Susie
Wolff

The Scottish driver Susie Wolff was born in Oban on 6 December 1982. She began karting at the age of eight and was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the Year several times in the late 1990s. In 2001 she moved into single-seaters with Formula Renault. She finished ninth in the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2003, taking her first podium, and fifth in 2004 with Comtec Racing, including three podiums.

From 2006 to 2012 Wolff raced in the DTM for Mercedes-Benz, first with Mücke Motorsport and from 2008 with Persson Motorsport. In 2010 she finished 13th in the standings on four points, with seventh places at Lausitz and the Hockenheimring. On 11 April 2012 she was named a development driver for the Formula One team Williams. So that she could concentrate fully on that role, she announced her departure from the DTM ahead of the 2012 finale.

Wolff never started a Formula One race. At the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone she took part in free practice, becoming the first woman at a Formula One race weekend since 1992; an engine problem ended her session after one timed lap. At the 2014 German Grand Prix she was 15th of 22 cars in a practice session. In 2015 she drove in practice again in Spain and Britain, finishing 13th of 20 in Britain. In November 2015 she announced her withdrawal from Formula One. Her final appearance in motorsport came at the 2015 Race of Champions in London, where she represented Scotland alongside David Coulthard.

In 2016 she became a Mercedes ambassador and an analyst for Channel 4. She was also a co-founder of Dare to be Different, an initiative that launched officially in January 2016 and aims to increase the participation of women in motorsport. From 2018 to 2022 she ran the Formula E team Venturi Racing, first as team principal and from 2021 as CEO. In March 2023 she was appointed managing director of the F1 Academy series.

Source: Wikipedia, “Susie Wolff”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.