F1 News: Susie Wolff Saddened By Lack Of Driver Participation “It’s Always Lewis”

None of the other drivers apart from Mercedes visited the F1 Academy paddock in Austin.

Current managing director of F1 Academy Susie Wolff is saddened by the lack of driver participation as only two out of the twenty Formula 1 drivers visited the F1 Academy paddock in Austin. 

The F1 Academy shares a paddock with Formula 1 for the first time since its inception as its final round takes place during the United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin. Being paddock neighbors gave the F1 teams and team members a chance to meet the people at F1 Academy. 

However, out of all Formula 1 drivers, it was only Lewis Hamilton and George Russell who visited them. Witnessing a lack of support from the rest of the grid, Wolff expressed her disappointment. She told Sky Sports F1: 

“It’s a little bit sad that it’s always Lewis.

"He’s always the one offering support, coming over and really, because I think in the end, he knows what it’s like to be the only one and so he has an affinity.

"But there’s going to be the 10 F1 teams with their own livery, so I expect a lot more interaction from the F1 teams generally next season because they have the platforms, they have the voices and I think that’s something which will be hugely helpful because this is not a short-term project. If we want to see success, it’s got to be long term.”

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Wolff added that including the ten teams for next season was an uphill task as they all have their own junior academies. But eventually, there has been a "positive knock-on effect." She concluded:

“The great thing for me when I signed all 10 teams, which was no mean feat I have to say it took a long time, it was a huge workload off my desk because they all have junior academies, they all know about nurturing talent and what you need to be successful in this sport and they all had to go out and find their drivers.

"You can only stay two years in F1 Academy so they know ‘okay, I need to find the next driver’ and that has already started a wave of these teams looking for young talent, nurturing young talent so that you have a better chance of success.

"Like we all know, these F1 teams are hugely competitive, they want to find the best female driver and that’s already created such a positive knock-on effect, even down to the world of karting.”