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All Right, Alex, we're here in Miami. It's a huge weekend, F one Weekend. Our guest today is Susie Wolf. She's the managing director of F one Academy. Their goal to get a woman onto the main grid of Formula one.
The fact that she started racing at the age of eight, I'm really interested in how that's impacted her leadership skills and her vision.
Yeah, I really want to get into how she combines all these different roles of being effectively the commissioner, a role model, a coach, a mentor, and someone who has massive ambition for this fast growing sport.
This is going to be great. All right, let's get to it. Susie Wolf, Welcome to the deal. We're so excited to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Excited to be here, huge time here in Miami.
We have so much to talk to you about, but I want to start with your core mission right now, which is getting a woman back onto the Formula one grid. It's been fifty years since it happened. You're one of the people who's probably been the closest in that intervening period.
What's it going to take well.
It's a huge challenge, first and foremost because the sport isn't segregated and there's only twenty spots on that Formula one grid, so regardless of gender, it's incredibly tough to make it. But one of our biggest problems is the fact that the sport is still seen as so male dominated, so we don't have enough young girls competing for the best to rise to the top. So we need to
change the perceptions. We need to create role models and we need to get more young girls entering the sport in the hope that one is good enough to make it to the very pinnacle.
And enter F one Academy, which is your TIS.
Well, if one academy re exists, it's a junior level, so it's Formula four, which is in the pyramid from LA four, Formula three, form the two, then Formula one, and we exist as a segregated championship. It's only for female drivers, and it's basically we want to be the rocket fuel for progression. We've got some of the best junior teams in racing and we want to find and nurture young female talents so that they have a better chance of making it a Formula one in the future.
So you come from a racing family. You started racing atage of eight. Apologies because my voice is terrible. We had a big game last night. But I always think about being an athlete all time. You started racing a the age of eight, How has that shaped your leadership skills in the mission that Jason.
Just described massively, I think when I look back at the age of eight, I was that very competitive, ambitious little girl. I loved speed, but of course, you only do what you enjoy in the moment. You're not thinking of a career. And I wasn't the stereotypical girl racer, you know. I loved pink, I had my barbies during sessions. But I just found this huge passion for racing and that competitive spirit. And I was taken to watch a Formula three race at the age of thirteen, and that's
really when everything changed in my head. I suddenly realized, oh, I could be a racing driver. I could make it to Formula one. And that's when it stopped being a hobby and I became quite dedicated. And I think that dedication came with a lot of sacrifice, and sometimes my parents felt maybe I was sacrificing a lot of those teenage years where you're supposed to, you know, party, meet boys.
But I never felt that way. I always just loved what I was doing, and for sure the tenacity throughout my racing career has been a huge help now when I've moved into the business side of.
The sport as SOUSI as a father of two teenage daughters. Thinking of you as an eight year old behind a wheel, I mean, is it ever scary? Because I get scared to go on the turnpike.
Watching it scary, But when you're out there and you know what it's like when you're competing, you're not thinking about any fear or any worries of what could happen, and the sport is dangerous. I was always aware that there was risks involved, but it never stopped me pushing myself to the limit. But I do think now as a parent I have a little son, it's harder watching than it is competing.
I want to go back to your parents for a second, because you know you come by this. It seems this competitive spirit and this drive pretty naturally.
So what did you take.
From them that pun intended sort of fueled you in your competitive pursuits.
Looking back now as you get older, they shape so much of me because my mom met my dad when she went to buy her her first motorbike from his shop. She raced, but she still had her own business, and it was a dress shop business. You know. She was very elegant, but in a second could switch into her race gear and be able to track with my dad, And that for sure gave me a very good inspiration of what it could be you can be both and also their relationship. My dad had so much respect for
my mom. They both had their own businesses. He always said, whatever he can do, mom can do too, and they were very equal and they pushed each other and they supported each other. And growing up seeing that, it's definitely what I've managed to achieve in my own marriage that I have a husband who also pushes me to be my best self and doesn't wrap me in court and rule at all, but pushes me. And I have that support background. But for sure, so lucky to have the childhood that I had.
And for those who don't know, your husband is total wealth.
Who's the CEO and team principal of Mercedes, the Mercedes team.
Okay, he is.
All of those things, and so that that notion just you know, sticking with your childhood for a second, this was very natural business or it felt you felt at home in it.
Well, my dad always raised two wheels did the Isle of Man t t which is probably the scariest, most dangerous motor motor fight race in the world, and he always said two wheels was too dangerous for his little girl, so he at least put me through the line. That's he threw the line, and I got a little go kart for my eighth birthday.
