F1 Academy Director Delivers Disheartening Reality Of A Female Formula One Driver
Susie Wolff, former Williams development driver and current managing director for F1’s new all-female series, the F1 Academy, believes it could take up to 10 years before a female driver makes it onto the Formula 1 grid.
In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the F1 Academy's debut weekend in Austria, Wolff cited a lack of female talent pool and a highly competitive landscape as reasons for the delay.
"The talent pool is too small, so the best are not rising to the top,.
"It’s tough for all of the male drivers. There are only 20 spots on the grid and that’s why it is going to take time."
"I do believe in eight to ten years, when we have had a continued growth of the talent pool and more females entering the sport, it will be much more realistic."
A woman has not participated in a Grand Prix since 1976, when Lella Lombardi raced in Austria. Lombardi and Maria Teresa de Filippis are the only two women to have competed in F1 since the championship began in 1950.
While Wolff is hopeful that the F1 Academy will help to increase the number of female drivers, she is realistic about the challenges ahead. According to her, only 4.7% of the 45,000 girls who go to indoor karting tracks annually post a lap time or enter a race. The F1 Academy aims to change this by launching programs that encourage girls to race and provide a pathway for them to progress.
"A woman in F1 is not going to happen overnight.
"But I think this foundation and everything we can achieve with the F1 Academy in the medium to long term can be the real driver for change in the sport, and that was what compelled me to say, 'Count me in.'”
Despite Wolff's cautionary note, she remains optimistic about the future of female drivers in motorsports. With the F1 Academy and other initiatives aimed at encouraging girls to take up racing, it's only a matter of time before more women join the grid.
F1 Academy is heading into its second race weekend in Valencia, Spain. The FIA received a huge amount of backlash from fans when it became apparent that the all-female series was not going to be broadcasted. Instead, there will be 15-minute round-ups released on the Wednesday following a race weekend. Needless to say, part of getting women closer to the F1 grid will involve giving them the platform in front of a wider audience.