“We need more young girls”: Toto Wolff’s wife Susie on importance of new F1 Academy documentary

'F1: The Academy' documentary is produced under the leadership of Mercedes supremo Toto Wolff's wife, Susie Wolff, and was taken to the global screens on May 28. Revealing the importance of the documentary in the first place, the Managing Director of the all-female series explained how it could inspire more young girls to take up the male-dominated sport.

Since Giovanna Amati, there has been a drought of over three decades for a female driver to rise through the ranks of F1. While some have managed to participate in Grand Prix weekends, like Susie Wolff's free practice sessions with Williams in 2014 and 2015.

Though the 42-year-old was unable to make it to F1 as a full-time driver, her aspirations were clear; she wanted female drivers to make a revolution in the racing sphere. With the increased focus on inclusivity, F1 followed on the idea of increasing female participation and established the F1 Academy with Susie Wolff at the helm of the series.

With the all-female series now in its third year, the championship learned the importance of sports docuseries with F1's Drive to Survive's success and incepted their own version. Wolff oversaw the documentary and shared how the racing world needs more girls and how this series could help motivate them (via Sky Sports F1):

"It was also about just trying to be an entertaining documentary series because in the end that's why Drive to Survive did so well. We need to increase the talent pool, we need more young girls entering the sport and if this could inspire not just the next generation but the parents of the next generation, then it will help us just bring more women into the sport with the most talented rising through."

On the other hand, Toto Wolff has been busy in the F1 paddock after a torrid Monaco Grand Prix.

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Toto Wolff is wary of Ferrari's possible upheaval in the upcoming F1 rounds

Fred Vasseur (L) and Toto Wolff (R) at the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas - Practice - Source: Getty

Since the start of the 2025 season, Ferrari looked to be on the back foot with Mercedes and Red Bull trading the second-best spot. However, the last race weekend in Monaco changed up the story as the prancing horses were in close contention of replacing McLaren at the top.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not rule out Ferrari's sudden pace jump as a fluke and looked over to the new flexi-wing directive coming into force at the Spanish Grand Prix that could favor the Maranello-based team. Sharing his thoughts on the possible change of the pecking order, he said (via Formula 1):

"I think what we have seen is that Ferrari was probably most conservative on flexi-wings. What it's going to do on the pecking order is something we need to look at. I'm not sure it will (change things), but another angle of curiosity and I don't know how it's going to go."

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff-led Mercedes had a subpar Monaco GP as both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli finished outside the points. This result came after a horrific qualifying session for the German giant effectively ruled them out from becoming a possible points threat.