F1 Academy: Discover your drive, an essential step for women

Susie Wolff’s global initiative aims to grow the pool of female motorsport talent, on and off the track, and Wolff, Managing Director of the F1 Academy, is leading the charge to inspire the next generation.

F1 Academy Discover Your Drive will provide girls and young women with the opportunity to participate in entry level programs and career schemes to promote and enhance female participation in sport.

On the way, the first talent identification program to launch will be F1 Academy Discover your Drive Karting UK, a national program that seeks to find and nurture the next generation of young female karters.

While the initiative will start in the UK at six venues in 2023, before expanding to 38 venues across the country next year, the future plan will be to take the program globally, as in 2024, when the F1 Academy will be a Formula 1 supporting event. F1 Academy Discover Your Drive will be active all over the world in the days leading up to the race.

“With the F1 Discover Your Driving Academy, we want to provide access to the sport,” explained Wolff. “We want to have initiatives that are far reaching, that really allow young women, who are fans of sports or passionate about trying to pursue a career in sport, to really find their first footing in the door of understanding. Do I want to be a driver or do I want to be an engineer?

“We want to inspire this generation, create access and create the opportunity for them to advance and also be a vehicle for identifying talent.”

As part of the F1 Academy Discover Your Drive, the F1 Academy has identified four pillars to really focus on: Youth Engagement, Talent Identification, Engagement & Progression, and Community. There’s also the racing aspect, as Wolff explains, and that’s where the F1 Academy itself comes into play.

The F1 Discover Your Drive Academy’s ambition is undoubtedly huge, but it cannot be achieved alone and Wolff stressed the importance of finding the “right partners” to make such an initiative a success.

Both Motorsport UK, the governing body for four-wheeled motorsport in the UK, and TeamSport UK, which operates 35 karting venues across the country, believe the F1 Academy has found allies who share the common goal of promoting diversity within the sport. .

The numbers show what they are looking to change, with recent stats showing that around 45,000 young girls attend TeamSport karting courses each year with only a small percentage ever progressing to competition. It’s a challenge that Wolf is well aware of, and he also knows how important role models can be in helping to make progress.

“Let’s start with the positive, I think Formula 1 has a huge fan base,” he said. “It’s a young demographic, and that shows a real interest in the sport, and that’s something we need to capitalize on.

Why did we start indoor karting? Because, for those girls and young women watching from their couch on Sundays, that’s the first point of access to the sport. Wheelbase Challenges – unlike tennis or soccer, where you only need a ball or a paddle, you need To kart to race, you need access to the race track.

“Inner karting is the first point of contact to start the journey to becoming a racing driver, but not just a driver, or to get to know that environment and understand the opportunities that are available.

“I think the fact that there are already 45,000 young people going to these places and participating is an encouraging statistic. But, why are so few of those not coming back and not progressing with their participation?

“Lack of role models: if you can’t see it, you can’t believe it. I think there is a belief that motorsport is still quite a male-dominated environment and we really need to break it, we also need to create opportunities.”

Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers also echoed Wolff’s similar sentiments about female racers not being represented in their competitions, despite the undoubted talent out there.

“One of the frustrations about motorsport, as the UK’s governing body, is that we have this amazing advantage as a sport that we are so open and inclusive,” he said. “In particular, we are one of the few sports that is completely gender-neutral.

“We are open and inclusive to all stakeholders, which is a level playing field. However, I find it disappointing that only 5% of our racing license holders are women, and in road racing it is even lower – around 3%.

“All over the world, people have been asking the question, Why are there no girls? Why are there no women in elite racing at the Formula 1 level?

“There are girls who are phenomenally talented, but in the last 25 years we haven’t really seen anyone break through and become a full-time seat in F1.

“With Suzy, we came up with the idea that we need to start at the beginning of the show. The beginning of the era is when kids get into the cartoon cars for the first time, if we have any chance of really breaking the mold and finding a number of girls talented enough to go all the way.”

The F1 Academy may still be in its infancy, but the excitement is undeniable as three rounds of highly competitive racing have produced six winners from 12 races and one Spanish, Marta Garcia leading the overall standings. With the fourth round of the season kicking off from June 23-25 ​​in Zandvoort, Wolff is reflecting on her first few months as series CEO.

“So far so good,” he said. “Obviously it’s our inaugural season and there’s a lot to learn. We’re not on the F1 calendar yet – we started in Austin and from then on we’ll only be in Formula One.

“It was great to have that time to put the structure in place, to get a broader vision of what we want the F1 Academy to be like. The launch of the F1 Discover Your Drive Academy is clearly a key pillar of what we see as an important part of the F1 Academy.

“We don’t want to be just a racing series supporting 15 young drivers. We want to be something much more than that. We want to inspire the next generation and grow our female talent pool through the F1 Discover Your Drive Academy and all the world events we plan to launch in the future.”

“If you asked me what the goal might be five years from now, it would 100% be to go to an F1 Academy event or race and have young women there who say, ‘I’m here because Discover Your Drive moved me.'” I explained.

“Obviously it’s hard to quantify those numbers, but I think F1 Academy and F1 Discover Your Drive Academy can have a huge impact in a broader way. We’re trying to break down barriers, create that accessibility and provide role models for the next generation so they can see that this is It is a possibility for them in the future.”