Susie Wolff to Retire from Motorsport at End of Season

[Jordan Wilkins]

Photo: F1Fanatic.co.uk (2015).
Pioneering Scottish racing driver Susie Wolff has announced her retirement from the sport at the end of this season.

The 32 year old Scot was the first female driver in over two decades to compete in an F1 weekend, although now is calling time on her career.

Speaking earlier this morning she told the BBC that she no longer feels she has a chance of earning a race seat in F1. She said "It was a decision I made at the end of the summer. There was very little opportunity to carry on in Formula 1, My goal was to get on to the starting grid and that didn't look achievable. So I had to call it a day."

Wolff would later add "I always said that as soon as I couldn't get any further I would stop and that time has come."

A contributing factor in her decision which she has mentioned is the team's decision not to give her the opportunity to replace the injured Valtteri Bottas for this season's Malaysian GP. She said of it "I don't think it was the pivotal moment, but it was one of the moments where I could just see it getting harder and harder, But I said to myself 'is this ever going to happen?' It was the harsh reality that the dream wasn't going to come true."

Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams has praised Wolff for her contribution towards the team. She said "It has been a pleasure to work with Susie over the years and see her develop as a driver within the team. Her feedback and knowledge of the car has been an important part of our recent development and we will be sorry to see her go."

The next chapter will seemingly see Wolff give back to the sport by helping campaign to get more girls into motorsport. She said "I want to give something back,We will launch a new initiative aimed at celebrating the woman succeeding in motorsport on and off the track now, plus highlighting to the next generation that motorsport is an option for them.I dared to be different, I want to inspire others to do the same."

Her career will end with the upcoming Race of Champions all star showcase event at Wembley stadium. She will be competing for Team Scotland alongside ex-F1 driver David Coulthard. Wolff started out in Formula Renault, with a best placing of 5th overall in the 2004 Formula Renault UK championship.

She progressed to British F3 for 2005, although an off-season ankle injury severely impacted her season. With her single seater career stalling Wolff joined the German DTM touring car series. In the highly competitive championship she initially struggled in an older spec of Mercedes. Her best overall in the finish would be 13th in 2010, thanks to two 7th place finishes.

After a long time her single seater career was somewhat reignited in 2012 when it was announced she would become a development driver for the Williams F1 team. After doing several young driver tests in 2012 and 2013, her big chance would come in 2014 when she was announced as driving in two free practice sessions for the team.

She drove at her home British and the German Grand Prix's, making history as the first female driver to take part in an F1 weekend since 1992. This year saw her become the official test driver for the team, and once again took part in free practice sessions for the Spanish and British Grand Prix's.

What are your thoughts are this announcement? What do you think her legacy will be in the sport?


F1Fanatic.co.uk (2015). Susie Wolff Barcelona Test. Retrieved from http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-conte...-Wolff-Williams-2015-F1-Testing-Barcelona.jpg

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

She was awful. I'm not sure she would be much better than Carmen Jorda. There are far better female drivers that deserve and F1 test drive far more than Wolff did

 

[Kringle]

Lol, only read the headline.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

To be honest its not really going to make much of a difference to Williams form when she leaves.
Although she seems like a nice person, her actual career (especially the DTM bit) never really showed glimpse of form or reasonable talent, and if truth be told if Susie was a male then she wouldn't get anywhere near a drive in a GP car.

Shame she had to pack in all of motorsport rather than just retire from F1, that seems a bit drastic to be honest but I suppose she has to make the most of her publicity now to try and do whatever it is she wants to achieve these next few years. If I was in her position and could get paid drives in other series then I would do everything I can to prolong my racing career outside of Grand Prix racing. I suppose we are all different and want different things from life, and that's fine.

Good luck to her and good luck in ROC!

 

[Philip Heck]

Shame she had to pack in all of motorsport rather than just retire from F1, that seems a bit drastic to be honest but I suppose she has to make the most of her publicity now to try and do whatever it is she wants to achieve these next few years. If I was in her position and could get paid drives in other series then I would do everything I can to prolong my racing career outside of Grand Prix racing. I suppose we are all different and want different things from life, and that's fine.

Well who knows, maybe they are planning on having a kid.
Just something that came to mind.

