An Evening with Susie Wolff

There were very few female icons of motorsport while I was growing up, rarely were any women seen in the pitlane, or even the grandstands, let alone at the highest levels of the sport. I can think of three off the top of my head, Claire Williams Deputy Team Principal of Williams Racing before being promoted to the top job, Monisha Kaltenborn was the first female Team Principal of a F1 team at Sauber, and Susie Wolff was the first woman to drive in a Formula One session in over twenty years. That of course is changing now, with the introduction of F1 Academy and as time goes on more and more women become involved in the sport, but when I saw that Susie Wolff was touring the UK with her book, younger me could not pass up the opportunity to go and hear about her experiences first hand.

It was held at the Lyceum theatre on a cold and dreary Monday evening, as with most Mondays in the office a little pick-me-up is often required and this seemed like the perfect solution. I can't deny I went through a whole range of emotions after learning the location this was to be held in, this theatre has after all long been the home of The Lion King, Initially I panicked that I had made a mistake upon reading the ticket, then fear set in that The Lion King had quietly disappeared from the West End, but fear not as it turns out that it simply doesn't run on Mondays as Simba needs a nap from time to time. However, I do think they missed a trick by not performing a number in the interval! 

I've never gone to an event like this before, talks have always seemed a bit high brow for my tastes, from the outside these "evenings with..." give off the impression that they will be on the preachy side so they have never really appealed to me. In this instance at least, I was happily proved wrong, the evening was very relaxed and the mood was lighthearted, even though it was held in such a large auditorium the atmosphere was almost cosy so the whole audience felt involved in the conversation. Even in the waiting area everyone was very chatty, engaging in conversations with those they had bumped into on the never ending staircase, it's the first time I can recall going to a theatre and talking so much. When I got to my seat there was a copy of Driven balanced on the edge, I had wondered how they would go about distributing the books, after delicately navigating my way past the other books, so as not to cause a domino effect, I retrieved my copy and took my seat ready for the show to begin.

Susie brought Toto with her to this round of the tour and they played off of each other throughout the talk, chiming in with anecdotes and witty remarks at the right moments. It was expertly done, with Susie being the main focus of the talk and Toto being asked the odd question, so he was involved but the star of the show was always Susie. The questions, I imagine planned or even agreed in advance, allowed for really in depth answers to be given all while not giving away too many spoilers from the book. There were stories shared about her childhood, how she grew up and how her family supported her and still do to follow her dreams in motorsport. Of course they added in some endearing stories of how the two of them met and how they support each other in their roles to this day. Then we were treated to a more detailed version of events that led her from Formula One driver to managing director of F1 Academy. She went through the disappointment of knowing she wouldn't be able to continue in the sport when the drive was given to another driver, deciding to take some time to think over what to do next (which she understands is a luxury - it is a luxury I understand the benefits of as it is hard to truly focus on what we want as individuals when there are day to day tasks to get done) and then came Formula e. Here she was given a little nudge from Toto to take the managerial role and get a better deal from it than was originally offered. Finally onto F1 Academy and how she was able to get support from all 10 F1 teams to support one driver each and thus establish the championship! 

In the second half, after a few more questions, it was time for the audience Q&A session. Everyone could submit questions and the result was quite entertaining! Susie got the gritty questions about the future of women in Formula One, current rising stars, whether F1 Academy will continue and if so how will it operate in look and continue to grow. I think the audience did really well with these questions, because aside from her answers to the points raised, they provided her with the opportunity to show her determination to succeed in each of her endeavours. Toto on the other hand, got the question on everyone's mind, and he let everyone know that he still holds a grudge about that race, and also that he is slightly baffled by papaya rules and thinks they should count their chickens that the drivers aren't as ruthless as his Mercedes duo when they were fighting for the title! 

Overall, the evening with Susie reiterated a lot of the lessons I felt that I learned from watching F1 growing up. Mainly that you have to be determined, to be yourself as there is no point being someone else, and that you have to know what you want and then work towards it. An example she gave was to think about who we look up to and what we can take from their character, looking back I realised when I was younger I probably took an awful lot of character traits from a Formula One driver. Susie Wolff truly personifies the idea of never give up and you can do anything you put your mind to. Throughout the talk I found myself thinking that it is easy to lose focus on goals and just focus on surviving, so the main thing that I took from this evening is that I need to get back my drive to know what I want to do and go for it! I can either be more Susie and make a plan or be more Toto and adapt to the situation as it arises! With all this inspiration she provided, there was also time for some lighthearted humour and a bit of fun once the talk was over and the audience were invited by Toto to recreate a Mercedes victory pose for a photo! Also Toto said if you're going to a race next year message the Mercedes team and say you were there and you might get a free hat...  so I'm off to look at tickets and test that out!