Max Verstappen Questions Susie Wolff’s F1 Academy: “There is No Next Step for the Girls”

Susie Wolff recently revealed that someone told her, “Many years ago, dream and dream big”. And it looks like she did dream big indeed and has achieved a mighty lot. Susie is currently the Managing Director of F1 Academy, a single-seater racing championship for women. And her work is praised widely. F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton have fully backed her project and the growing representation of women in motorsport. But why does Max Verstappen believe that the F1 Academy might not be helping the women with their racing careers?

Susie Wolff recently filed a “criminal complaint” against the FIA. Her strong statement has the support of the public and various stakeholders in the F1 paddock. Though she feels her reputation might have been damaged in certain ways, the controversy hasn’t blemished the F1 Academy yet. But people’s views about the championship could change with F1’s reigning 3-time champion ‘doubting’ their approach.

In an interview with De Limburger (a Dutch publication), the Dutch F1 champion, Max Verstappen, was asked about Motorsport being a man’s world, and how that correlates to the sim racing world as well. After explaining how they don’t discriminate between men and women in Sim racing, he addressed real-world racing.

“Team bosses don’t look at whether someone is a boy or a girl,” the Red Bull driver said. “It’s all about how fast they are. It is good that Formula 1 is now paying extra attention to women in motorsport with F1 Academy, although I have doubts about how they approach it,” said the Red Bull Racing star driver.

Verstappen further went on to add, “The cars they drive are way too slow. If you ever want to get them into Formula 1, it really has to go to a higher level. It’s all well and good that girls are now sponsored by Formula 1 teams, but what are we actually helping them with? There is no next step for them now. For example, the gap to a Formula 4 car is already too big.”

Although Max Verstappen doesn’t lie when he says that the speed of the F1 Academy cars is nowhere near F1 cars, what also needs to be considered is the period since the birth of female racing at the pinnacle compared to F1. Then, the speed differences seem justified, with a promise for betterment in the future. Nonetheless, Susie Wolff has recently justified why the F1 Academy means the world to her.

Susie Wolff explains her motivation behind supporting the F1 Academy

For Wolff, it’s not a yesterday dream. At a very young age, she decided to pursue a motorsports career. In 2014, she made history by being the first female driver in 22 years to race in Formula 1. Helping the next-gen female drivers break records and go above and beyond remains her main motivation to fuel the F1 Academy.

“I’ve only ever done one interview in my whole career where I wasn’t asked about my gender, and I felt that I had to do something because of this idea that I was always the only (one),” she told The Athletic. “I felt it was passing the baton on to the next generation, letting them learn from what I’ve done, right? Avoid the mistakes that I made and just make sure that the sport could be more diverse long term because I didn’t see any reason why you couldn’t be successful with a woman in sport,” said Susie Wolff.

Max Verstappen’s views serve as motivation to bridge the gap between the male and female categories. And Wolff’s experience and knowledge promise to do that. The future can only get better for female drivers in Formula 1.

Read More: Why Is Susie Wolff Led F1 Academy a Big Boost to Formula 1?