If F1 Academy doesn’t work, nothing will

Ahead of a critical step-up in profile in 2024, with support from all 10 F1 teams in backing a driver and branding cars, F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff is crystal clear about one thing.

She says that long-term opportunities for females in motorsport may very well depend on the series succeeding in its mission.

“I’m very conscious of this just not being a flash in the pan, something shiny new, and then it just dies away,” she said ahead of the series finale in Austin.

“That would be a huge regret if that does happen. Because then there is no chance for wider diversity in the sport.

“I think, if this doesn’t function, nothing’s going to function.”

Wolff, who took up her role in March this year, thinks its success depends on it doing far more than just being a successful support series on the grand prix bill, and helping the fastest females it has right now get up the single-seater racing ladder towards F1.

Photo by: F1 Academy Limited

Marta Garcia, Prema Racing

Instead, Wolff believes F1 Academy’s very future depends on helping inspire and bring through the next generation needed to fill its cars for years to come. Otherwise, the risk is genuine of the series quickly failing.

“I would have loved the luxury of it just being a race series with 15 young drivers that could have existed and been rocket fuel to progression,” she said about the challenge she took on when signing up to help run the series.

“It has to be something much more because we will simply run out of drivers in a few years if we don’t do more than just exist as a race series.”

While Wolff succeeded in convincing all F1 teams to get involved in supporting drivers and putting their colours on a car next year, she confesses that there remains some scepticism about F1 Academy’s vision. This was rammed home to her in conversations she had with current F1 bosses.

“They’ve all taken a leap of faith to join us on this mission and we need to make sure that we are delivering a strong package,” she said,

“One team principal in particular said to me: ‘F1 Academy is just putting a plaster on the problem, are you actually going to try to fix the problem?’ Yes.

“We’re not here as a flashy series that is trying to just gain exposure and give 15 young drivers a limelight.

“I’ve been there, I know how tough it is, and I know how few women are participating at all the different levels.

“So, we need to figure out how we’re going to change long term, and that comes down to increasing the talent pool, it comes down to making the sport more accessible and inspiring the next generation to actually enter the sport.”

She added: “The overriding message when I met all the team principals was: ‘okay, we get why you’re doing this and how this can be impactful. But you’ve got to get it right because in the end W Series tried and failed.’

“We have to be more than just 15 cars driving, because…