Susie Wolff

Wolff driving the Williams Renault at the Young Drivers' Test at Silverstone on 19 July 2013. She posted the ninth-quickest time of the day, 1m35.093s, after completing 89 laps

Suzanne Wolff ( Stoddart; born 6 December 1982) is a Scottish former professional racing driver and current managing director of F1 Academy.

Wolff started in karting, before graduating to Formula Renault and Formula Three, then moving to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) to compete for Mercedes-Benz. In 2012, she was signed by Williams in Formula One to work as a development driver. At the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, she became the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years, by participating in practice. On 4 November 2015, Wolff announced her retirement from motorsport, last competing at the Race of Champions held at the end of November. In 2016, Wolff joined Channel 4 in the UK to be an analyst for their Formula One coverage.

In 2018, Wolff joined Venturi Racing in Formula E as Team Principal. In 2021, she was promoted to the role of CEO. In August 2022 following the Season 8 finale in South Korea, she announced her departure from Venturi and Formula E.

Biography Early life Wolff was born in Oban on 6 December, 1982. As toddlers, Wolff and her brother were put on skis and bikes by her parents, with the open spaces around Oban suited to biking and go-karting.

Wolff realised the potential path of a racing driver when taken to watch her first Formula 3 race at 13. Wolff studied international business at University of Edinburgh, but left after a year. In 2005, Wolff broke her ankle while running, which, along with financial issues, prevented her from competing in Formula Three.

Wolff began competing at karting at the early age of eight, and in 1996 she was named the British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year. In 1997, she competed in a number of different karting categories and succeeded in most. She was first in the 24hr Middle East Kart Championship, champion in both the Scottish Junior Intercontinental "A" and the Scottish Open Junior Intercontinental "A" categories and was again named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year.

Formula Renault (2001–04) In 2001, Wolff graduated from kart racing to single-seater racing, gaining her first experience in the Formula Renault Winter Series, in which she competed for the Motaworld Racing team. The following year, she made her debut in the full Formula Renault UK Championship for DFR Racing while again representing Motaworld in the Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2014, Williams announced that Wolff would be driving in two free practice sessions at the British and German Grand Prix. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Wolff became the first woman to participate in a Formula One weekend since 1992, when Giovanna Amati made three unsuccessful Grand Prix qualification attempts. On 18 July 2014, Wolff drove in a free practice session at the German Grand Prix which also started with car problems. These issues were solved, and Wolff put in a good performance, finishing the session in 15th place out of 22 cars with a time of 1:20.769, just two-tenths of a second behind team-mate Felipe Massa’s 11th-placed 1:20.542 time.

On 28 November 2014, Williams announced that Wolff would stay with the team for the 2015 season in an enhanced role as test driver, with her position expanded to include two Friday practice runs and two test outings. After driving in Formula One pre-season testing, Wolff clocked a 1:29.708 lap in the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix and returned to the cockpit in practice for the British Grand Prix, placing 13th out of 20 cars with a time of 1:37.242.

On 4 November 2015, Wolff announced on the BBC that she was retiring from Formula One, stating that she felt that she had gone as far as she could go, but expressed intentions to help other women in motorsport. Wolff stated that she would compete for one final time in the 2015 Race of Champions at the end of November, representing Scotland alongside former Formula One driver David Coulthard, before subsequently retiring from all forms of motorsport.

Mercedes (2016–) Wolff joined Mercedes as one of their ambassadors in 2016, and as part of the role was one of the first to test the Mercedes-AMG One.

Formula E (2018–2022) In 2018, Wolff joined Venturi Racing in Formula E as Team Principal and also became a shareholder in the team.

Under Wolff’s management, the Monegasque outfit experienced its most successful campaign to date in the 2020–21 season, recording 146 points with Edoardo Mortara securing second in the Drivers' World Championship, falling only seven points adrift of winner Nyck de Vries.

In November 2021, Wolff was promoted to the role of CEO, with Jérôme d'Ambrosio becoming Team Principal for the 2021–22 season.

F1 Academy (2023–) On 1 March 2023, Wolff was appointed managing director of the newly launched all-female racing series, F1 Academy.

In December 2023, the FIA launched an investigation into Susie Wolff after receiving an anonymous claim that she leaked F1 confidential information to her husband, but shelved after 48 hours. Most of the F1 teams denied filing complaints about the Wolffs after the FIA announcement. Wolff criticised the conduct of the FIA and its staff, saying that the investigation "shredded her professional reputation overnight". Wolff filed a defamation suit against the FIA in March 2024.

Race of Champions The Race of Champions planned to feature a female driver for the first time in its history when Wolff signed up for ROC 2013, to be held at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium on 14–15 December. The news was warmly welcomed by ROC co-founder Michèle Mouton, the world's most successful female rally driver. However, in early December 2013, the event was cancelled due to the political situation in Bangkok.

