Williams employs wife of one of its directors as a driver...
Discussion
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Quite.
Susie Wolff (nee Stoddart) is of course a half-decent driver in her own right, but you have to ask the question of whether Williams would have considered her had she not been married to one of the major shareholders of the company...
The answer is of course "No."
I can't see many other DTM drivers who've scored a massive 4 points in 6 seasons of DTM being wooed as development drivers for F1 teams.
Susie Wolff (nee Stoddart) is of course a half-decent driver in her own right, but you have to ask the question of whether Williams would have considered her had she not been married to one of the major shareholders of the company...
The answer is of course "No."
I can't see many other DTM drivers who've scored a massive 4 points in 6 seasons of DTM being wooed as development drivers for F1 teams.
Frank Williams said:
Susie is a talented, successful and highly professional racing driver who competes in one of the world’s most fiercely-contested racing series.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE f
kING KIDDING ME?!?!?!Can't comment on her professionalism, and even talented you could possibly argue, but successful?!
I would imagine as a racing driver, the ONE thing you CAN be judged on objectively is results. And she's had none. NONE. If she was as talented as some may argue, why hasn't she been snapped up by a leading DTM team with a car capable of giving her the results her "talent" deserves?
There is absolutely no way in hell she is there on talent alone. NO WAY. Absolutely disgusting.
I don't see the problem. If she's mainly focusing on aerodynamic testing and simulator work, that surely means there's less of a workload being placed on Maldonado & Senna? Plus with Bottas getting out in the vast majority of Friday sessions this year, it isn't like their 3rd driver is going to be short of practice.
From the sounds of the article in Autosport, it seems that she will be doing ambassadorial work "in the areas of education and road safety". So basically, she's a simulator tester who is a public face for the team when the race drivers can't be arsed. Doesn't seem all that big of a deal to me.
From the sounds of the article in Autosport, it seems that she will be doing ambassadorial work "in the areas of education and road safety". So basically, she's a simulator tester who is a public face for the team when the race drivers can't be arsed. Doesn't seem all that big of a deal to me.
rm89 said:
I don't see the problem. If she's mainly focusing on aerodynamic testing and simulator work, that surely means there's less of a workload being placed on Maldonado & Senna? Plus with Bottas getting out in the vast majority of Friday sessions this year, it isn't like their 3rd driver is going to be short of practice.
From the sounds of the article in Autosport, it seems that she will be doing ambassadorial work "in the areas of education and road safety". So basically, she's a simulator tester who is a public face for the team when the race drivers can't be arsed. Doesn't seem all that big of a deal to me.
ThisFrom the sounds of the article in Autosport, it seems that she will be doing ambassadorial work "in the areas of education and road safety". So basically, she's a simulator tester who is a public face for the team when the race drivers can't be arsed. Doesn't seem all that big of a deal to me.
MartynVRS said:
...perhaps she's not that talented but we won't know until she has a go.
4 points in 6 season says she's had a go. And that she's not that talented.
At all.
In fact, if I remember correctly, she's won the grand sum of f
k all in any series she's had a go in. Just checked; a reasonably handy kart driver, done fk all since.There must be 101 other drivers that should have been ahead of her in the queue for this job, and if I'd been one of them I'd be even more pissed off than I am now.
Not Ideal said:
MrKipling43 said:
IforB said:
I can't see many other DTM drivers who've scored a massive 4 points in 6 seasons of DTM being wooed as development drivers for F1 teams.
Quite.Centurion07 said:
4 points in 6 season says she's had a go.
And that she's not that talented.
At all.
In fact, if I remember correctly, she's won the grand sum of fk all in any series she's had a go in. Just checked; a reasonably handy kart driver, done fk all since.
There must be 101 other drivers that should have been ahead of her in the queue for this job, and if I'd been one of them I'd be even more pissed off than I am now.
In F1 not DTM. If she was handy in a Kart then there may be a chance. I don't even know what's she's driving but for all I know could be a mid range team. There's no need to take it personally.And that she's not that talented.
At all.
