Started in 2023, the F1 Academy is a platform for young women racers to make progress in their racing careers. Led by Susie Wolff, the series has garnered support from several teams and entities in F1, but Mercedes wasn’t the first team to be on board with the idea. Rather, the 41-year-old revealed that it was Ferrari who gave her the first thumbs up.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the F1 Academy Managing Director revealed the story of the inception of the all-women racing series. Susie’s [Wolff] own husband, Toto Wolff rejected the idea, claiming it was never going to happen and that she wouldn’t be able to onboard all F1 teams.
However, the 41-year-old still wanted to give it a shot. And it paid great dividends as she was able to get Ferrari on board, making them the first of the 10 teams to be a part of F1 Academy. “I got Ferrari on board. They were the first.”, she said.
| Susie Wolff reveals Ferrari was the first F1 team to get onboard with F1 Academy :
“…i got Ferrari onboard – they were the first…”
snippet from @TheRedFlags_Pod | #F1 pic.twitter.com/ufPiObcZpa
— sim (@sim3744) October 4, 2024
Following Ferrari, Christian Horner and Red Bull chimed in, much to Susie’s delight. She then went back to her husband to tell him the news. Hearing that Ferrari and Red Bull had joined, Toto said that Mercedes would also support the series.
Replacing the W-Series as the sport’s only all-female racing series, the F1 Academy is taking all the right steps. With the primary source of power not residing with the F1 senior management, the series is much better with its operations and executions.
Furthermore, the drivers are getting a lot more exposure, allowing them to develop better. Now that the series has established its roots, Wolff now wants to focus on breaking the gender barrier.
Wolff has her next goal identified
Much like the Netflix docu-series ‘Drive to Survive,’ F1 Academy has its own show in the works. Produced by Hello Sunshine, Wolff hopes the new show will be able to break the stereotypes of F1.
She knows that the sport is a male-dominated field, but change is coming, and she wants to use the platform to show the world the possibilities within F1. As such, Susie aims to break the gender barrier of F1. The Netflix docu-series will help her do so with the show focusing on the female drivers’ on and off-track lives and increasing their popularity like their male counterparts.
We have some HUGE news…
We are thrilled to announce that the F1 Academy docuseries will launch on the world’s leading entertainment service, @NetflixUK, in 2025!
Produced by @ReeseW‘s @hellosunshine, she said “as these dynamic and fearless drivers break barriers behind the… pic.twitter.com/TN95LUKYyI
— F1 Academy (@f1academy) May 3, 2024
One of the F1 Academy drivers, Lia Block even shared her experience of being followed around by the Netflix cameras. The crew was with her for three days, and it was a weirdly good feeling for the ART GP driver. The overall experience was a bit “crazy” for the American, who took a while adjusting to being filmed.
