Williams Martini Racing Development Driver Susie Wolff completed her first free practice session of the two scheduled for 2015 at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday, and felt she had a productive session.
She ended the session fourteenth fastest, 0.877s slower than regular driver Felipe Massa after taking over the car that will be driven for the rest of the weekend by Valtteri Bottas, but was slightly disappointed to have made a small mistake in turn three on her quickest lap that she believes cost her around three tenths of a second, and could have pushed her closer to the top ten.
“Overall it was a good session because we managed to complete all of the work we had planned,” said Wolff. “For me it was slightly frustrating that I made a mistake in Turn 3 on my quickest lap, but apart from that it’s so good to get back in the car because you learn so much every time you take to the wheel.
“There is always that middle ground of pushing but ensuring that the car comes back in once piece, so it was important for me to not cause any difficulties for Valtteri and set him up well for the sessions ahead.
“This has been a good basis and I can analyse what I did right, what I need to improve next time, and use that for my next FP1 session which is coming up soon.”
Furthermore, Wolff continues to believe that she can have a future racing in Formula 1, despite the setback of seeing Williams hire Adrian Sutil as their official reserve driver for this season.
“As a driver I felt so much more prepared on the track today than I did at Silverstone last year,” said Wolff on Reuters. “You gain so much experience every time you’re in the car it means you can push more and be more prepared.
“I’m not the reserve driver for the team, so that means I’m far away from a race day…close but far away.
“I feel 100 percent that a woman can compete at this level.”
