“If I’m Not Going to Be Lewis…”: F1 Guru & W-Series Star Naomi Schiff Picks Hamilton’s Closest Ally Over the Champ for One Inspiring Reason

It has been 70+ years since F1 has been racing. And to date, in the list of thousands of drivers, there are a handful of female drivers like a needle in a haystack. It feels odd to not see women getting close to racing in top categories. While the number of aspiring female racers has increased across the world in different categories, their route to getting to the top level in motorsport feels like a narrow passage for now. So much so, that W Series star Naomi Schiff revealed that she wished to like Toto Wolff rather than Lewis Hamilton.

In an interview with the YouTube channel Kidd in a Sweet Shop, Naomi has spoken about how she put her racing career on the back burner back in 2015, to become a team manager. According to Schiff’s Instagram, she said, “It was a tough decision. I knew that it meant that I would drive even less.”

“Because I wouldn’t just be sitting at the track twiddling my fingers, I’d be working. Also, they couldn’t really put me in a seat if I was a team manager. But at that point I was like, this racing career of mine that I really was hoping to have is not happening.” 

Naomi has become an F1 guru due to her stints as a presenter and gaining a team manager’s experience. Her choice of picking the closest ally of Lewis Hamilton – Toto Wolff as an inspiration is rare and uncommon for sure.

She further explained the inspiring reason why she took this pragmatic decision to contribute to motorsport in a different role. Naomi said, “Like I’m not driving. So why don’t I just do this and get it on my CV and gain some experience? Do something in the [motorsport] industry. If I am not going to be Lewis [Hamilton], let it at least be Toto [Wolff].” 

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Naomi Schiff became the race team manager for Reiter Engineering in 2015 and stayed there until 2019. Fortunately, she got a race seat in 2019 in the W Series. In 2022, Naomi became the Diversity and Inclusion ambassador for the W series and also is a presenter for Sky Sports.

When Lewis Hamilton defended Naomi Schiff from the Social Media Vitriol

Last year, a Twitter user questioned the racing record of Naomi Schiff and her credibility for giving opinions about F1. Schiff had started hosting a review show on Sky Sports – Any Driven Monday. After this abuse she faced on Twitter, Lewis Hamilton jumped in to defend the Rwandan-Belgian driver.

As per Motorsport.com. Hamilton cited how Naomi has been an ex-professional racing driver. He mentioned how she is completely qualified and credible to give her opinions on motorsport including F1. Lewis cited how we need to work on removing these stereotypes and bad attitudes in sports.

The Mercedes driver supporting and calling Schiff a great asset to the broadcasting team of Sky was a good sign of inclusivity in F1. Still, women drivers have faced such controversial backlash more than often. It certainly isn’t helping the growth of female drivers in motorsport across the world.

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Female drivers have been far and few who got close to racing in F1. Nonetheless, there is the persistence of women like Naomi Schiff, Danica Patrick, Susie Wolff, and Jamie Chadwick that will sooner or later make a difference. With the F1 Academy program for women drivers, we may soon see someone break the glass ceiling in F1.