Wow.
And so take us, you know, briefly through your racing career, because we want to talk a lot about you as a business person, but you know, as with Alex, so much of your approach is you were an athlete. You were on the grid and we see this come through very clearly as you're advising and mentoring these young women are who are in the academy. Walk us through your your racing career.
Well, I started at eight and wasn't a clear talent initially, but had a lot of tenacity. So I kept getting better and got to quite a high level in the national championships, then the British Championships, qualified for the Europeans and by the age of eighteen was ranked fifteenth in the world. And I was often the only girl, but never saw myself the only girl. In my sport, you
wear helmets, you don't actually see your competitors. But when I was eighteen, I was given an award as top Female, and I think that was the first indication that I was seen as different, because I remember being embarrassed to get the award because I couldn't remember even seeing any other girls at on track. But that gave me the
springboard that could result to move into single seaters. So I started in Formula I know and had quite some success, was racing against Lewis Hamilton, had some podiums, got a lot of attention because I was the first ever female to make the Young Driver of the Year award, which is a very prestigious award in Europe, and didn't win it, got nominated twice, lost it twice, but got noticed by Mercedes Benz and I had tried to make it into Formula three, that category I'd seen as a young girl.
But one of the difficulties in my sport is the financial barrier. You need money to go racing. You need to raise sponsorship, and I mean, I'm giving my age away here. But I had a great sponsor, British Telecom because they were launching something called broadband, but they were great support of mine. But when I was just starting in form of three, I then broke my ankle and that was one of the toughest episodes of my career
because everything really slipped away. I lost my seat, I lost my sponsor, but I got that one phone call from Mercedes Benz come and test for us. And as much as people say, well there must have been so much riding on that test, I had nothing to lose. I had nothing, so I gave it all I had and they offered me then a one year contract and I ended up staying for seven years, and then managed to make my way into Formula one as a test driver and stayed there until I realized that I wasn't
going to make it into a race seat. And I think, you know, like as an athlete, you know your days will be up at some point, and I very much wanted to be in control of that decision and not wait for the phone to stop bringing or a contract to be produced. So I then decided in in twenty sixteen to call it a day.
Yeah.
And they often say that athletes die twice real death and when you retire, and I found that to be true. But so as going back to your racing days, if I look at a baseball player or a young girl's playing softball, I truly understand what makes tangibly, what makes that player good or great or not so good. I'm a novice, so excuse this simple question. What makes a good driver.
It's definitely a combination. I think the earlier earlier you start, you build a synapsis of what it is to be faster on a racetrack. But for sure, if you look at someone like Lewis, who's possibly the greatest of all time, incredible hand eye coordination, incredible balance, very peripheral vision that you understand what's going on, you can read a race
on track. And then the ability we see when a racing car is dancing because in the end, you are trying to push the car to the absolute limit, and the the limit is where you need to be to put the best lap time together. And it's the drivers that are able to find that very sweet spot of being on the absolute limit of what the car is capable of and getting two or three tenths close to
the front is pretty manageable. Getting to be the quickest and pole position at the very limit, that's what takes something extra special.
And so talk about that moment of transition.
You know, when you make the call to get into the business side, you make it proactively.
How do you map that out?
What's your playbook for saying Okay, I want to be this or I want to pursue it in this way, Like what's your thinking there?
Well, the decision was really easy. The aftermath was even thinking back to it now, I fell into a black hole. I initially didn't think I wanted to move into the business side of the sport because by that time Toto was very successful, winning world championships with Mercedes and Lewis. I didn't want to work against him for the take up our marriage, but decided I didn't want to work
for him also for the sake of our marriage. So I was searching for the next challenge, and I had been approached by a gentleman i'd met once before who wanted me to drive for him shield a pastor. And when he called regarding formerly e this new all electric championship. I thought he was calling me to drive for his team again. He said no, no, no, I want you to run the team. And I thought, run a team. No, I don't see myself doing that. But suddenly some jigsaw
pieces fell into place. Diesel Gate happened, the electrification of the automotive industry sped up. But then suddenly it's all everybody was talking about. And I obviously heard from Total that Mercedes were very much looking towards electrification in the future. And formerly E then gained huge momentum all electric racing cars, which none of us have had anticipated in the industry, racing in city centers, and I went to visit Shieldo
at a race in Brooklyn. I could see the statue of Liberty E literally racing cars, and I thought, okay, maybe this has something. His team was racing at the back and he had it a medical issue, which meant it had been mismanaged for a couple of years, and he said, listen, bring it back to its former glory.
