Susie Wolff

Susie Wolff

Wolff in 2014
Born (1982-12-06) 6 December 1982
Oban, Scotland
Nationality Scotland Scottish
Spouse(s) Toto Wolff (m. 2011)
DTM
Years active 20062012
Teams Mücke Motorsport, Persson Motorsport
Car no. 23
Starts 73
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 0
Best finish 13th in 2010
Previous series
2005
2002–04
British F3
British Formula Renault
Wolff (white) battling with Maro Engel, Ralf Schumacher and Katherine Legge at Hockenheim in 2008
Wolff in 2007
Wolff driving the Williams Renault at the Young Drivers' Test at Silverstone on 19 July 2013. She posted the 9th fastest time of the day, 1m35.093s, after completing 89 laps.
Wolff testing the Williams FW36 at Silverstone during free practice.

Susie Wolff (née Stoddart; born 6 December 1982, in Oban, Scotland) is a retired British racing driver. Her parents, John and Sally Stoddart, owned a motorcycle dealership in Oban and her father raced bikes competitively.[1] She progressed through the ranks of motorsport, starting off in karting, then moving up to Formula Renault and Formula Three before moving to the DTM to compete for Mercedes-Benz. In 2012, she was signed by the Williams Formula One team to work as a development driver.[2] On 4 November 2015, Susie Wolff announced her retirement from F1 and from all motorsport after the end of season Race of Champions at the end of November.

She lives in Ermatingen, Switzerland, with her husband Toto Wolff, executive director of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team since 21 January 2013.[3] The two were married in October 2011.[4] In October 2016 Wolff announced on Twitter that she was pregnant with their first child.[5][6]

In 2014, Wolff was the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years, at the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone.[7] In 2016, she joined Channel 4 in the UK to be an analyst for their F1 Coverage.

Career

Early years

Wolff began karting from an early age, 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 of them. 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.[8]

In 1998, she moved up to the British Junior Intercontinental "A" Championship and was placed 10th overall in her first season in the class. She also competed in the Federation Cup European Intercontinental "A" Championship and she was placed 11th overall. For the third year in a row, she was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year.[8]

In 1999, she competed in the British Formula "A" Championship and was placed 13th overall. She also achieved 34th overall in the Formula "A" World Championships and again was named British Woman Kart racing driver of the year. The year 2000 saw Wolff improve on her previous performance in the British Formula "A" Championship where she came 10th overall this time around and she also improved on her previous performance in the Formula "A" World Championships where she was placed 15th overall. She also won an award which named her as the Top Female Kart Driver in the world.[9]

Formula Renault (2001–04)

In 2001, Wolff made the step up from kart racing to single-seater racing. Her first experience was in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series, in which she raced for the Motaworld Racing team. The following year she made her debut in the full Formula Renault UK Championship for DFR Racing, and again competed for Motaworld in the Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2003, she again competed in the Formula Renault UK Championship where she finished 9th overall and made her first podium finish this season as well. She achieved recognition for her efforts this year as she was selected as one of the finalists in the prestigious BRDC McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award and was selected as the BRDC Rising Star of the Year.

In 2004, she competed in her third season in the Formula Renault UK Championship, this time racing for the Comtec Racing team and she finished 5th overall in the championship with 3 podium finishes during the year.[10]

Formula Three (2005)

For 2005, Wolff made the step up to the British Formula 3 Championship to race for the Alan Docking Racing team in the Championship Class, but her season was disrupted by an ankle injury sustained during the winter. She also made a one-off appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch in June.[10]

DTM (2006–12)

In 2006, Wolff made the step up to compete in the DTM, the German Touring Car series, one of the biggest Touring Car championships in the world. She drove a 2004-spec Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe for the Mücke Motorsport team and was team-mates with Stefan Mücke and Daniel la Rosa. In her debut season she achieved a best finish of 9th overall in the final round of the season at the Hockenheimring.

In 2007, Wolff remained in the DTM series, driving a 2005-spec Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe for the Mücke Motorsport team and was team-mates with Mathias Lauda and Daniel La Rosa. Her best finish was at Mugello in Italy, where she finished in 10th place.

In the 2008 season, Wolff moved up to a 2007-spec car, and joined Persson Motorsport, where she drove alongside Mathias Lauda and Gary Paffett. Wolff's best performance of the year was at the Norisring in June, where she finished in 10th position.

In the 2009 DTM season, Wolff remained with Persson Motorsport in a 2008-spec car, alongside her team-mate Jamie Green. In the first race of the season at the Hockenheimring, Wolff had to retire after 24 laps because of damage caused by a first-lap accident with Gary Paffett.[11]

Formula One

Williams (2012–15)

On 11 April 2012, Wolff was named as a development driver for the Williams Formula One team of which her husband Toto Wolff was already a shareholder.[2][12] In 2014, Williams announced that Wolff would be driving in two free practice sessions at the British and German Grands Prix. At the British Grand Prix, Wolff became the first woman to participate in a Formula One weekend since 1992, when Giovanna Amati made three unsuccessful Grand Prix qualification attempts. However her time on the track was cut short after an engine problem occurred after completing just one timed lap.[13] On 18 July 2014, Wolff drove in a free practice session at the German Grand Prix. This session also started with car problems, but these were solved and Wolff managed to put in a good performance, finishing the session in 15th place out of 22 cars with a time of 01:20.769 just a few hundredths of a second behind team mate Felipe Massa 11th place time of 01:20.542. On 28 November 2014, Williams announced that Wolff would stay with team for the 2015 season in an enhanced role as test driver, with her position expanded to include two runs in Friday practice and two tests.[14] In 2015, Wolff, who drove during pre-season F1 testing, clocked a 1:29.708 (14th place) in Friday's first free session of the Spanish Grand Prix, six places and 0.877s adrift of regular driver Felipe Massa (8th place with 01:28.831). She then managed to post a 1:37.242 in the free practice session at the British Grand Prix for a respectable 13th place out of 20 cars.

