Susie Wolff: Hopes to take more steps forward in 2016

Susie Wolff insists she will keep fighting for her dream of becoming a fully-fledged F1 race driver, but admits she is prepared to accept her fate if no seats open up.

The 32-year-old Scot completed her fourth and final scheduled track outing for Williams in 2015 at Silverstone on Friday morning in opening practice. Since becoming the first woman to take part in an F1 race weekend in a quarter of a century with a debut P1 outing at last year’s British GP, Wolff has now driven in three more P1 sessions over the last 12 months.

But with no schedule yet in place for 2016, Wolff has made it clear she is only keen to continue her F1 career if it involves more forward momentum.

“It’s difficult to say now. It’s the beginning of July and the team is not thinking of next year already and I’m not really thinking of next year either yet; I have a lot of work to do in the simulator before the end of the year,” she told reporters after finishing 13th fastest in practice.

“But I’m someone who always said I need to make progression in my career. I need to keep going, I can’t just keep waiting on the cusp. If there’s no realistic way that I could get myself on the grid then I’m going to have to face that reality.”

Wolff, who joined Williams as a development driver in 2013, admits it is a slight concern she has no more track outings scheduled, but remains determined to fight for a chance.

“The feeling right now is happy to have gone out in a solid way and finished with a good session. Let’s see what comes,” she said.

“This is an environment that can change very quickly if the rules change quickly, but apart from that I’m definitely thankful for the opportunities I got this season; thankful for the fact that I got to go out in an F1 grand prix weekend and give it all that I could and show what I was capable of. Let’s see now. It is a bit worrying there’s nothing else planned, but I’ll stay in the fight and only when I think that I have no chances left will I look for something else.”

Asked if she was talking to other teams for 2016 to see what other opportunities might be available, Wolff replied: “Right now, no. I was fully immersed in getting ready for my outings with this team and I think some people underestimate the work that goes on in the background.

“The days in the simulator back at the factory, the training sessions which go in to make you ready to jump into an F1 car and go for it, that is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. And it doesn’t give you the capacity to do a lot of other things.”

But although keen for more opportunities at Williams, Wolff admits she is in a more fortunate position compared to test drivers at other teams.

“This was a good opportunity I had this year. There are not many other drivers who are getting P1 sessions and test days – I got two test days and two P1 sessions,” she said.

Susie Wolff with husband Toto

“So it would not have been a very clear sign of my intentions if was to start speaking to other teams during a programme for Williams. They gave me my chance in Formula 1. It was only ever a one-off test and it turned into more and right now my focus is on doing the best job I can do for this team.”

Twelve months after her long-awaited practice debut at Silverstone proved something of a damp-squib after a technical fault on the Williams restricted Wolff to just four laps, the Scot enjoyed a more productive session on Friday with 19 laps completed in the FW37.

“I came here with no thoughts of what happened last year, for me that was over and done with. I really wanted to go out there and show what I could do for the end of this season. [I was] highly motivated,” she explained.

“The team did a good job of getting me ready as they knew I wanted to push hard today. It’s always about finding that balance. I’m in Valtteri [Bottas]’s car and if anything happens to that car it’s hugely detrimental to his weekend, so you really have to be quite calculated in your approach.

“It immediately felt good in the car. It’s a fast track, the first couple of laps really took a bit of time to get up to speed through the fast stuff and unfortunately even on the second run I left a bit on the table. I had a bit of a moment through Becketts and lost a good few tenths coming on to the Hangar Straight. But overall it was positive."