Driven, a memoir by Susie Wolff, begins in Oban on the west coast of Scotland where her parents ran a motorcycle shop. Wolff describes the scene when her parents introduced her to karting with the clarity of someone who remembers the exact moment speed entered her life. As the engine hummed against the stillness of the shoreline, she felt the surge of possibility and her first taste of ambition. The book grows out of that first lap and unfolds into a story of a girl who recognized her future in racing long before the sport could imagine her place in shaping it.
Early chapters carry the reader along Susie’s journey into British karting and through the ladder of junior formulas. She writes about the pressure of building a career within Formula Renault and Formula Three, as the story moves through the circuits and competitors that shaped the era. In her 2003 season, Wolff finished ninth overall in the Formula Renault UK Championship and secured her maiden podium finish, achieving recognition for her efforts as one of the finalists in the prestigious BRDC McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award and the BRDC Rising Star of the Year.
In 2006, she moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a German touring car racing series, and unknowingly changed the course of her life. Seven seasons with the Mercedes team created the foundation that defined much of her identity as a professional racer. These chapters offer her unique perspective on the physicality and daily grind of racing. Wolff writes about the grip of a touring car through fast corners, the weight of the steering under load, and the strength required to manage the forces pressing through the chassis. She writes of her races against Mika Häkkinen, David Coulthard, and Ralf Schumacher, and shares the routine of paddock life through engineering briefings, sponsor commitments, and the media buildup to race weekends. Her years with Mercedes sharpened her approach to performance and gave her the stability that carried into her next chapter.
Susie’s transition to Williams in 2012 shifts the memoir into the inner operations of Formula One. She details the hours spent in simulators and aerodynamic testing, building the technical fluency required to support a team at this level. When her opportunity arrived at Silverstone in 2014, she brought her decades of preparation into that single moment. She describes the feeling of rolling out of the pit lane for Friday practice at the British Grand Prix and the significance of becoming the first woman in 22 years to take part in a Formula One race weekend. She completed three additional practice sessions across 2014 and 2015 before ending her racing career. Her final competitive laps came at the Race of Champions where she partnered with David Coulthard for Team Scotland.
Her move to Formula E in 2018 is the final chapter in her racing story. It would serve as her pivot to leadership. Venturi Racing had been sitting at the back of the championship and she entered the organization prepared to learn the business of motorsport through operational detail. She writes about race strategy, energy management, team structure, and the internal processes that shape a competitive program. Under her leadership, Edoardo Mortara secured a runner-up finish in the 2021 championship. She became CEO that same year and remained with the team through the 2022 season.
Susie’s memoir shifts from competition to influence in its final chapters. In 2016, she co-founded Dare to be Different with Motor Sports Association chief Rob Jones, creating access points for girls between eight and fourteen. She details her mental transition from personal goals of individual advancement to systemic change as she began designing systems that allow young drivers, and young women, specifically, to enter the sport with support and intention. She writes about the programs, events, and pathways the initiative created and the value of building systems she did not have while navigating the sport as a young driver.
The final story arc focuses on her leadership of F1 Academy. Susie stepped into the role of managing director in 2023 and inherited a series racing with limited visibility. The memoir documents the series’ transformation under her leadership. All ten Formula One teams now support drivers within the series. Commercial backing arrived through American Express, Tommy Hilfiger, Charlotte Tilbury, Puma, Hello Kitty. The grid expanded to 18 cars. The program introduced subsidized budgets and opened progression routes that allowed champions like Marta Garcia to move into Formula Regional with full Alpine support. A Netflix production from Reese Witherspoon’ s production company, Hello Sunshine, follows the 2024 season and brought the championship into a wider cultural frame. Wolff notes the rise in young girls entering karting as the series gained momentum as a result.
Throughout the narrative, Susies explores her personal life and challenges with measured detail. The memoir shows the years in which she moved through paddocks as the only woman present, the pressure she carried into every test session, and the resilience built across two decades of having to prove herself in environments that offered little support. She writes about meeting Toto during her DTM years, their marriage in 2011, the birth of their son Jack in 2017, and the lifestyle of a family that moves within the top tiers of global motorsport. She addresses the scrutiny that follows their name and the controversy around conflict of interest. Her account stays grounded in the realities of their careers and the discipline required to maintain balance at this level.
A defining thread runs through the book: Wolff is one of the most visible trailblazers for women in motorsport. Driven captures the reality of that position with passion. Her work has shaped a framework that young talent now relies on, creating access points that did not exist when she began. It’s an inspiring story of a rising leader and belongs on every motorsport fan’s bookshelf.