On 4 November 2015, Wolff announced on the BBC that she was retiring from Formula One racing, citing that she had always said that she would go when she felt that she could go no further; she felt that she had gone as far as she could go, but expressed intentions to help other women in motor racing.[15] However, she stated that she would compete in the 2015 Race of Champions at the end of November for Scotland with former F1 driver David Coulthard and would subsequently retire from all forms of motorsport.[16]

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.[17] However, in early December 2013, the event was cancelled due to the political situation in Bangkok.[18]

In the 2014 event in Barbados, the Wolff-David Coulthard pair was finally able to compete as Team United Kingdom. The pair reached the finals of the Nation's 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 Driver's Cup, Wolff was eliminated in the group stage.

Awards

On 8 October 2013, Wolff was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Edinbugh "in recognition of her role as an ambassador for women in sport".[19] She had interrupted her studies at Edinburgh's Business School in 2001 in order to turn professional.[20]

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 NC
2012 Formula One Williams F1 Team Development driver
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Persson Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2013 Formula One Williams F1 Team Development driver
2014 Formula One Williams Martini Racing Development driver
2015 Formula One Williams Martini Racing Test driver

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
10
LAU
15
OSC
15
BRH
16
NOR
14†
NÜR
Ret
ZAN
12
CAT
15
BUG
13
HOC
9
17th 0
2007 Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 HOC
Ret
OSC
16
LAU
12
BRH
16
NOR
16
MUG
10
ZAN
17
NÜR
18
CAT
Ret
HOC
14
20th 0
2008 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007 HOC
16
OSC
14
MUG
15
LAU
17†
NOR
10
ZAN
15
NÜR
12
BRH
19
CAT
Ret
BUG
12
HOC
Ret
18th 0
2009 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC
Ret
LAU
11
NOR
10
ZAN
11
OSC
10
NÜR
11
BRH
13
CAT
15
DIJ
14
HOC
16†
16th 0
2010 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC
11
VAL
10
LAU
7
NOR
15
NÜR
Ret
ZAN
15
BRH
Ret
OSC
10
HOC
7
ADR
14
SHA
11
13th 4
2011 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC
12
ZAN
12
SPL
13
LAU
DNS
NOR
13
NÜR
14
BRH
14
OSC
Ret
VAL
11
HOC
15
NC 0
2012 Persson Motorsport AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC
12
LAU
21
BRH
20†
SPL
14
NOR
Ret
NÜR
17
ZAN
12
OSC
Ret
VAL
13
HOC
13
NC 0

Complete Formula One participations

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points
2014 Williams Martini Racing Williams FW36 Mercedes PU106A Hybrid 1.6 V6 t AUS MAL BHR CHN ESP MON CAN AUT GBR
TD
GER
TD
HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA BRA ABU
2015 Williams Martini Racing Williams FW37 Mercedes PU106B Hybrid 1.6 V6 t AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP
TD
MON CAN AUT GBR
TD
HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA MEX BRA ABU

References

  1. "Oban woman Susie Wolff joins Williams F1 team". BBC News.
  2. 1 2 Elizalde, Pablo (11 April 2012). "Susie Wolff joins Williams as development driver". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  3. "Wolff joins Mercedes and invests in F1 team". ESPNF1. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  4. "Susie Stoddart and Toto Wolff married". Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. ITR e.V. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  5. service, Grandprix.com - First & fastest: The original online F1 news. "Grandprix.com".
  6. "Mercedes-Boss Wolff - PS-Baby mit seiner Rennfahrer-Frau".
  7. "British Grand Prix 2014: Susie Wolff the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years". Independent. 4 July 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Susie Wolff: Profile". espn.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  9. "About Susie". Susie Stoddart. 22 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  10. 1 2 "About Susie". Susie Stoddart. 22 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  11. "DTM Hockenheim – Analysis part 2". dtm.com. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. 19 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  12. "Susie Wolff joins Williams as development driver". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  13. "Susie Wolff hits trouble on British GP F1 debut for Williams". BBC Sport. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  14. "Susie Wolff to stay at Williams next season as test driver". BBC Sport.
  15. "WILLIAMS CONFIRMS SUSIE WOLFF TO RETIRE FROM MOTORSPORT". Williams Grand Prix Engineering. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. McKenzie, Lee (4 November 2015). "A return to Mexico, a farewell to Wolff". Motor Sport magazine. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. "Susie Wolff to team up with David Coulthard at ROC 2013". Race of Champions. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  18. "Race Of Champions 2013 Update".
  19. Programme notes at the Celebration of Achievement ceremony at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh on 8 October 2013
  20. "A celebration of achievement".

External links

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