IN CONVERSATION WITH SUSIE WOLFF & LOLA LOVINFOSSE
interview JANA LETONJA
Since its launch in 2023, F1 ACADEMY continues to break down barriers to entry on track in the F1 Academy Racing Series and through grassroots initiatives such as F1 Academy Discover Your Drive, hopes to make motorsport more diverse, inclusive and accessible.
In 2024, in its second season, the F1 ACADEMY Racing Series competes across seven countries, spanning three continents for the first time, and we’ve been at Zadvoort at the Dutch Grand Prix this past weekend to watch the girls give it their all on the circuit.
We’ve sat down with Susie Wolff, the managing director at F1 Academy, who is very proud of partnerships with brands like Charlotte Tilbury, with which the F1 Academy is transforming the sport and empowering women.
Susie, take us through the process of how the idea for F1 Academy was born and what is its mission.
I'm not going to take credit for having the idea, as that came from the management of Formula 1, who I think realized that the sport was gaining a lot of fan base from women. I mean, 40 % of the F1 fan base is female. Fastest growing demographic are the 18 to 24-year-old females. And they really wanted to put an initiative in place, which created more opportunity for young, talented women.
Then, I was brought in. I've raced for a long time, I've run a team, I obviously know the Formula 1 environment very well, and I saw it as a huge opportunity to create something impactful and lasting. And never before my time in motorsport have I seen so much momentum behind opportunity for young female talent. I say young female talent as opposed to young drivers because we don't just exist to find the next female racing driver. It's about much more. We want to be a movement, not a moment. We want to create lasting change in this sport and make sure that it's not seen as such a male dominated environment anymore.
What does the role of a managing director at F1 Academy personally mean to you?
I'm not big on job titles, but I see my role as making sure that we are building up something that's got very strong foundations, which can survive without me, which can go on to success year after year, and create impact that these young women can go on to work in this industry and have success. It's a very performance based environment, so it's up to me to sometimes get my elbows out, have my voice heard, and make sure that the Academy is being spoken about in the right way, in the right places.
How does the F1 Academy celebrate women in such a predominantly male sport?
I wouldn't call it a celebration. I feel incredibly lucky that we race on the Formula 1 weekends. That means I don't have a stadium to fill, I don't have a fan base to build. We are tapping into one of the biggest global sporting platforms in the world. We have the 10 Formula 1 teams on board, and that's a real testament to how much support we have. In the end, the 10 teams that have put their support behind F1 Academy are engaging with us and are finding young female talent and giving opportunities, so I think we have all of the ingredients in place to build something with lasting success, but I don't think we celebrate the drivers. I think it's more about creating an environment where we can nurture their talent, where we can create opportunity, and where we can help their progression further on in the sport. I see it more as a nurturing of talent than a celebration.
How do you see the F1 Academy transforming the sport in a way that has never been seen before?
I think we already have made big inroads. Just being here at the Dutch Grand Prix, having this paddock being in the fan zone area, that was all part of the bigger vision. I didn't want to be in a paddock where no one could see us. I wanted to be open, to make sure that everyone that came to this race could see these young fierce women zipping up a Ferrari race suit, a Charlotte Tilbury race suit, and getting out on track. And I see that we're already gaining a lot of momentum. If I rewind one year, it was tough. I was trying to sell a big vision, a mission, but it was difficult to get the traction. Whereas now we have an iconic Charlotte Tilbury car, which I don't think anyone felt was possible to see in motorsports. We have some great partners, so I really feel like we are gaining a lot of momentum.
It’s so great seeing that happening in this sport especially. And like you said, the fan base is already existing, and this partnership is just making it much more appealing to the female spectators.
Completely. I am a woman that follows many other sports, and even if there's a lot of female fans that don't want to be a racing driver, don't want to be an engineer, I think the fact that the sport they love is doing such an initiative, makes them invested. Everyone can talk about diversity, everyone can talk of a great game, but it’s about who's actually doing something, who's actually putting money on the table, investing time and energy. And that's where I think Formula 1 needs to be applauded.
F1 Academy has partnered with many renowned brands so far, but this year’s partnership with the beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury stands out. How did this partnership come about and on what values do F1A and Charlotte Tilbury connect and identify the most?
It was very funny how the partnership came around. It stemmed from one phone call that I had with someone at Charlotte Tilbury, and there was an immediate alignment. I think they were looking at getting into women's sport. They are a brand which likes to empower. I always struggled with the fact that if we talk about women in motorsport, everyone presumes we're tomboy. Well, we're not and we don't have to be. And if we want to wear makeup and still be fierce in what we do, whether that's in a car or outside of a car, we can be and we need to break down society's preconceptions that if you're wearing makeup, you're not being taken seriously. Well, that's just not the case anymore. And I think the brand alignment is on what we were trying to achieve and what they stand for. The brand is obviously female founded, female led, and Charlotte's whole mantra is around daring to dream. That's what we are standing for in this industry, so there was just such an alignment from the very beginning, and the deal happened very quickly. And my goodness, the reception we got when we announced it was more than both of us ever could have wished for. It was very well received.
