Susie Wolff, Next Female Formula One Driver?

As a female Formula One fan I am sick of hearing comments, usually from men,  about female racing drivers, that they are not strong enough, that they shouldn’t be allowed to race, that female drivers cause too many accidents on track, but the comment that annoys me the most has to be: “No woman will ever drive in modern F1” WHAT??? WHY NOT?? We can driver just as well as the men!

Susie Wolff is a Scottish racing driver. She has progressed through the ranks of motorsport, starting off in karting, then moving up to Formula Renault and Formula Three before moving to the DTM to compete for Mercedes-Benz. In 2012, she was signed by the Williams Formula One team to work as a development driver.

1996 she was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year. In 1997, she competed in a number of different karting categories and came out on top in a number of them.

In 2001 Wolff made the step up from kart racing to single-seater racing. Her first experience was in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series, in which she raced for the Motaworld Racing team. In 2004 she competed in her third season in the Formula Renault UK Championship, this time racing for the Comtec Racing team and she finished 5th overall in the championship with 3 podium finishes during the year.

For 2005, Wolff made the step up to the British Formula Three Championship to race for the Alan Docking Racing team in the Championship Class, but her season was disrupted by an ankle injury sustained during the winter. She also made a one-off appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch in June.

In 2006 Wolff made the big step up to compete in the DTM, the German Touring Car series, one of the biggest Touring Car championships in the world. In her debut season she achieved a best finish of 9th overall in the final round of the season at the Hockenheimring. She remained in DTM until 2012.

After leaving DTM Susie became a development driver for the Williams Formula One team. And last summer Wolff got to drive in the Young Drivers test. She later stated:  “A lot of people were waiting for me to fail when I did the Young Driver Test at Silverstone last summer. They suspected I wouldn’t be strong enough to drive more than 10 laps or that I would be three seconds off the pace of my team-mate.” But Susie tested for 89 laps and was only nine-tenths of a second slower than team mate Pastor Maldonado, who had won the Barcelona Gran Prix.

So why can’t Susie Wolff drive in Formula One in the future? She’s already proven that she’s a great driver; she’s fast, determined and a real racer.  Has the world really gone back to the medieval frame of mind that women should be in the kitchen?

 These female racers are an inspiration for young girl who dream of racing.  Yes, females will always get stick for racing, but people need to realise that that won’t make them give up, they will continue following their dream just like any other human being! And why shouldn’t they?

People are very quick to judge drivers, especially female drivers; “Oh, she hasn’t achieved a podium finish yet” No maybe she hasn’t but you all seem to forget to mention that she has beat however many cars it is that particular race, all driven by males, to the finish line, so no she wasn’t on the podium but she didn’t finish last.

In the near future a woman will be back in Formula One, achieving that dream shared by thousands of little girls. And my money is on Susie Wolff. You show them girl!