Susie Wolff a ‘Publicity Stunt’?
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| Williams' test driver Susie Wolff. |
[Editor's Note: We don't disagree with the general premise outlined below. Like the writer says, Williams Martini Racing test driver Susie Wolff, who will run Friday practice sessions for the team at Silverstone and Hockenheim this year, has never done anything of note in anything resembling a major racing series. Wolff is of course, attractive, and married to Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff. And in the big money, political game of F1, we don't disagree that those two criteria have at least as much to do with driving acumen in Wolff obtaining valuable Grand Prix weekend seat time this season.
What we do find intriguing is the fact the British F1 media rarely turn on their own. The writer mentions "several drivers of greater promise," than Wolff, a Scot. However, the writer goes on to talk about merely one driver, Worcestershire native James Calado, winner of 4 GP2 races the last two seasons.
Our quick take: Of course, Wolff is a publicity stunt. Of course, there have likely been behind-the-scenes deals made to get her in the car. Of course, based on sheer merit, Calado is a more worthy candidate, as are the two drivers who finished ahead of him in GP2 last year, and the drivers who finished one-two in GP2 the year before, who likewise are not in F1. But at the end of the day, any intelligent motorsports fan knows these things.
Go ahead and chalk this up to another instance of the delusional and biased British F1 media banging the drum for one of their own. The only difference is for once they were willing to sacrifice one of their own.]
Norman Mailer once likened Mohammad Ali to the Prince of Heaven. Some of the articles about Susie Wolff, the Williams test driver of all things, have been only moderately less gushing.
She has been described by the Telegraph as the fastest woman in the world. The writer of that phrase may have taken her lead from a documentary of the same name about Wolff. That documentary was made by David Stoddart, who just happens to be Wolff's brother.
I do not know Wolff at all. A friend of mine is a friend of hers and I am assured she is a nice woman. But it would be idle to deny that the hype has overtaken the reality in the projection of her as a future Formula One race driver. The evidence simply does not support the notion. To suggest otherwise is not only an insult to people's intelligence but to several drivers of greater promise.
A few facts. She is not the fastest woman in the world. Danica Patrick is way ahead of her. Patrick's victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in IndyCar series history and her third place at the Indianapolis 500 is the best finish by a woman.
Wolff has never won a race in a car, as opposed to a kart. In DTM she has finished the season in 17th, 20th, 18th, 16th and 13th places and twice been not classified. She competed in Formula Renault and Formula Three for five years without any particular distinction.
By contrast, James Calado, another Britain, finished second in the F3 Championship, second in GP3 and third in GP2, yet he is racing in sports cars after failing to cut the mustard in Formula One testing.
Why then is Wolff Williams' test driver? Could it be anything to do with the fact her husband, Toto Wolff, became a director there in 2009? Surely not. (In passing, how can Mr. Wolff be a shareholder at Williams and executive director at Mercedes?)
Despite her lack of experience in an F1 car – one straight-line test and day in the young driver test at Silverstone last year – Wolff, 31, continues to make her case for a race seat and will, ludicrously, drive in practice sessions during grands prix weekends at Silverstone and Hockenheim this season.
I focus on performance because once I put my helmet on it doesn't matter what I look like,' she said recently.
If I don't perform I'm out. 'I'm not on a crusade to prove women deserve to be here. I'm on a crusade for Susie Wolff. I just want to be the best racing driver I can be. If I can break down barriers as well as help people, I will.'
I wish her luck. I merely register my belief that the Susie Wolff story is primarily a publicity stunt.