{"id":279688,"date":"2025-11-12T13:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T13:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/279688\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T13:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T13:39:10","slug":"susie-wolff-i-can-be-very-punchy-and-pragmatic-if-i-have-to-fight-for-something-ill-fight-formula-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/279688\/","title":{"rendered":"Susie Wolff: \u2018I can be very punchy and pragmatic. If I have to fight for something, I\u2019ll fight\u2019 | Formula One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere was a deep loneliness to karting, and then definitely in single-seaters, because no one else was going through the same thing as me,\u201d says Susie Wolff as she remembers her long struggle in motorsport, from racing as a teenager against Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to her determined, but unfulfilled, quest to become a Formula One<\/a> driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the whole #MeToo movement, we forget what it was like before. But the way I heard boys talking about girls in the paddock made me think I never want to be spoken about in that way. I realised I\u2019d have to be whiter than white to get through it unscathed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old says: \u201cI couldn\u2019t open up to anyone until I met [her husband] Toto. But I\u2019m definitely happy that the next generation will never have to go through that because there\u2019s a camaraderie in F1 Academy. These young women have other women they can look up to or reach out to and there won\u2019t be that isolation I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff is the managing director of the F1 Academy, the all-female racing championship she has led since 2023. The aim is to offer young women opportunities to develop in competitive racing with the long-term ambition of producing a female F1 driver.<\/p>\n

It seems apt that our interview should take place in the middle of a kart test session for her and Toto\u2019s eight-year-old son, Jack. The memories rise up and she speaks with even more passion about rocketing female interest in motorsport compared with her own solitary journey through prejudice and inequality. \u201cI can\u2019t believe the number of young girls in karting now,\u201d she says. \u201cI was always the only one \u2013 or there might have been just one other girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her revealing new book<\/a>, Wolff shines a stark light on the difficulties she faced. As the boys tried to dismiss or intimidate her \u201cit became clear that being quick wasn\u2019t enough. I had to toughen up, find an aggression that didn\u2019t come naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susie\u2019s mother, Sally Stoddart, on three wheels in her racing days. Photograph: Courtesy of Susie Wolff<\/p>\n

She recounts an early clash in karting when an entitled boy was incensed he could not overtake a little Scottish girl. He slammed into the back of her kart before driving her off the track. They were called in by the clerk of the course and the boy and his hectoring father blamed Susie for the crash. She calmly demolished their argument and the clerk disqualified the boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI toughened up from a young age,\u201d Wolff says, \u201cand that held me in good stead for later in life. It also had negatives because you end up being so hardened. But I can now be very punchy and pragmatic and if I have to fight for something I\u2019ll fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the junior world karting championships in 2000 she fought her way through a vast field to finish a creditable 15th. But she felt embarrassed when, after the main prizes were awarded, she was called up to the podium and announced as the best female kart driver in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t there to be the top female,\u201d she says. \u201cI was there to try and be the best. There were 130 drivers so I was well inside the top 15%. But I was being singled out as the best female and it was the moment I realised: \u2018OK, I\u2019m seen as different.\u2019 When I moved into single-seaters [cars] that intensified year-on-year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motor racing is outrageously expensive and as she climbed through the classes she needed sponsors, most of whom wanted her to live up to a girly stereotype by driving a pink car and looking pretty in photoshoots. \u201cI just wanted to be seen as a racer, but at the time there was also this idea that any girl in racing was a tomboy. I wasn\u2019t that and it was very hard navigating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being with Mercedes-Benz in DTM [Germany\u2019s elite racing series], thinking: \u2018If I wear a dress, they might not take me seriously because they\u2019ll think I\u2019m trying to look pretty. But I want to wear a dress. If I wear a suit maybe they\u2019ll think I\u2019m butch.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brought in an insecurity that only became easier when I met Toto. He said: \u2018Be you. If that means wearing a dress, wear a dress. Being authentic is the easiest way to navigate the pathway.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SusieSusie Wolff kart-racing as a teenager, with the Scotland flag proudly displayed. Photograph: Courtesy of Susie Wolff<\/p>\n

