Who Is Susie Wolff? Managing Director Of The All-Female F1 Academy

Susie Wolff has been named the managing director of the Formula 1 Academy division, which aims to train and prepare young female drivers for advancement to higher levels of competition. Wolff was brought in to improve the managerial structure and provide her special insight.

F1 Academy, an all-female driver series with five teams, 15 drivers, and 21 races at a variety of F1 tracks, was announced in November.

Susie Wolff has extensive motorsport experience, both as a driver and team principal, ranging from her previous driver development role with Williams, which included several F1 free practise outings, to competing in the DTM, as well as serving as team principal for the Venturi Formula E team.

In 2016, she introduced Dare to Be Different, a call to action designed to encourage female talent by motivating the following generation and boosting female participation at all levels and in all facets of sport.

Wolff will be responsible for leading the development of female motorsport talent and concentrating on building a successful pathway to higher categories in the F1 pyramid while serving as the managing director of the F1 Academy and directly answering to Stefano Domenicali, the president and CEO of F1.

In addition to Wolff, Bruno Michel, general manager of the F1 Academy, will continue to work under Domenicali and oversee the series' administrative operations, just as he has done with the established F2 and F3 championships.

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Who Is Susie Wolff?

A former professional race car driver from Britain, Suzanne Wolff is 41 years old. At the young age of eight, Wolff started karting. She advanced through the motorsport ranks, beginning with karting, moving on to Formula Renault and Formula Three, then transitioning to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) to race for Mercedes-Benz.

Susie Wolff was hired by Formula One team Williams in 2012 to work as a development driver, and at the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, she made history by becoming the first woman to compete in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years.

When the 2015 Race of Champions took place at the end of November, Wolff announced her retirement from motorsport. Wolff began working for the UK's Channel 4 as an analyst for their Formula One coverage in 2016.

In 2018, Wolff began working as team principal for Venturi Racing in Formula E and was promoted to CEO in 2021. Following the Season 8 finale in South Korea in August 2022, she made an announcement about leaving Venturi and Formula E.

According to Wolff, the F1 Academy offers a chance to foster real change in her field by developing the best framework for identifying and fostering female talent as they make their way to the top echelons of motorsport, both on and off the racetrack. There is still a lot of work to be done, but there is also a clear commitment to doing this right, she continued. She thinks the F1 Academy can symbolise more than just racing; it can encourage women all over the world to pursue their goals and understand that there are no limits to what they can accomplish if they have talent, passion, and perseverance.