It wasn’t too long into Susie Wolff’s retirement from being a professional racing driver that she just knew she needed a new challenge. When the Scot hung up her helmet at the tail end of 2015, she felt it was right to call time on her driving career but after a couple of years outside the competitive arena, during which she had her first child, the pull of the sport she has spent the majority of her life embedded in was just too strong. And so, after much consideration, Wolff is back, with the Oban woman having been appointed Team Principle of the Formula E team, Venturi, earlier this summer.
It is quite a change from the cut and thrust life of a driver but with the start of the season looming – pre-season testing begins in October while the first race is in mid-December – Wolff is relishing being back in the thick of it. It is no surprise the 35-year-old was unable to switch off her competitive side; she had, after all, made history as a driver, becoming the first woman in over 20 years to take part in a Formula One weekend.
Wolff may have little experience as a team principle but even just a few months into the job, she is certain this has been the right move for her.
“It’s a big challenge and there’s a lot to get done before official testing starts but it absolutely feels like this is the right direction for me and it’s a challenge I’m relishing,” she said. “I’m a big believer in following your gut feeling and this felt like the right next step for me. I still have that will to win and it feels so good to be back in racing.”
It is not always a seamless transition from life as an athlete into a management position though and Wolff admits that the self-centeredness that is necessary as a driver has had to be banished in recent months. But that is all part of the learning process and Wolff is embracing the scope of her new role.
“When you’re a driver, you are very selfish and you only need to focus on your own performance because ultimately, it’s your name on the side of the car,” she said. “Now though, I need to manage people, I need to make sure there’s a good energy in the team and that I get the best people in the key positions which is going to bring the best performance.”
Despite Wolff having been a driver for so long, she was always cognisant that she did not want to be a one-trick pony. And she admits that while she loved her time as a driver, she does not miss it one bit. “Because it was my decision to stop racing, I feel fine not being a driver anymore,” she revealed.
“I very much wanted to make sure I had a second career because I didn’t just want to be known as an ex-racing driver. So that part of my life is now behind me but I do think it gives me a big advantage in this job because I can understand completely when the driver talks to me about what the car is doing and I think that gives me a big advantage.”
Only time will tell if Wolff has managed to get the balance of the team right. Last season, Venturi finished in seventh position but the signing of ex-Formula One driver Felipe Massa, who will join existing driver Edoardo Mortara, looks to have strengthened the team considerably.
But there will be no hiding places for Wolff – if the results are not good enough, she will come under pressure.
“It’s all very well saying it’s going well but the truth is I’ll know exactly how I’m doing when I hit the track for official testing because the stopwatch never lies,” she said. “It is very brutal but it’s a sport I’ve been in for so long so I’m used to that brutality. I have a three-year plan for the team – we’d like to be in the top-six this season and getting regular points finishes. Next season, we want to be fighting for race wins and then the year after fighting for race wins every weekend and possibly the championship.”
Much of Wolff’s career has been accompanied by the narrative of her being a woman in a man’s world so it is perhaps inevitable that she cannot break away from questions asking how she made it when so many women before her have not. Wolff is a passionate supporter of women, going so far as to found the Dare to be Different organisation which aims to encourage more women and girls into motorsport.
“When I stopped racing, I kept being asked to comment on diversity in the sport but I really felt I had done my part,” she said. “In over 20 years of racing, I’d only done one interview where I wasn’t asked about my gender and I always said it’s down to performance - when you’re out on the track, your gender doesn’t matter.”
But when appointed team principle of Venturi, in the process, becoming the first female team principle in Formula E, she felt something of a sense of déjà vu.
“It was quite shocking to me when it was announced in this job that the same questions started again,” she said.
“And I thought my goodness, nothing has changed. That’s why we still have a lot of work to do. But thankfully, together with the MSA, the governing body of UK Motorsport, and with Dare to be Different, we are making progress.”
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