What makes this partnership, being the first female beauty brand and the first female founded brand to become a F1 Academy sponsor, so special and so important, also for the future and the development of the Academy?
What I love so much about our collaboration and partnership is the fact that through Charlotte Tilbury, we were able to reach a completely new audience. Clearly, in F1 Academy, we raced with F1. If you love F1, you will have heard of us or start to hear about us and see us. Whereas the collab, the partnership with Charlotte Tilbury, allowed us to create and to step into a whole new audience of young women that maybe didn't follow, and actually that's cool. What I'm seeing in a race car with hot lips all over is challenging what people perceive motorsport to be, and is something that I see is very powerful for us. Because if we want to create change, we need to disrupt, we need to challenge preconceptions, we need to be bold. And that's everything that this partnership is.
French female driver Lola Lovinfosse is driving in F1 Academy for the second year with Rodin Motorsport Team. This year marks a special partnership with Charlotte Tilbury for her, with a car “dressed” in Charlotte Tilbury’s trademark hot lips, making it truly stand out on the track.
Lola, tell us more about how your love for racing, speed and cars developed.
My dad was racing in karting when he was younger, and we have always been passionate about motorsport in the family. Every Sunday, we were in front of the TV watching Formula 1, as a family, so that's basically how the passion started. When my little brother was four, they offered him a go-kart and a painted helmet to me, so when we were going to the track on the weekend, I had my helmet working around the paddock. It was just for fun, nothing serious or that was engaging. I was kind of searching for something like a hobby, and never had a feeling like the one when I tried the go kart. I simply tried it and I fell in love with the sport.
What does this opportunity of being a part of F1 Academy mean to you and for your racing career?
First of all, it's a big opportunity. It was a clearly a big step in my career simply because before Academy appeared on social media and everything, I was about to stop racing. It kind of came like a little light in my life. We prepared as much as possible last year to be ready for it, but especially with more preparation for this season. The calendar we have is just amazing. We are going to get so much experience and become so much more mature out of this experience that it’s just impossible to describe how much we gain doing this championship.
What are your goals for this season in general and for the remaining races?
We started this season with really high goals, but the level this year is much higher than last year. And of course we don't have the same chances like the drivers driving in other championships, like in Formula 4, so can't really do more. I'm already pushing like crazy at the simulator training, mentally training, but right now we are kind of stuck at a point where our place is around top eight, top seven. We were hoping for a top three this weekend, but the weekend didn’t start in the best way possible with a break issue in FP one, so in FP two it was just about starting from zero again. It's quite difficult to accept this as a driver when you set your goals so high, and you just see that it's not working in your way. But I think the end of the season will be promising. We have been preparing a lot for Singapore, and I'm trying to put myself in the best condition as I can physically. Hopefully it will change and we will get some good points to finish this season.
This being your second year in F1 Academy, how have you developed as a driver?
At the beginning of the season last year, I was not mature enough to understand properly how much I had to work on myself. But at the end of last year, I really understood that I wanted to give everything I could to progress and to perform. The doubt is going away by spending more time on the simulator with my team and working harder on track. I think either on or off track, I've been evaluating a lot, I feel more mature, more responsible. When I speak with my team, I feel like I have my place here, that people listen to me because now they take me more seriously and they see that I'm working in the same way as them, so I appreciate it. But we have to keep working hard.
2024 season also marks your partnership with Charlotte Tilbury. What makes it special for you, and what is your favorite thing about this partnership?
After announceing my participation in F1 Academy, Charlotte Tilbury arrived, so it was kind of the second light. I remember being in the kitchen at the workshop with my team and they showed me the delivery of the car and I got completely crazy. I had some expectation, but how can you expect the Charlotte Tilbury hot lips car. I mean, it was so unrealistic, but it represents me well because Charlotte as a person has been working really hard to get this brand so famous and recognized. Also, it brings more women to this sport, more fun, and it’s involving many things around women. And I think that's great for our sports because we needed to change the mentality. Now it's moving, but we need more. It's just getting started and if we keep going this way, I'm sure that in the next few years we'll have a female driver in Formula 1.
How do you see this iconic partnership moving the barriers in the sport?
Every sport, from football to tennis, is sponsored by sports clothing brands or energy drinks.The partnership between motorsport and Charlotte Tilbury is just unbelievable and I think just this is already breaking the barrier. To say “I'm going to wear a makeup brand, one of the most famous makeup brands in a male dominated sport, in motorsports”, that's crazy. Before we announced it, I was a bit worried about the reaction of some people being like “Oh, why is this car is so girly?” And I was really surprised how people just love the fact that we break the barrier and make things different than the others. Being part of this collaboration and partnership is just incredible, and I really appreciate it. The support that I receive and everything is really nice.
