In 2014, Susie Wolff scripted history by becoming the first female driver in 22 years to participate in a Grand Prix weekend. The Scottish driver participated in the first practice session of the British GP. However, sadly, she never got the chance to race. As a result, Wolff is now running a passionate campaign to train young girls to make it to F1. She recently provided a timeline about when will F1 have its first female driver.
F1 Kym Illman recently uploaded a YouTube video where he interviewed Wolff. In a quick question, he asked her, “Women in F1, when are we going to see the first woman driving?” Without a pause, she replied, “2030 is my cut-off. Let’s see if we can make it happen before then.”
Given her immense experience in motorsport, including managing teams in junior categories, she is the perfect person to train young women and guide them on the path to F1. What is heartening to see is F1’s commitment to making that happen and establishing a body like F1 Academy for it.
The inception of the Academy was not a smooth ride, though. Before the inception of the F1 Academy, F1 ran a female-only championship called the W-Series. The championship managed to complete only three seasons before going defunct owing to the fund crunch.
What is even more disheartening is that the third season never saw the finale it was supposed to and came to an abrupt end. How both series differ is where the financial backing comes from. While the W-Series was funded by the sponsors, F1 Academy is directly funded by F1.
As for Susie Wolff, her new job has resulted in her facing some massive trouble recently.
What was the entire Susie Wolff & Toto Wolff vs FIA controversy about?
Business F1’s recent report recently took the world of F1 by storm. As per the report, an individual with “a history of conflict with Wolff” leveled allegations of an exchange of sensitive information between a Formula One Management (FOM) official and an F1 team principal.
Owing to Susie’s position as F1 Academy’s managing director (an FOM position), and Toto Wolff being the Mercedes team boss, many, including the Wolffs, believed the allegations targeted them. The FIA immediately opened an investigation into the matter. Susie took serious offense to the allegations and made her feelings known via a strongly worded post on social media.
She wrote, “I am deeply insulted but sadly unsurprised by the public allegations that have been made this evening. It is disheartening that my integrity is being called into question in such a manner, especially when it seems to be rooted in intimidating and misogynistic behavior and focus on my marital status rather than my abilities.”
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) December 5, 2023
She rubbished the allegations against her and reiterated her commitment to the F1 Academy. Following her strong response, every F1 team, including Christian Horner’s Red Bull issued statements denying leveling the charge. Some even came directly in support of the Wolffs.
After a couple of days, FIA announced it was closing the investigation after finding no evidence of any wrongdoing. It is possible that Susie was caught in the crossfire between F1 and FIA’s ongoing skirmishes.
The two bodies have recently locked horns on several matters. These include the tussle for Andretti’s potential F1 entry. Meanwhile, another contentious issue has been that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem openly dubbed F1’s potential $20 billion sale “inflated“.
