May 6 (GMM) Susie Wolff has admitted she still feels “very far away” from the formula one grid.
Actually, the 32-year-old is much closer than others, as she will take over Valtteri Bottas’ Williams on Friday morning ahead of the Spanish grand prix.
It will mark the “40th anniversary of the last time a female driver scored a world championship point in formula one,” the British team said in a statement.
Wolff said: “I do feel very, very close but in the same respect very far away.
“Because when they (Williams) announced (Adrian) Sutil as the reserve, that was a clear sign that ‘Yes, you’re close but you are also still very far away’.”
Claire Williams, who apart from Sauber’s Monisha Kaltenborn is the only woman in the team principals’ meetings at grands prix, admits it has been a struggle to gather support from sponsors regarding the ‘female’ angle.
“I said (to the Williams sponsorship people) ‘Let’s go out there, let’s really go hard at female brands’,” she told Reuters.
“And not one of them (the brands) was interested,” Williams added.