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It has been 30 years since a woman came close to appearing in an F1 race when Giovanna Amati tried unsuccessfully to qualify with Brabham in 1992. She was the first woman to enter a Formula One race since Desire Wilson in 1980.
Susie Wolff came close to breaking the mold in 2014 when she appeared in a practice session for Williams at the British Grand Prix.
The sport has struggled to produce female drivers, though women have been employed in various roles across teams. Wolff herself has been an ambassador for Mercedes, a TV analyst, and most recently the team principal for Formula E team Venturi Racing.
40-year-old Wolff, however, is trying to inspire women to get into motor racing, if not F1 - though she knows it isn't easily achievable. She told The Irish Times:
“We just need more young women entering the sport, there are just not enough women competing to rise to the top. Naturally, it would help to have one young woman racing, I believe when you can see it you can believe it, open up the sport, make it more accessible and you will inspire the next generation.”
'If you want to make a living as a racing driver, you need to compete against men" - Susie Wolff on women in F1
Speaking about her time with Williams F1 and her experience as a woman in the sport, Susie Wolff said :
“There were some very tough moments along the way, walking into a garage and people having a lot of skepticism when they see you in the car. So you felt you had to prove yourself more than your male counterparts. That was part and parcel of what I was used to.”
The Briton added:
“I realized performance is power, if I perform then my gender is irrelevant going into the best teams, I have more of a chance to be successful. Motorsports is one of the few sports where you don’t get to see the athlete, when I had my helmet on I wasn’t even visible. So I would just get my helmet on and not get distracted.”
“The limitation of this series is that the winner should at least have been supported to go on and achieve further up the ladder. The sport isn’t segregated, if you want to make a living as a racing driver, you need to compete against men.”