The team was losing a lot of money, so I decided to copy and paste my husband's deal and said, okay, don't pay me a salary, give me equity, give me thirty percent of the team, I'll turn it around, and we were very bound. If he wanted to exit, I would go with him if I wanted to. There was a lot of tag along and drag alongs, but he was a great partner, and I was the mother of a young baby. Said listen, I can't move to Monaco, where the team was based, and he said, I'm not
going to judge you. How you do it. You do it, and you call me if you ever need my backup, and I'll be honest. There were a few moments where I thought, what have I got myself into? Because the team was losing a lot of money, was not performing. But those were tough days. But my goodness, did I that I learn a lot.
So, following up on what Jason said it was losing money, You're going, oh, did I make the right decision? I think we've all been there at some point. My question for you is what were some of the two or three things you did to start turning the business around from losing money to making money?
First and foremost, I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn trying to poach the best people from other teams in motorsport. If you can bring someone in who's won a race. They bring so much knowledge and know how. We then won our first race the following season, and it was a very slow turnaround, but suddenly the energy shifted. We had great people on board who knew what it was to win, They knew what it took to win, and they brought that culture. We definitely became more trustworthy
of each other. I set realistic targets, not immediately expecting to be racing at the front, and slowly but surely we built this energy we want a race, and suddenly we thought we can do this. And then we got a great new partner on board, a new title partner. Then more commercial partners followed, and within three years we were fighting for the world championship and we were profitable.
M hm.
So I want to fast forward a little bit because I want to get into EF one Academy, and your decision to do that. It's a seismic moment, truly in this rapid growth story that's happening around Formula one. So tell us about getting that call. I assume it's from Stefano Dominicali, the CEO of F one Academy, who you obviously know well, has been in the business for a long time.
What is that conversation, like, how does it start?
Well, we had sold a formerly team shielded myself and he was looking He's a visionary and he was looking to move into the space industry. He wanted to build an electric rover to go on Mars, and I was really intrigued by the technology. I really thought it would be great to get out of more to sport and push myself out on my comfort zone. So I was quite far along on that journey.
And you're literally headed to space.
I was headed to space and I got a call from Stefano and Greg mcfay. They were at the Mexican Grand.
Prix, gregmfay who was then the CEO.
Of Liberty, and they said, listen, we're thinking of starting an all female racing series. I said, fantastic, it would be great and anything I can help with in the background, and they said, no, no, you're going to run this for us. And there was a transition period because I definitely didn't see myself doing that, but after a lot of discussions at home, realized it was a once in
a lifetime opportunity. The sport that I knew so well, having been a driver, I knew all the challenges on being in a racing seat and how tough it could be, and I knew the business side of it and very much felt well, if I didn't take this opportunity and didn't hand the baton to the next generation and try to make it better, I would probably always regret it.
What were your reservations? What was your skepticism?
My skepticism was, did we need an all female championship to help? You know, the sport isn't segregated? Is it right only to segregate one level? And then the championship had already been set up to race on separate from F one, and racing on an empty race tracks with no spectators was going to always be difficult to make it a commercial asset for Liberty and ultimately formerly one, So I knew there had to be a completely different
business model. And there had been a series that had tried and failed before which had contacted me several times, and I never understood their business model, but I knew it wasn't easy to make something like IF One Academy into a viable commercial model.
So those were the kind of challenges. What turned you?
What turned me? Was there enthusiasm. I went to New York, I met with some of the Liberty Board and realized they were going to put their money where their mouth was. And I had spent so long in motorsport talking about diversity panel after panel after panel, I kind of felt I'd said all that was to be said. But here was the owners of the pinnacle of the sport willing to put in a lot of investment to create a platform that would help female talent on and off track.
And I realized this wasn't just a box taking exercise. It wasn't just a we better do this, because you know, we've got a huge female fan base. Now they've really meant it and they've followed through it. They've given full support every step of the way. And I don't ever regret having made the decision.
So one quick follow up. You talked about it was losing money at the beginning. Who funded F one Academy and have you raised or will you raise capital?
We haven't raised capital. I don't think there's any plans too. It's been fully funded by Formula One and now, of course we managed to get the ten Formula one teams on board who are stay colders of the sport alongside Formula one, and now we are very close to creating a platform which is financially sustainable over the long term. And I do believe women's sport it's attracting a lot of investment, but I do think it has to come
to the stage where it's also a business model. And thankfully because of the huge interests that we're seeing, we're close to being there.
