Wolff: 'Hopefully I'll Get A Race Seat'

OverTake.gg · May 6, 2013

Bram Hengeveld · May 6, 2013

Don't think she is the female hotshot that F1 needs. She didn't impress in any of her DTM races in the past either. Seven seasons and I can't recall her scoring more than a handful of points.

Formula 1 should be about skills and when a woman out there has more skills than her male counterpart she should absolutely get a drive.

Doubt that Susie is the one.

Kevin McDonald · May 6, 2013

I seriously think this woman is deluded. She believes that because she is a female racing driver she has a divine right to be in contention for a race seat, I mean, put her in GP2 and she would struggle to get into the top 10. She isn't exactly young either.

Bruce Banner · May 6, 2013

Danica Patrick would have been the best female candidate a couple of years back . She's had a win , poles , led races and had podiums in Indycars , which is more than can be said for some of the male paddock in F1 . She seems to have given up open wheel racing now for NASCAR though .

Luke Walsh · May 6, 2013

The only reason she's at Williams is because of her husband not her talent, she only managed 4 points in 7 years of DTM which doesn't scream F1 level racer to me.

Peter · May 6, 2013

Bram Hengeveld said:
Don't think she is the female hotshot that F1 needs. She didn't impress in any of her DTM races in the past either. Seven seasons and I can't recall her scoring more than a handful of points.

Formula 1 should be about skills and when a woman out there has more skills than her male counterpart she should absolutely get a drive.

Doubt that Susie is the one.

http://www.beitskevisser.com/

This young lady will be the next ''hotshot'' in Formula 1.

Ross McGregor · May 6, 2013

Even though I'm Scottish I don't think Susie Wolff should be a formula 1 driver. It's nothing to do with gender, she just isn't good enough to be in formula 1. You could argue the same with pay drivers such as Gutierrez & Chilton, but these guys have at least won races in GP2, and held their own against top-class drivers.

Xero · May 6, 2013

Ross McGregor said:
Even though I'm Scottish I don't think Susie Wolff should be a formula 1 driver. It's nothing to do with gender, she just isn't good enough to be in formula 1. You could argue the same with pay drivers such as Gutierrez & Chilton, but these guys have at least won races in GP2, and held their own against top-class drivers.

Same, I'm Scottish too, and I've followed Suzie Wolff (Stoddart) for almost 10 years now. She showed some real promise back in her Formula Reno days, regularly competing with the likes of Paul di Resta, Mike Conway and Oliver Jarvis (nowhere near Lewis Hamilton in 2003 though!). She was very average when she stepped up into DTM, and was a bit surprised if I'm honest when she got the test seat at Williams. Saying that, she's certainly quicker in single seaters than she is tin-tops. Maybe it just suits her better!

Sebastian Wolff · May 6, 2013

Awesome, and she even has the same name as my mom

TheHemps · May 6, 2013

She's really starting to irritate me now. A man with her credentials would never be heard of. If she gets a race seat I'll never cheer on a Williams ever again. It's a joke that anyone even knows her name.

hei1026 · May 6, 2013

Watched the programme about her on BBC. Put the gender aside, she's not exactly a fast driver and she hasn't proven herself in Formula One. I don't see her starting on the grid when Williams already had Bottas and Maldonado.

Xosé Estrada · May 6, 2013

To have a successful female F1 driver you really have to change society.

F1 capable drivers are scarce, and with the ammount of girls into motorsport nowadays, plus the money requirements to develop a career till F1, find a girl that is talented enough would be really rare. Let's say if 1/100000 male drivers is good enough for F1, you have to find that 1 in 1/100 in case of women.

The "sexism from the crib" we have now won't allow the numbers. If we encourage small girls to be active and do sports and not just raise princesses that like pink and have as biggest goal in life to look good for boys, maybe there is a chance of having the same representation of woman in Motorsports that exists in life (around 54%). Then would be more possible to find some of them that are talented enough for F1, despite the physical strong points of women may not be the most required for F1.

I'm obviously generalizing, but there is no doubt the number of girls that start practising sports is lower than men, and woman focused on sports that keep practising in adult life and try to reach professional goals are even less, in big part motivated by the lack of founding most feminine sports have, but in case of Motorsports a talented woman may have some advantages because there is commercial interest to have a woman in the top categories.

Kennett Ylitalo · May 6, 2013

Betske Visser looks like hippie-Häkkinen

Excalibur58 · May 6, 2013

I would really love to see a woman in a F1 seat again... But someone competitive ... I think that there are a lot of great drivers among women but I don't think that Susie would be the best choice. Anyway, I hope to see one of them in a near future to show that skill is not a matter of gender...

Peter · May 7, 2013

Kennett Ylitalo said:
Betske Visser looks like hippie-Häkkinen

http://www.beitskevisser.com/nl/press_releases/visser-s-exploit-at-first-car-race
When she was 16, she won her first race in the ''Dutch Supercar Challenge'' with a drive through and a 25 sec. penalty.

BanjoMaster · May 7, 2013

Ross McGregor said:
Even though I'm Scottish I don't think Susie Wolff should be a formula 1 driver. It's nothing to do with gender, she just isn't good enough to be in formula 1. You could argue the same with pay drivers such as Gutierrez & Chilton, but these guys have at least won races in GP2, and held their own against top-class drivers.

Scottish too, but agree on all counts. But Formula 1 has always had the odd driver that's been miles out of their depth after they've bought a ride. Anyone remember Alex Yoong, qualifying, Monaco? I felt genuinely sorry for him as the crowd was laughing at him, but he should never have been there in the first place. And anyone who'd seen him struggling midfield in UK F3 expected the same. I wouldn't want to see that kind again, especially with a girl; it'd do more harm than good.

There have been more than a few decent female peddlers over the years - I'd consider Claudia Hurtgen for any GT squad I was putting together, and Danica Patrick has certainly been a bit of a game changer in the US.

Ross McGregor · May 7, 2013

Simona due silvestro is doing pretty well in indycars too.

Tony Crabb · May 7, 2013

O.k, I'm going to be very cynical here, but the only reason she'll get a drive, is not that she has talent. But because of her husband, Toto Wolff. Now that may seem sexist, but it's not what you know, it's who you know in this instance.
And the way F1 is run these days, I'd wager there's bit of heavy 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' going on.

Bram Hengeveld · May 7, 2013

The moment there is a woman that has more talent that any of the current male drivers I am sure she'll get a ride.

Does that mean they have to change the podium and grid ceremonies too and add some male ~~pitbabes~~ pithunks. Would be good for the emancipation of the sport I think.