F1 - Susie Keeps Wolff from Door

Susie Wolff - Getty Images

Former Williams test driver Susie Wolff has defended Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone after his controversial comments about female drivers.

Ecclestone said they would "not be taken seriously" and are "not physically" able to drive a car fast.

Wolff set up Dare to be Different, an initiative which aims to increase the number of women in motorsport.

"After hearing Bernie's comments in context and speaking to him it's clear we both have the goal," she tweeted.

"Last week he agreed to come onboard with @D2BDofficial and support the next generation of girls aiming for the top, on and off the track.

"Through my years in motorsport he was supportive of my mission to make it onto the starting grid. For me, actions always speak louder than words. @D2BDofficial is about driving female talent and Bernie is with us."

In so-far unreported comments in the interview, after being challenged by interviewer Sir Martin Sorrell on his remarks, Ecclestone went on to say that he would "love" to see a woman driver in F1 and that he would even be prepared to financially contribute to making it happen.

Meanwhile, USA's Leilani Munter, who races stock cars in the ARCA Racing Series, described Ecclestone as "an embarrassment" and "just a sad, pathetic, sexist old man with pre-historic views of women".

Wolff, 33, started working with Williams in 2012, after racing for seven years in the German Touring Car Championship, before retiring last year.

She spent three years involved in test and development work and drove in four practice sessions over the 2014 and 2015 seasons - becoming the first woman to take part in a grand prix weekend for more than 20 years.

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Ecclestone Talks F1, V8's, Jagger and Drivers

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Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 is "cheating" its fans because the quality of the show is poor.

The 85-year-old F1 supremo likened the sport to a rock concert at which the band turned up but could not perform.

"We are not putting on a very good show," he said, in the build-up to Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Imagine if people turned up to watch the Rolling Stones and Mick (Jagger) couldn't sing and the others couldn't play their instruments."

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 5 live, Ecclestone also questioned the motives of the drivers in writing their open letter criticising the governance of F1

He refused to criticise the controversial new qualifying system that is still in place for Bahrain, despite the teams agreeing to drop it

Ecclestone also said the new turbo hybrid engines introduced in 2014 were a "disaster".

Last week, the drivers wrote an open letter saying the decision-making process in F1 is "obsolete and ill-structured".

Responding the following day, Ecclestone said he agreed with the drivers. But he told BBC Sport he thought the drivers were saying "probably what their teams had told them to say".

Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, was not immediately available to respond to Ecclestone's claims. Ecclestone added the governance of F1 was "nothing to do with me".

On the issue of qualifying, Ecclestone blamed governing body the FIA for the new format, which was supposed to spice up race weekends.

It did the opposite at the season-opening race in Australia, prompting teams to call for a return to the 2015 system.

However, the move was blocked by FIA president Jean Todt.

Asked if the new qualifying system worked, Ecclestone said: "Depends how you looked at it. The whole idea is we were hoping one or two of the hot shoes would be in trouble in Q1 and Q2. It didn't happen."

He added the idea "wasn't mine at all" but the FIA's. However, he rejected calls for a return to the 2015 format because he felt that did not work well either.

There will be a meeting of team bosses on Sunday before the race in Bahrain to discuss the qualifying system again.

Ecclestone has said he would like to switch to a different system that either decides the grid by ballot or shuffles the order by adding "time ballast" to drivers' times based on either the result of the previous race or the championship order.

He also discussed the new fuel-efficient turbo hybrid engines, arguing he would prefer a return to the naturally aspirated V8s in use until 2013.

"I said this engine would be a disaster and was criticised for that," he said, claiming the lack of noise meant F1 had lost some of its appeal.

He also claimed only one engine manufacturer - Mercedes - managed to adapt well to the new engines, which meant competition had suffered.

Mercedes have dominated F1 since the new engine came in, winning both the drivers' and constructors championships for the past two years.

"Mercedes have done an incredible job with that power unit," he said. "It is unbelievable. but it is not F1."

Asked what F1 should be like, he said: "Like it used to be. I didn't find anything wrong with the V8s and neither did anyone else."

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