Yeah, talk to us about getting those ten on board, because I would imagine that's got to be one of the trickiest things. You have a lot of knowledge about all of those teams. What was the process like of corraling cajoling them into really supporting.
It was interesting because when I first arrived, I said to Stephan, No, I'm going to need a couple of months to go away and really figure out what I think is going to work and dive deeper into can research and data. So I spoke to a lot of governing bodies. I spoke to all my contacts from the world of karting. Why we're not seeing more young girls? What do we need to do to form to just get lots of different opinions and form my own opinion
as to what was the right thing to do. And it was one discussion with Fred Wasser, who's a team principal at Ferrari and a good friend, and he had a young female driver in his driving in his Ferrari academy and he said, listen, you know we can put her in it F one academy and we could paint the car red. Suddenly I thought, yeah, you could, and SOA could all of the other teams.
Yeah.
He said, well I don't know about that, but you know I can try. I can speak. And I said, Fred, that's that's given me a really good idea. We're going to get every team to take a car.
So I got that. Sorry to interrupt you, but that wasn't the original plan.
No, the originally that the series had been set up racing separate from Formula One and the budgets of the drivers were covered by the driver, the team, and one third by liberty. So I got home that evening I said to Toto, I'm going to get every team to take a livery I said, impossible. We will never get all ten teams A to agree and be to sign the same legal document. Said, yeah, you're right. It might
be a challenge. But actually the support that I had when I had all of the individual meetings, they all very much had the same reply. You know, we've got one shot to get this right. If we're going to do this. I mean bearing in mind the first time in the history of the sport that the Formula One teams were giving their name and livery to something outside of the cars they build, and for an all female category, it was bold, but we managed to get the top
three teams. So Zach was one of the first to come on board with McLaren, I had Ferrari, and then one by one I managed to get to the number six total. Of course, always said you need to get more than five and then I can come on board. Then I got Mercedes and I won't mention any names. Some were not that enthused, but I had more than half and I said to them, well, we're going to launch and you're either with us or you're not. And I think the way the world is didn't want to
be seen to not be supporting. But now I have to say I have a great relationship with all ten teams and they've been fully, fully supportive.
Who had the most reservation, who was the hardest to get.
It would be unfair to name. Let's just say they took quite some convincing, but they're fully on board.
Now, well, I mean, and I would imagine, Alex, you've seen this. I mean, it is and this does get to sort of the macro of women's sports right now, that when people see the proof, and the proof really is in the numbers, The proof is in the viewership, the proof is in the sponsorship dollars.
I mean, what was the for.
The unnamed who weren't you know, as enthusiastic. What convinced other than peer pressure? Was there something that you used a number or or an argument that convinced them.
I think a big part was peer pressure. But when I went to meet with each and every team, I very much said, you know, don't view me as a woman running a woman's thing. This is for the greater good of our sport. And this can be something hugely impactful and powerful in a really positive way. Because, thanks to Netflix and Drive to Survive, forty two percent of the f on fan basis female. The fastest growing fan
demographic the eighteen to twenty four year old female. So there is a huge audience and I think the teams realized that there was this massive shift and there was this younger female audience that was really getting into the sport, and it was about showing that the sport they loved wanted to create opportunity for women and wanted to show that the sport isn't any longer as male dominated as maybe it was once perceived to be. So I think that was part of the reason, but also I respected
their reservations. It was bold, My vision was bold. It was going to take a lot to pull it off. It was a tough time to get it done, but we got it done. And then as soon as we announced it, it was time to try and get on the F one calendar. Stephani gave me huge support to meet with all the promoters. Again, not all of them were hugely enthusiastic, but somewhere, and I got half a calendar, and stephan Will helped me to get a few few more on to make a full calendar. And now that's
not an issue anymore. So that initial maybe skepticism, I think is completely shifted because we're up, we're running, and people can see that it's having impact.
Susan being involved with the WNBA and team ownership, with the links in Minnesota. Over the last several years, we've seen this incredible amount of increase in interest in dollars port into sponsorship and marketing, and then in the back end, the ri has been incredible because the viewerships have never been better. But in your position as a leader of the academy, how do you think you can capitalize on the influx of capital coming into women's sports.
Well, we're lucky in that I never needed to look for investment. I never needed to go out and prove the business case because I had all the support I needed from Formula one and Liberty. But I do think to be successful in the long term, First and foremost, we need to create great racing. We need to create something that people want to watch because they shouldn't feel obliged to watch because it's the female category. We need to come to a race weekend and be a great addition.