In the 2014 event in Barbados, the Wolff–Coulthard pair was able to compete as Team United Kingdom. The pair reached the finals of the Nations' Cup but lost to Team Nordic. Wolff lost to Tom Kristensen in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra while Coulthard won against Petter Solberg in the VW Polo RX, but lost the tie-breaker to Kristensen in the Ariel Atom Cup. In the Drivers' Cup, Wolff was eliminated in the group stage.

The 2015 Race of Champions was held at the Olympic Stadium in London and Wolff again partnered David Coulthard to represent Team Scotland. In the Nations Cup, the pair failed to progress to the semi-finals, eliminated by Team England 2. Driving the Mercedes-AMG GT S, Wolff lost to Alex Buncombe while Coulthard was defeated by Jenson Button in the KTM X-Bow. Racing against team-mate Coulthard, Wolff was eliminated in Round 1 of the Drivers’ Cup to conclude her professional career in motorsport, retiring at the end of the 2015 season.

Dare To Be Different Following her retirement from motorsport, Wolff co-founded Dare to be Different alongside Motor Sports Association CEO Rob Jones. Officially launched at the Autosport International show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on 14 January 2016, the nonprofit organisation aims to increase the participation of women in motorsport.

Holding events across the United Kingdom, the initiative invites school girls between the ages of eight and 14 to participate in motor racing-related activities. Dare to be Different has a range of ambassadors including former Williams Formula One Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams, Sky Sports News and Sky Sports F1 presenter Rachel Brookes, and racing driver Tatiana Calderón.

In February 2019, Dare to be Different united with the FIA Girls on Track initiative to reach a wider audience, raising awareness to the opportunities for girls in motorsport. The first joint FIA Girls on Track - Dare to be Different event was held at the 2019 Mexico City ePrix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Personal life Wolff met her future husband Toto Wolff, who at the time was a co-owner of HWA AG, while racing for Mercedes-Benz in DTM. He proposed to her on a boat in Venice after eight months of dating. They married in Capri in 2011. In 2017, she gave birth to their son, Jack. She currently lives in Monaco with her husband and son.

Awards On 8 October 2013, Wolff was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh "in recognition of her role as an ambassador for women in sport". She had interrupted her studies at Edinburgh's Business School in 2001 in order to turn professional. Wolff was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on the 2017 New Year Honours list for services to Women in Sport.

Racing record Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2002 Formula Renault UK Team DFR 11 0 0 0 0 45 18th 2003 Formula Renault UK Motaworld Racing 17 0 0 0 1 215 9th 2004 Formula Renault UK Comtec Racing with Duckhams 20 0 0 0 3 284 5th 2005 British Formula 3 Alan Docking Racing 2 0 0 0 0 2 18th 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Mücke Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 17th 2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Mücke Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 20th 2008 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 11 0 0 0 0 0 18th 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 16th 2010 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 11 0 0 0 0 4 13th 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 18th 2012 Formula One Williams F1 Team Development driver Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 22nd 2013 Formula One Williams F1 Team Development driver 2014 Formula One Williams Martini Racing Test driver 2015 Formula One Williams Martini Racing Test driver

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 UK results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2002 Team DFR BRH OUL THR SIL THR BRH CRO SNE SNE KNO BRH DON DON 18th 45 2003 Motaworld Racing SNE1 SNE2 BRH THR SIL ROC CRO1 CRO2 DON1 DON2 SNE BRH1 BRH2 DON1 DON2 OUL1 OUL2 9th 215 2004 Comtec Racing with Duckhams THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL1 SIL2 OUL1 OUL2 THR1 THR2 CRO1 CRO2 KNO1 KNO2 BRH1 BRH2 SNE1 SNE2 DON1 DON2 5th

Complete British Formula Three results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points 2006 Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004 HOC LAU OSC BRH NOR14† NÜR ZAN CAT BUG HOC 17th 0 2007 Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 HOC OSC LAU BRH NOR MUG ZAN NÜR CAT HOC 20th 0 2008 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007 HOC OSC MUG LAU NOR ZAN NÜR BRH CAT BUG HOC 18th 0 2009 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC LAU NOR ZAN OSC NÜR BRH CAT DIJ HOC 16th 0 2010 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC VAL LAU NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC ADR SHA 13th 4 2011 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC ZAN SPL LAU NOR NÜR BRH OSC VAL HOC 18th 0 2012 Persson Motorsport AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC LAU BRH SPL NOR NÜR ZAN OSC VAL HOC 22nd 0 † — Retired, but was classified as she completed 90 per cent of the winner's race distance.

Complete Formula One participations (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap)