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Susie Wolff: In ten years’ time, a woman will be driving in Formula 1

Ten years ago, Susie Wolff was the last woman to take part in a Formula 1 weekend. In another ten years, there should be a woman on the grid, she says

It has been ten years since the last woman sat in a Formula 1 car during a Grand Prix weekend – and it could take just as long for a woman to make it onto the starting grid of a Grand Prix again. And for many, that is still a generous estimate.

But Susie Wolff believes that she can lay the groundwork for this with her F1 Academy. It was she who was allowed to take part in training for Williams in Spain and Great Britain in 2015. Today, as Managing Director, she is in charge of the women’s racing series, which has existed for two years and will race permanently as part of Formula 1 for the first time in 2024.

It is intended to provide a stepping stone for promotion to the top tier, although it must be said that the series is still in its infancy. The two champions, Marta Garcia and Abbi Pulling, received funded cockpits in higher series, and yet they are still a long way from Formula 1.

Pulling will start in the British GB3 series in 2025, which is ranked below Formula 3. Garcia was racing in the equivalent Formula Regional in 2024 – and finished 28th in the overall standings without scoring any points.

“Time and space and support must be given to the series,“ Wolff told the BBC. Just because you let 15 women race against each other doesn’t mean that the entire backlog from the past will be cleared overnight.

”The percentage of women in motorsport has never risen above five percent, so it was difficult for women to get to the top because we simply don’t have enough talent,” says Wolff.

“More of a movement than a moment”

Williams test driver Jamie Chadwick had proven to be one of the greatest talents in recent years, winning all three seasons of the now-cancelled W Series – a kind of predecessor to the F1 Academy with the same goal – in commanding fashion, thus fueling hopes of a woman in Formula 1.

But the path did not lead to the top, but to the USA, where she drove in the Indy NXT, the little sister of the IndyCar series. There she still managed to finish seventh overall in 2024.

Chadwick is not expected to become the next woman in Formula 1, but she has certainly laid the foundations for it.
“First and foremost, we need to increase participation and create visible role models, because sometimes you have to see it in real life to believe it,” says Wolff, emphasizing, “We are more of a movement than a moment.”

But she also needs to remind herself of this more often. Because overnight success is not something you can expect in motorsport. “In my day-to-day life, there is sometimes a lot of frustration that things aren’t moving fast enough,” she admits.

“But then I come to a race track or read an email from a parent and we have completely changed their perception of the sport,” says Wolff.

In ten years “definitely” a woman in Formula 1

“It will take time, but we are changing the perception of the sport in people’s minds, and this will develop into something big,” says the wife of Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff.

Especially since the sport has changed a lot since she was in the car herself. “The fan base is growing and growing, with 40 percent of spectators now female, and the fastest growing demographic being 18- to 24-year-olds. The idea that Formula One is for older men has been turned on its head,” she emphasizes.

“I would definitely say that in ten years you will see a woman in a Formula One race.”

It would be the first since Lella Lombardi – and that was 49 years ago. Almost half a century.

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