Promoters have to see the value of having f one Academy. And then on the other side, if we get that extra viewership, if we get those extra eyeballs, commercially, we have a very strong proposition. And the two are so closely interlinked, and it's really that vicious circle. You can't really have one without the other. But suddenly we manage to get a lot of the F one broadcasters also showing If One Academy now we have our own Netflix
docu series. Suddenly we do have that reach. So for the commercial partners and for the teams, it's a real business case to go out to their partners and sponsors and say, Okay, well if One Academy makes sense. Not only are we doing something that's good for the sport in supporting female drivers, but it's actually a reternal investment for us. And I think the two had to go hand in hand, and it's been definitely lucky timing as well.
The world changed, women's support had this huge moment, and Formula one had this huge surge in popularity, and I do think all three came together that it gave us a Deaf one Academy a good shot at success for sure.
So susy when it comes to sponsorship, I mean one of the one of the ones that obviously jumps out when it comes to deef one Academy is Charlotte Tilbury, not a natural name that we would associate with Motorsports. Talk to us about how that deal comes about, because the car itself really jumps out, but even the association is notable.
How does that happen?
Well? Once it had the great idea of bringing in all the assets in house and owning the liveries and commercializing them centrally. I woke up in the first of January last year and realized, Okay, I've got six liveries I need to sell and the first races in kind of eight weeks. But there had been a friend of mine from a racing career who had been in touch. She knew Charlotte Telburn to listen. Charlotte would like to support a driver. So imusially picked up the phone and said, listen,
don't support a driver. Become a partner of F one Academy And it was one of those phone calls. It was with their head of Partnerships where ten minutes in we just knew we were going to get a deal. We were so aligned. They wanted to move into women's sport. Their whole mantra is empowerment, see it, believe it, do it, and I very much wanted to bring in a female founded, female focused brand. I wanted to break down the stereotype that will to be taken seriously, as a racing driver,
you had to be like a tomboy. No. If you want to turn up at the track in a face filled makeup, you can or with no makeup that doesn't reflect on your ability as a driver. And we were just so aligned from the get go. It was a challenging deal to piece together because Formula one was used to huge deals with oil company with logistics companies, and this had to be pieced together in a very different way.
And when I called Stefan Owen and said it's a brand called Charlotte Tilbury, he was like, who can you ask your wife? And I could hear Sylvia and he's like, okay. He said, I trust you. If you think we're going to do this, then let's do it. And we got the deal done. And I said, okay, you have a livery to design, and he sent me through the livery with these hot lips plasted all over the race car with lipsticks hanging out. I thought, oh my god, this
is going to create a lot of attention. Maybe not all of it positive, but I knew it had a real impact with my stepdaughter, she's studying in LA not really interested in motorsport. She called me and she said, you've just done a deal with Charlotte Tilbury. That is so cool. Yeah, And I thought, well, if we've reached a dorm over in LA, it means we've done something right. And it just blew up.
Yeah.
And so what does a deal like that do in terms of not just trying it tension, but maybe changing the conversation with other sponsors, or does it.
The amount of brands who have spoken to have said, well, I want to do just what Charlotte Tilbury did. We call its copy and paste that deal because she came in and really disrupted, and we wanted someone to disrupt, to come at it differently, and our paddock club area we have a makeup station. We wanted to challenge what had always been the status co and racing. Let's do it differently. Let's not be ashamed of our femininity. We can still be here and be taken seriously as women
and accelebrating and being women. So it was that partnership which really was the foundation for others coming on board. Tommy Hill figure was once for the first to call and say how can I support and also took a livery and then slowly but surely we got most of the cars sold, and now it's I'm in a great position where I don't have enough cars left anymore for the demand, But I keep my feet firm on the ground.
You know, we've had a cute success in a short space of time, but we need to keep making sure that we're making the right decisions for the longer term, that we're still making sure that we're evolving in the right way for these young girls up and coming to see the opportunity and to really grab the opportunity.
So, Susie, you brought up a really interesting point when you were talking about the Charlotte Tillbury deal and the makeup station in the paddock. And it's really cool, Alex when you go and see a race weekend that has f One Academy as part of it, because it is both.
A part of the large the larger.
Event obviously and then its own sort of separate space. But I would imagine that that's a careful balance that you have to strike right, you know, to appeal to the broader fan base but also bring in how do you do that?
I mean, that must be something you're thinking about all the time.
It's definitely a balancing act. Because we are a junior championship. We're very lucky to race alongside F one, which is so established with a huge fan base. But we don't want to be a little sister in the room. We're there to take our space, to own it, to disrupt, to be bold, but in a way where it's respecting the bigger picture. Just because we're women. Someone say, oh, it's not fair that the F one teams have the
best paddock and you're off from the support paddock. I said, no, it absolutely is, because that's the pinnacle of the sport and that's Formula one, and we're not here to disrupt what is a great, great sport. We're here to be in addition, and we're here to build up young talent they can hopefully hopefully progress. But it's definitely a balancing act of being taken seriously and of owning it, but then also understanding of where we fit in the bigger ecosystem.
Okay, so we are if you don't mind, we're going to role play a little bit. Okay. Jason, mister Kelly is a CEO and a Fortune one hundred company. He's very interested in giving you some dollars. Give me your thirty second pitch on what is the value proposition to Jason and his company partnering with you?
You are really putting me on the spot here. I will, but we would love you to come on the journey with us because If One Academy is something that is young, it's only in its second season, but we've had huge impact in what is such a big, global, established sport,
and we believe we can change the perceptions. We believe there's a great opportunity for your brand to appear on an F one grown Prex weekend and sit alongside huge names in the sport, but be seen as supporting something which is having huge positive impact in our sport to create change. We have great broadcasters, we have great audiences now watching if One Academy, and we would we would love to have you on board with us. Boom is that thirty seconds?
That's good? I have follow ups. I'm getting there. I'm almost convinced.
But tell me about your audience, Like, tell me how you know how your audience is similar to Formula one? Who are you bringing in? Who am I going to reach that I wouldn't otherwise reach.
We're definitely reaching a younger audience. I mean, obviously with the demographic the Formula one is now hitting it. It's younger than it's ever been. But we see that we have nearly seventy percent of a female audience, so less than or let's say more females and Formula one, and we're definitely hitting an audience which isn't already in motorsport.
It's an audience it's coming upon if on Academy is something different as something new and it's not just your let's say average motorsport fan, and that's quite exciting because if you're already in the sport and you have that viewership, but we are attracting something which is not already known to the sport.
So I think we want to sign a five year deal. But five year okay, So how does it look today versus where you say there's a five years because we're in it for the long run with you, Well.
That's great to hear. But we are definitely got huge ambitions for it to be bigger and better in the future. But I've always said we we can't run before we can walk. It's going to be a step by step, and I think one is the educational piece. We need
more people to understand what ifon Academy is. I would love your daughters to say to you, oh, it's not F one just this weekend, or if one Academy it's coming to Miami, that there is this education, that we exist and that we are a great spectacle, the great sport to watch alongside Formula One. And we're not there yet, and we've still got a lot of work to do to build up that wider audience, to make sure that we are attracting the next generation audience, those young girls,
the eight to twelve year olds. If they can see a female driver zipping up a Ferrari or a Red Bull or a Mercedes race suit, it will change her perceptions of what's possible. So we've definitely got to make sure that we continue to get that reach. And one of the big moments for us will be our Netflix Stalky series, because I do think that's could be a game changer for us.
All Right, We're done role playing. That was fun. You deal with you know, A and J incorporated, the deal LLC. Netflix.
I mean, you cannot talk to anyone about Formula one. You really can't talk to anyone about sports and media without talking about the Netflix effect and drive to survive in everything that it did for Formula One. So now here comes Off One Academy, your own Netflix series, but with a twist. You're in business with Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. Tell us how all of this comes about because it feels in retrospect obvious, but it's never that easy.
I'm sure, no, it's never that easy. But it was a partnership that I felt was meant to be. I think Hello Sunshine and what Reese created with Hello Sunshine, trying to tell the women's stories in a way that had been done before. It fitted so well with the F one Academy and our story, and the timing was quite opportune for them to say, Okay. It was still a risk because when they came on board, we were racing on empty race tracks. There wasn't really the momentum
that we have now. But they were very committed. They could see the potential and they very much wanted to do more in women's sports, So I would say it was a leap of faith from their side. Obviously, the way the series progressed was very favorable. Getting the team of on board racing with F one and then we had to find a streaming partner, and that it was always clear for me. I wanted it to be Netflix because I wanted to be in the F one paddock.
I wanted to have IF the Team Principles as part of our story because they were the people I dealt with every week. And I also wanted to be able to see how much support F one was giving EF One Academy. And the negotiations started and we had more than one that was interested, and that led to us getting a deal quite quickly with Netflix, and then it
was for me really a voyage of discovery. I very much wanted this to appeal to people that weren't in the motorsport bubble, and I had to sometimes take a step back because I don't think I'm the right person. I know too much about it, not the target audience. I'm not the target audience. But it was a really interesting journey of trying to create something which we felt was compelling viewing, but also did justice to how credible and how important IF One Academy is in the journey
takes us. I think we have such a great opportunity with this series coming out. Obviously, we hope people will enjoy it. I say, even if we can have a fraction of the success that Drives Survived, it will it will be a game changer.