In 2007, she endured a harrowing experience when, in the early hours of the morning after a glitzy function, an immensely powerful man in F1 banged on her hotel room door, demanding to see her. Wolff\u2019s distress and fear, of being assaulted and of the man\u2019s capacity to ruin her embryonic career, are detailed in the most searing pages of her book. \u201cIt was important to write about because many women have those situations where a split-second can change everything. I was lucky he didn\u2019t get in the room, but people should realise how frightening it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she saw the man months later he apologised. But, as Wolff says, \u201cfor a couple of years, I couldn\u2019t tell anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Toto was the first person she told. \u201cWe got together in 2009 and that\u2019s the first time I opened up. [The man] could have damaged my career massively or he could have helped my career massively. I didn\u2019t want either. I wanted to stand on my own two feet and because of the way I was brought up I would have fought him. But that\u2019s also because I was toughened from so many years within that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does the man know she has written about that night? \u201cI would think so, but I don\u2019t know. I haven\u2019t had any more contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The F1 Academy is the all-female racing championship Wolff has been in charge of since 2023. Photograph: Jeff Spicer\/Formula 1\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

She became a test driver for Williams and before the opening race of the 2015 season seemed close to her F1 debut. Valtteri Bottas injured his back during qualifying and Wolff believed she would replace him, only to be devastated when Pat Symonds, the technical director at Williams, called in Adrian Sutil, who had no connection to the team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a real wake-up call,\u201d Wolff says. \u201cPat said: \u2018Adrian has the experience we need.\u2019 It was a moment of absolute clarity. I remember thinking: \u2018If you\u2019re not going to give me the chance now, you never will.\u2019 I said to Toto it would be my last season<\/a>. It\u2019s never going to be a reality, so let\u2019s stop now.\u201d<\/p>\n

If she had been given the opportunity would she have done well? \u201cDo I think I could have jumped in and gone quicker than Felipe Massa [the No 1 driver at Williams]? No. Do I think I could have jumped in and been very respectable? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, when F1 Academy started, Wolff predicted there would be a female Formula One driver within 10 years<\/a>. Does she still believe this? \u201cI regret saying 10 years because one of my Academy drivers might think I don\u2019t believe in them. But I definitely think it will happen within the next 10 years. I see the talent coming through and there will be a girl good enough to be given the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are other battles to be won. Wolff continues to fight against the FIA after the governing body subjected her and Toto to a conflict of interest investigation in December 2023<\/a>. An allegation was made to the FIA that confidential information had been shared between a team and the sport\u2019s owner, Formula One Management. Susie reports to FOM as the head of F1 Academy while Toto remains the team principal of Mercedes.<\/p>\n

The investigation didn\u2019t take long, with the couple cleared and backed by the team principals. \u201cIt was so absurd,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause I had zero to do with the F1 business. That infuriated me and then the case was dropped within 48 hours without anybody investigating anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe F1 teams all united, which they very rarely do, and issued a joint statement saying: \u2018We have no issue with any conflict of interest and nobody had ever made a complaint.\u2019 Suddenly the investigation was over and it was very difficult to get my head around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff says her legal case against the FIA<\/a> continues in robust detail. \u201cAll these things take a lot of time, but it\u2019s ongoing. That\u2019s why I did it, even knowing it could take years. I wouldn\u2019t have done it if I didn\u2019t think it was worthwhile. So now it\u2019s just about being patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff told me last year <\/a>that Christian Horner had been the only principal who had been initially reluctant to sign the joint agreement supporting them. Was she hurt by Horner\u2019s lack of support? \u201cNo. It was no surprise at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was that because of Horner\u2019s fractious relationship with Toto? \u201c100%, yes. I don\u2019t allow any of that to worry me. I hold myself to very high standards. I know how much the F1 Academy means and the positive impact it has on the sport. That\u2019s why there will always be those that are for it, those that are against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff praises Hamilton for his unstinting support of female drivers \u2013 with a commitment to equality she says is unmatched by anyone else on the F1 grid. But it\u2019s almost time for Wolff to get back to the track to support her little boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese girls today are not just competing [in karting],\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re racing for podiums. I overheard Jack a few months ago at the final of the Easykart World Championship and he was racing against this little girl, Greta. The boys were discussing who would make the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them said: \u2018Greta\u2019s going to be really strong. She might win it.\u2019 They all said: \u2018Yeah, Greta.\u2019 They speak about her as just another competitor, a potential winner of the race. There\u2019s no \u2018Oh, Greta, the girl.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A tangled smile spreads across Wolff\u2019s face. \u201cTwenty years ago I was \u2018the girl\u2019 and it was embarrassing if you got beaten by me. Whereas the next generation see these young girls are quick and that it\u2019s completely normal to be racing them. The whole mindset has shifted and we now just need the talent pool to widen so that we have a 50-50 split between boys and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driven by Susie Wolff (Hodder & Stoughton, \u00a325). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com<\/a>. Delivery charges may apply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere was a deep loneliness to karting, and then definitely in single-seaters, because no one else was going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-279688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}