In fact, if I remember correctly, she's won the grand sum of f
k all in any series she's had a go in. Just checked; a reasonably handy kart driver, done fk all since.There must be 101 other drivers that should have been ahead of her in the queue for this job, and if I'd been one of them I'd be even more pissed off than I am now.
Centurion07 said:
Frank Williams said:
Susie is a talented, successful and highly professional racing driver who competes in one of the world’s most fiercely-contested racing series.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE fkING KIDDING ME?!?!?!Can't comment on her professionalism, and even talented you could possibly argue, but successful?!
I would imagine as a racing driver, the ONE thing you CAN be judged on objectively is results. And she's had none. NONE. If she was as talented as some may argue, why hasn't she been snapped up by a leading DTM team with a car capable of giving her the results her "talent" deserves?
There is absolutely no way in hell she is there on talent alone. NO WAY. Absolutely disgusting.
The whole ethos of motorsport is being in the right place at the right time regardless of your talent level.
I know some absolutely stunning club level rally and race drivers who could hold their own in the top echelons of the sport. They will never get the chance yet people like Susie Wolff, Pedro Diniz, Narain Kathikeyan etc have.
They've got over it and maybe you should too, life is far from fair.
Apparently 6th out of all the top female drivers 
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1089825-20-sexi...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1089825-20-sexi...
I just think that it's quite obvious that they wanted a female, so why not get one in who can actually race? Jessica Hawkins for example?
Much better publicity, IMO (Danica Patrick/Susie Stoddart: bindun) and they'd actually be helping someone out. Let Susie become a gentlelady driver if she wants to race. SEAT HOG!
Much better publicity, IMO (Danica Patrick/Susie Stoddart: bindun) and they'd actually be helping someone out. Let Susie become a gentlelady driver if she wants to race. SEAT HOG!
Cyder said:
The whole ethos of motorsport is being in the right place at the right time regardless of your talent level.
I know some absolutely stunning club level rally and race drivers who could hold their own in the top echelons of the sport. They will never get the chance yet people like Susie Wolff, Pedro Diniz, Narain Kathikeyan etc have.
They've got over it and maybe you should too, life is far from fair.
She went from karting to 4 years in formula renault, one season in formula 3 where I'm not sure she even actually drove the car due to an injury, to 6 mediocre years in DTM where she scored the grand total of FOUR points. If someone can tell me how that adds up to a formula one development driver I'd like to hear it!
I know unless you SUPREMELY talented motorsport will always be ruled by those up and coming drivers with bags of cash to buy the best equipment/teams etc, but that's all a bit irrelevant in the role of a development driver isn't it? Surely THE ONE SINGLE THING you must have is driving ability, something I don't believe she has shown since her karting days.
Having re-read the wiki on her karting career, it doesn't seem like that was all that great either!
wiki said:
Wolff began karting from an early age and in 1996 she was named the British Women Kart racing driver of the year. In 1997 she competed in a number of different karting categories and came out on top in a number of them. She was first in the 24hr Middle East Kart Championship, champion in both the Scottish Junior Intercontinental "A" and the Scottish Open Junior Intercontinental "A" categories and was again named British Women Kart racing driver of the year. In 1998 she moved up to the British Junior Intercontinental “A” Championship and placed 10th overall in her first season in the class. She also competed in the Federation Cup European Intercontinental “A” Championship and she placed 11th overall. For the third year in a row she was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year.
In 1999 she competed in the British Formula “A” Championship and placed 13th overall. She also placed 34th overall in the Formula “A” World Championships and again was named British Woman Kart racing driver of the year The year 2000 saw Wolff improve on her previous performance in the British Formula “A” Championship where she placed 10th overall this time around and she also improved on her previous performance in the Formula “A” World Championships where she placed 15th overall. She also won an award which named her as the Top Female Kart Driver in the world
In 1999 she competed in the British Formula “A” Championship and placed 13th overall. She also placed 34th overall in the Formula “A” World Championships and again was named British Woman Kart racing driver of the year The year 2000 saw Wolff improve on her previous performance in the British Formula “A” Championship where she placed 10th overall this time around and she also improved on her previous performance in the Formula “A” World Championships where she placed 15th overall. She also won an award which named her as the Top Female Kart Driver in the world
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