For us, So tell us about it.
It's sort of that compare and contrast, because I mean, you had a front row seat. Your husband, Total Wolf was notably very skeptical about Dry to Survive from the beginning. Mercedes didn't participate in the first season. He's talked very openly about how he got that one wrong, and obviously has become a key character. You obviously have appeared on Drivers Survived a number of times in your various roles
around the sport. What did you learn from being featured in that series that impacted or affected how you think about this series?
About F one Academy, it was quite a challenge because the Formula One teams and drivers and team principles are all very established. We have fifteen unknown drivers who are at the very beginning of their journey. They're not established superstar as yet.
They're literally teenagers in some.
Cases, they're literally young women who have been given this incredible opportunity, and for some of them, it was quite a big challenge to suddenly be with cameras everywhere on a Formula one race weekend, and we had to protect them in a way that we weren't being too intrusive,
but we needed to see the drama. We needed to see the human stories, and because we're not in the F one paddock, the cameras could go everywhere and they managed to capture for me quite emotional to watch back to see how tough it was for some of the drivers and definitely made me question a couple of things that we can do to improve it for the young drivers,
because it is tough. It's you're suddenly in the limelight, and as much as you need that exposure, that limelight to help you in your career, suddenly these you know, there was a seventeen year old signed to a Formula one team racing two hours before Formula One and just one year previously she was karting, so it was a big step up. But I felt very sure that we needed to create that exposure and we needed to create this disruption to get the eyeballs in the audience and
to create that impact. So it was definitely a learning process. And then of course the balance between how much of the racing people wanted to see was it more the drama off track. I didn't want it to look like a girly, you know, reality TV show. These were serious, young racing drivers that had to be taken seriously on screen.
But I have to say, hello, Sunshine, Netflix were It was really a privilege to work with both teams because we always had the eye on the bigger picture and the balancing act of doing it credit in the right way, but trying to create something that people enjoy.
Watching, which is when you watch this show, it's fascinating because you know, there are a lot of people who you know, run leagues or run teams, who you know they're they're a little bit you know, removed from the action.
Knowing this guy and knowing how passionate he is about the pursuit of excellence on court, on field, whatever, you have sat in these seats, and so you have this very intimate and emotional relationship with these drivers that maybe I dare say different from maybe another executive.
Is that fair?
Definitely? Definitely. And there's moments where if I see a driver that's sat a bad qualifying or bad race, I can sympathize so much with how she's feeling. If a driver's under mense pressure because the results haven't come. I know what that feels like. But on the other side, I remember here last year, you know, Abby Pulling, She stood on the podium at the Miami go On pre weekend, and I thought to have that opportunity. You know, I'd never had the chance to ever be even close to
Formula one when I was a young rating driver. So the idea that we've created that opportunity fills me with pride. But there's definitely for me a real emotional pardon. I obviously have to try and stay a little bit detached from the drivers because I don't want to ever show favoritism.
But I definitely have definitely passed a baton on. And I have a new head of talent development who I can see when a driver struggling or I can see when there's an issue, and I always say, okay, this is You've got to go and speak to her and these issues. And I can pass on all the mistakes that I want them to avoid that I made, and all of the things that which's looking back, I could have done better. I love that I can pass that knowledge on.
You must feel that I do.
And I got to tell you, Jason, and I were speaking before you walked in, and we were talking about how great that first episode was.
Thank you.
It was really really good. And I can relate so much with you because as you kind of walk in as the boss. When I entered the New York Yankees in two thousand and four, I had another boss and his name was George Stein boss, and it was like this reverence and like this ultimate respect. And I saw those young ladies, and of course I think of my
daughters the way they look at you. Have you ever thought a pincus of the impact you're making in these young ladies life, whether they make it to one eventually or whether they go on to be an executive like you.
I don't stop to think about it. I can see that they take on board a lot of what my opinions are and when I give them advice, and I certainly feel sometimes I'm sitting in a room full of men and we're discussing if one academy and they all have opinions, and sometimes I have to hold myself back
because I think, well, you're not a woman. You've never driven a racing car, and you're trying to tell me that this is how it needs to be but I respect the other opinions because I think sometimes it's different perspectives which can also open my eyes to new things. But I love what I do. I love the fact that I'm creating something which is giving these young drivers an opportunity that I could only ever have dreamed of, and that the sport that I love has made this possible.
