Wolff disappointed but keeping her head held high

Susie Wolff has made no secret of her disappointment after her historic practice session was cut short thanks to a problem on the Williams car.

The British driver became the first woman in 22 years to take part in an official grand prix session, but an engine failure meant that she completed just four laps before pulling over at the side of the track.

“Massively disappointing,” Wolff said when asked to sum up the session. “On the one side it was such a good build-up to this weekend, and where obviously I’d done so much hard work, so much preparation to get ready for today and I knew exactly what I had to do on every lap out there, and it felt good, even the outlap.

“The first run was just about building up slowly, the wind was quite strong out there so I was kind of told to take it easy and build up lap by lap, and then I had two more runs to go for it a bit more.

“But that’s racing. I’ve known that over the years that it can be massive ups and massive downs as well, and obviously very very disappointing.”

Wolff will next get a chance to test the Williams during practice for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in two weeks’ time. Despite today’s disappointment, she is still determined to prove her pace and ability up against the regular field.

“I’ve still got Hockenheim, and for me I’ve got to go out in Hockenheim and show what I can do because I didn’t get the chance to do that today,” she said. “As much as that’s disappointing, on the positive side, I’ve still got one more shot at it, so head up high and look towards Hockenheim now.”

The engine on the car Wolff used was changed ahead of FP2, which saw Valtteri Bottas get back behind the wheel after stepping aside for Wolff.

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