actually supposed to contribute a third of our budget ourselves, but we can’t find the money. I can tell you right now that I can’t pay my share.’”
“I spent that day and the next one there and finally called Stefano [Domenicali], the CEO of Formula 1. I told him: ‘This isn’t going to work because nobody is coming up with sponsorship money.’ The original model called for Liberty Media to cover one-third of the budget, the driver one-third, and the team the final third.”
The result was pure chaos in the market: “We suddenly had a completely flooded market where everyone was looking for sponsors. Some were asking for 5,000 euros, others for 500,000 euros—it was completely uncoordinated. And of course, no sponsor is going to pay to be plastered on a race car driving past completely empty grandstands. There was literally not a single person in the stands.”
The coup with the ten Formula 1 teams
After intensive discussions with various industry experts, Wolff finally brought up the idea of directly involving the ten Formula 1 teams and consolidating all commercial marketing within the company.
“I got the green light,” Wolff continued. “So I said to Stefano, ‘Should we approach the Formula 1 teams together?’ He just said, ‘No, no, no, you do that all by yourself.’”
“Well, of course, I had one of the team bosses right at home. My husband [Toto Wolff] is my biggest supporter, but at the same time also my harshest critic. He said to me: ‘Look, I can’t be the first to say yes. Get six others on board first. Once you have the majority, I’ll have to follow suit.’ I just thought: ‘Great, thanks for nothing!’”
Then came the Formula 1 teams
But the dominoes started to fall: “I have to say, when I went to see Frederic Vasseur at Ferrari—whom I’ve known for a very long time—it was actually partly his idea. I asked him, ‘Would you consider joining the F1 Academy?’ And he replied immediately, ‘Yes, and we can paint the car red.’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s paint it red. How about a Ferrari sticker?’“
”With that, I had Ferrari in the bag. After that, Zak Brown at McLaren was extremely supportive. And at that point, Christian Horner was still running Red Bull—which could have potentially been complicated given his less-than-ideal relationship with my husband.“
But Horner didn’t stand in the way: ”He was actually very supportive. I had friends who worked very closely with Red Bull on a commercial level and explained to him why this project is so incredibly important for Formula 1.”
“So suddenly I had four teams. I was able to convince two more, and all of a sudden I had that magic number of six, which allowed me to firmly count on Toto as well. That made seven. The last three—I don’t mention their names in the book because I don’t think that would be fair to them—were, however, very skeptical.”
Perseverance Pays Off
While the last three teams were holding out, Wolff took decisive action and drafted the contracts with the seven teams that had already been confirmed. By the time the final signatures were in, she had convinced even the last skeptics.
“That was truly a ‘pinch-me’ moment for me,” Wolff admits in retrospect. “At times, I was absolutely unsure whether we’d ever pull it off. But we did it. And I believe that, in the end, it was simply thanks to a huge dose of tenacity—and a refusal to accept ‘no’ for an answer.”