 

[Craig Patteson]

Top gear female presenter

 

[Rob]

Shame she had to pack in all of motorsport rather than just retire from F1, that seems a bit drastic to be honest but I suppose she has to make the most of her publicity now to try and do whatever it is she wants to achieve these next few years. If I was in her position and could get paid drives in other series then I would do everything I can to prolong my racing career outside of Grand Prix racing. I suppose we are all different and want different things from life, and that's fine.

She married Toto, leaned on his influence, and banked on a career in F1. Strike one, and strike two. F1 is hardly fair to any real talent, much less women. The first sentence is appalling. F1 should be ashamed of themselves. It's long been known by the Air Force that women make better pilots. And, according to Alonso, that's exactly what F1 drivers are these days.

 

[TobiasR]

And nothing of value was lost...

 

[Alberto Casado]

She was awful. I'm not sure she would be much better than Carmen Jorda. There are far better female drivers that deserve and F1 test drive far more than Wolff did

Woah, let's not exaggerate. Jorda is abysmal.

 

[Pedro K]

She never deserved a drive to begin with... Bloody politics

 

[Steve Bird]

I've now spat half a cup of coffee over my monitors laughing at all your comments, which are all in line with my thinking.

 

[Trimaz]

In before the white knights.

As nice as a person Susie is, her career is rather sad (well above Jorda's and better than mine, however). I'm a number one advocate for encouraging women to join motorsport (being a motorsport fan and a father of two daughters) but, come on, you shouldn't expect an F1 seat based on your sex, you should be securing one based on merit or talent alone, unless of course you have some of that sweet Venezuelan oil money to throw at a team.

Although, I'd reckon with her knowledge, she would make a fantastic commentator or television presenter on the sport.

 

[Rob]

In before the white knights.

As nice as a person Susie is, her career is rather sad (well above Jorda's and better than mine, however). I'm a number one advocate for encouraging women to join motorsport (being a motorsport fan and a father of two daughters) but, come on, you shouldn't expect an F1 seat based on your sex, you should be securing one based on merit or talent alone, unless of course you have some of that sweet Venezuelan oil money to throw at a team.

Although, I'd reckon with her knowledge, she would make a fantastic commentator or television presenter on the sport.

Oh come now, I guess you have never seen Milka up close. I became a staunch advocate after seeing her circa 2005 ay V.I.R. (got a podium actually so I thought...hoped...prayed...lol).
(smacks self in the back of the head before wife can)

 

[Birddogg66]

She married Toto, leaned on his influence, and banked on a career in F1. Strike one, and strike two. F1 is hardly fair to any real talent, much less women. The first sentence is appalling. F1 should be ashamed of themselves. It's long been known by the Air Force that women make better pilots. And, according to Alonso, that's exactly what F1 drivers are these days.

No at the end of the day they are still Racers and Men do it better. Not Sexist just fact as I am a fan of women in motorsports.

 

[Birddogg66]

Oh come now, I guess you have never seen Milka up close. I became a staunch advocate after seeing her circa 2005 ay V.I.R. (got a podium actually so I thought...hoped...prayed...lol).
(smacks self in the back of the head before wife can)

Seems the women don't know if they want to model bikinis or race cars. Which to me does not help their image as a race driver first. They lose respect points when they do bikini spreads and the guys don't care if they finish 30th

 

[James Cook]

Aspirations of an F1 seat were delusional at best.

 

[Trimaz]

Oh come now, I guess you have never seen Milka up close. I became a staunch advocate after seeing her circa 2005 ay V.I.R. (got a podium actually so I thought...hoped...prayed...lol).
(smacks self in the back of the head before wife can)

Holy ****. Those are some terrible career stats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_Duno

 

[Ejike Wodu]

Looks like the ROC is not at Wembley but the Olympic Park this year.
http://www.raceofchampions.com/london-2015/venue-info/

 

[xnorb]

So far i'm yet to witness any woman in european motorsports that really deserves an F1 cockpit. May be different in the Indy car series, but have no insight in that.

 

[Alberto Casado]

Sorensen has some juicy comments about Jorda, but I have seen it only in Danish and Spanish press. Lets see if some English speaking paper translates it.