You know, it's interesting when you say that, Susie, because I think I have some sense from your stories about what you're up against a lot of these times, and I do wonder in your mind, like, are there times when you just think, God, this is exhausting? Like why they just like banging on doors or beating your head against wall, whatever you know, metaphor you want to use, Like, does it sometimes just feel like this is ridiculous that I have to work this hard for something that's so obvious.
Absolutely, there's definitely been moments where I thought, Oh, have I this? Have I got it in me to keep going? But I think it's from my racing career, that tenacity, that never giving up and being so close to achieving what I want to achieve. But there are days where it just exhausts me. The endless conversations and not being able to actually make things happen just talking about So, yeah, that there are, but I think everyone has those tough days.
So it does feel like in these first two years there have seemingly been moments. You know, I'm sort of flipping the question on it said when I said, are they're frustrating moments? Have there been moments a moment or two where you've thought, huh.
Like we're doing something real here, this is happening.
It was the biggest moment for me was Jeda last year, where I had few people with reservations that we should be racing in Jeda because it was such a dangerous and fast race track, to which my answer as well, if men can race it, women can race it, that shouldn't be a consideration. But it was the first time I'd seen the ten Formula One teams with their own liveries. It was the first time I've seen our partners with
their own liveries. We put all sixteen cars on the grids to take a picture, had the Netflix crew following me with Hollow Sunshine, and that was a moment where I suddenly got a bit emotional because all of that hard work it had come to life. We were at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. There were those sixteen cars all with their liveries, these young women with their race suits ready to go, and that was a very very proud moment.
And so what's the next leap forward? I mean, is what's the next big milestone for you and for the team. You're two years in at this point, you know you're racing around the world. Does it expand to the grid? Is it about individual drivers? Is it all of the above? Like what do you game plan out when you're doing those strategic conversations, what are you thinking about?
It's really important to me that our champion goes on to six in the sport, that the best female that we've identified can go back in and mix it at the front in a normal championship, because the sport isn't segregated. And our champion last year had our first race a couple of weeks ago and nearly finished on the podium. Such an important sign for us that we are at the level where these young women can compete and do
have a chance of making it to the top. So the progression up the ladder is really important for our long term success as much as getting more young women racing because we need to increase the talent pool. And when I go to cart tracks and my son had his first race a couple of weeks ago, and there was a girl fighting for the race win, and that's normal for him. He doesn't question a young girl being on on track with him and being really competitive. And
that's changed. There's so many more young girls racing because now they have a clear target. Well, I want to get to F one Academy and we need both to function for F one Academy to be successful long term.
All right, we're gonna move to rapid fire. You know, no pressure?
Ready?
Well, I just did a pitch in thirty seconds, so.
I feel like you're good. You're good, You've got this. What's one word to describe your deal making style?
Authentic?
What's more important to you? Your gut or data?
Gut?
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Toto?
Oh?
Good one.
What's the best piece of advice you ever received on deal making or business?
Always have another option, don't fight to make the one deal work.
What's the worst advice you've been given?
The deal has to happen at eighty cost.
What's your hype song? Before a big meeting or negotiation, don't stop believing good one.
As we've talked about, you have a new docuseries out on Netflix, F one The Academy. What's your favorite sports documentary of all time?
Other than that, I love the Michael Jordan basketball What was it called The Last Dance? The Last Dance was fantastic.
If you can only watch one sport for the rest of your life, which one is it?
Formula one?
What team do you want to see win a championship more than any.
Oh, the Scottish rugby team. They need to win something.
Finally, what's your advice for someone who wants to have a career just like yours?
Go for it. I think quite often it's taking that first step, which is the hardest, But I think you need to believe in yourself and simply go for it.
Boom, Suzy Wolf, this has been such a train You did it, Listen. You were one of the first people I thought of when we started this show. I really have watched your career with a lot of admiration. As I said, and I'm really grateful to you for spending some time with us.
Thank you, thank you for having me.
The deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. This show was produced by Anna Maazarakis, Lizzie Phillip, and Stacy Wong. Original music and engineering by Blake Maples. David E. Ravella is our managing editor. Our executive producers are Jason Kelly, Brendan Francis Newnham, Jordan Opplinger, Trey Shallowhorn, Andrew Barden, Kelly Leferrier, and Ashley Hoenig. Sage Bauman is our.
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