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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Don't Cry Wolff Bernie - F1

Bernie Ecclestone has claimed a female driver “would not be taken seriously” in the sport. The Formula One chief executive, who last year called for a women’s series to run in tandem with the main grand prix schedule, also suggested the sport may never see a female racer again.

It is now almost 40 years since the Italian driver Lella Lombardi became the last woman to start a Formula One race at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix.

In an interview on the Canadian network TSN, when asked if he anticipated the return of a female driver to the grid, Ecclestone said: “I doubt it. If there was somebody that was capable they wouldn’t be taken seriously anyway, so they would never have a car that is capable of competing. There was a girl that was driving in GP3 for a whole season so it is not something that hasn’t happened.”

The reporter then asked: “But it is not going to happen in the main event?” Ecclestone replied: “No. I don’t think so.”

The British driver Susie Wolff became the first woman to compete at a Formula One race weekend in more than two decades when she took part in practice for Williams at the 2014 British Grand Prix. But the 33-year-old, who is married to Mercedes’ director, Toto Wolff, retired from motor racing last year after claiming her dream of reaching the starting grid was “unachievable”.

On Thursday, the Scot launched the Dare to be Different initiative – a scheme that is aimed at increasing the number of women involved in motor sport.

Alice Powell, the 22-year-old Briton who became the first female winner of the Formula Renault series in 2010 and has subsequently competed in GP3, is an ambassador for the initiative. She said: “Someone needs to prove Bernie wrong. It would be a shame if a team would turn down a female to race in F1 because they would not be taken seriously.

“That is one of the issues though, that people don’t take the chance as they think it will be a joke. We’re not a joke and it is just another factor which makes it harder for females to race at the highest level.”

The Spanish driver Carmen Jordá was employed as a development driver for Lotus last year but is yet to compete for the team.

The highly-rated Simona de Silvestro tested for Sauber in 2014 before running out of funds. She now competes in the FIA-approved electric series Formula E.

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Susie Wolff Joins Williams

Williams have brought in Susie Wolff as a development driver as the second woman in just a few weeks to join a Formula One team as a driver.

Early last month Marussia appointed 32-year-old Spaniard Maria de Villota as a test driver, with the prospect of taking part in the young driver test later this year.

Now Wolff, who this season competes in her seventh series of DTM, the German touring car championship, will initially take on a development role with Williams.

The decision had to be approved by the Williams board, of which Wolff's husband Toto is a member, although he recused himself from the process.

Team principal Frank Williams said of the 29-year-old Scot: "Susie is a talented, successful and highly professional racing driver who competes in one of the world's most fiercely-contested series.

"Susie will join Williams as a development driver, in which capacity she will assist us with the development of our simulator and other technical challenges.

"She will also undertake some aerodynamic testing of the FW34 and a full track test in the coming months, and will attend a number of races with us."

Wolff believes her step up could have more wider-ranging benefits as she said: "I hope to demonstrate women can play a role at the highest levels of motorsport.

"I shall be working closely with the team on its social responsibility programme in the areas of education and road safety."

Hailing Wolff's arrival into F1, supremo Bernie Ecclestone said: "If Susie is as quick in a car as she looks good out of a car then she will be a massive asset to any team, and on top of that she is very intelligent.

"I am really looking forward to having her in Formula One."