{"id":530379,"date":"2026-03-12T01:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T01:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530379\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T01:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T01:48:10","slug":"susie-wolff-reveals-how-attitudes-to-female-racers-have-changed-ahead-of-2026-f1-academy-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530379\/","title":{"rendered":"Susie Wolff reveals how attitudes to female racers have changed ahead of 2026 F1 Academy season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff has revealed how society has changed since she was racing as the all-female racing series heads into its fourth season.<\/p>\n<p>Wolff began karting at the age of eight before moving to Formula Renault, Formula 3 and DTM. From 2012 to 2015, Wolff served initially as a development driver and later as a test driver for the Williams Formula 1 team, taking part in practice sessions, becoming the first woman since 1992 to take part in an F1 race weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Wolff retired from F1 at the end of 2015 and moved into management roles in Formula E and F1 Academy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSociety has changed,\u201d Wolff told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1academy.com\/Latest\/7CfHJg58TffCmsqg8FA17F\/we-have-seen-a-real-shift-in-motorsport-susie-wolff-on-challenging-perceptions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">F1 Academy<\/a>. \u201cWhen my son races against a girl, it\u2019s not unusual. It\u2019s not a statement, she\u2019s simply another competitor. That mindset shift matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 43-year-old admitted that the lack of young girls coming through karting was an initial concern for her, but it is no longer a problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat kept me up at night at the beginning \u2014 would there be enough young drivers?\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s no longer the worry. At kart tracks, I&#8217;ve never seen so many young women racing. I think the creation of role models and the inspiration for the next generation is now increasing our talent pool and is fundamental to the long-term success of F1 ACADEMY.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany young drivers are now connected to F1 Junior Academies earlier in their careers. They have the opportunity from a much younger age to get all of the help and support they need to progress in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/susie-wolff-managing-director-.jpg\" alt=\"Susie Wolff, Managing Director of F1 Academy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Susie Wolff, Managing Director of F1 Academy<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrucially, there is now a visible destination. There&#8217;s a defined route &#8211; perform in karting, progress to F1 ACADEMY. Deliver there, and the pathway continues. That clarity didn\u2019t exist before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cThe opportunity is there, but performance decides. We will always take the best talent globally and aim to have the 18 best drivers at any one time in F1 ACADEMY.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 F1 Academy season kicks off with round 1 in Shanghai this weekend, 13-15 March.<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff has revealed how society has changed since she was racing as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,56488,208146,576,577,6549,82,208145,4962],"class_list":["post-530379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-academy","tag-f1-chinese-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-shanghai","tag-sports","tag-susie-wolff-reveals-how-attitudes-to-female-racers-have-changed-ahead-of-2026-f1-academy-season","tag-trendingteam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}