Susie Wolff on building the room: How F1 Academy and Disney are changing motorsport for women 

Formula 1 has 22 drivers on the grid. All of them are men. It’s been that way for over 50 years, since Lella Lombardi became the last woman to score a point in an F1 race back in 1975. That is what makes what I saw in Montreal significant.

Standing on the grid minutes before the F1 Academy race at the Canadian Grand Prix, which took place from May 22–24 at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, I watched a full grid of female racing drivers prepare to race at one of Formula 1’s biggest weekends of the year. Some were visibly nervous. Others were so locked in that the crowds, the cameras and the noise seemed to barely affect them. And it’s all thanks to pioneers like Susie Wolff, whose efforts have helped create more opportunities for women to thrive in this male-dominated sport.

Susie started racing karts as a young girl in Scotland, working her way up through the ranks in a sport that was almost entirely male, and eventually became a driver for the Williams F1 team, making her the first woman in over two decades to take part in a Formula 1 race weekend. She knows what it feels like to walk into a garage and have people question whether you belong there.

Today, she runs F1 Academy, the all-female racing series created to develop and promote female drivers at the highest levels of the sport. When I asked her if she ever imagined, back when she was the only woman in those rooms, that she would one day build the room herself, her answer surprised me.

“No,” she said. “When I was the only woman in the room, I was always intrigued to learn and to listen. I didn’t worry about building the next room or worrying about leading. It was more about following my own path, not feeling the pressures from outside.”

She added: “At every opportunity, I step up and try to support other women on their journey. Whether that’s at the very beginning or further along. I think that can be really powerful.”

There is something quietly radical about that. She didn’t have a master plan to lead. She just kept showing up, and somewhere along the way, the path led her here.

That weekend in Montreal, F1 Academy also made its first move into lifestyle with a merchandise collaboration with Disney. The collection brought Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck into the paddock, built around a theme that felt very intentional: female friendship.

For Disney, the pairing was a natural one. “Minnie and Daisy are beloved Disney characters that represent optimism, confidence and self-expression,” says Geraldine Naidu, Director of Brand Commercialisation and Market Lead for Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines at The Walt Disney Company. “They share a commitment to inspiring the next generation — which made them a natural fit for F1 Academy’s mission to empower young women in motorsport.”

“It is all about female friendship, women stepping up to support other women,” Susie said of the partnership.

It sounds simple, but it isn’t a small thing. For a sport that has historically struggled to feel welcoming to girls, having Disney attach its name to F1 Academy sends a message beyond merchandise. It says: this is for you. And when you spend a weekend watching it in action, seeing young women walk through the paddock with purpose, noticing female fans in the grandstands lean forward when the cars line up on the grid, you start to understand how much the representation itself does.

“We are changing the perceptions of the sport,” Susie told me. “Showing young girls and the next generation that there’s a place for them in motorsport. The impact in such a short space of time has been super encouraging.”

That impact is something Disney is banking on extending further, particularly across Asia, where enthusiasm for both Formula 1 and F1 Academy continues to grow. “By bringing Disney characters and storytelling into the world of F1 Academy, the collaboration creates an accessible and engaging entry point for fans who may be discovering the sport for the first time,” Geraldine says. “It’s a powerful example of how storytelling can help make sports fandom feel more inclusive and welcoming.” For fans in Southeast Asia hoping to see the collaboration come closer to home, she adds: “We know there is tremendous passion for both Disney and Formula 1 across the region. We’re always exploring opportunities to connect with fans in meaningful ways.”

For young girls watching from the grandstands, or tugging at a parent’s sleeve and saying they want to try karting, Susie’s advice is refreshingly direct: “Just get to your local kart track, wherever that is, and start your journey. It’s all about getting out there, practising, being as quick as you can be. And if the journey takes you further, you’ll end up here in this paddock.”

When I asked her about resilience, she was honest. “I think it’s in the toughest moments, like the resilience to get back up and to keep trying, that has really shaped who I am.”

And when the subject changed to femininity, she said it with the kind of confidence that only comes from having actually figured it out: “Modern femininity to me is staying true to yourself. You can be feminine and fierce at the same time. But most importantly, you have to feel confident, walk into a room, feel like you own it, and be the best version of yourself.”

On that grid in Montreal, surrounded by noise and nerves, the smell of fuel and the roar of engines about to ignite, that is exactly what I saw. A room that Susie built, and girls walking in like they own it.