Jamie Chadwick Becomes First Woman to Drive Modern Williams F1 Car in Over a Decade
The three-time W Series champion achieved a career milestone at Portimão, completing 32 laps in the Williams FW47.
Jamie Chadwick has made history by becoming the first woman in over seven years to drive a modern Williams Formula One car. The 28-year-old achieved this significant career milestone at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal, where she completed 32 laps in the Williams FW47.
The opportunity marked a culmination of Chadwick's seven-year association with the Williams Driver Academy. She described the experience as potentially the pinnacle of her career, even surpassing her three consecutive W Series titles and victories in Indy NXT and the European Le Mans Series.
"I would imagine it will be right up there as number one," Chadwick said of the experience. "It's not like I'm racing, so obviously, racing and winning is another feeling altogether. But so few people get the chance. It's the pinnacle of our sport."
Chadwick detailed the rigorous preparation, including simulator work, neck training, and a seat fit at Williams' headquarters, before finally getting behind the wheel. She recalled the surreal feeling of sitting in the car and the overwhelming acceleration and downforce upon her first laps.
"The first drive out of the garage and the first lap, that was something else, just the sheer acceleration," she recalled. "Even the feeling in the pit lane felt crazy enough."
Compared to other high-performance machinery she has driven, including IndyCar and a Hypercar, Chadwick stated that the Williams F1 car was in a league of its own.
"I think the F1 car sits where I expected it to, and that it is fully in a league of its own," she said. "Just in terms of the sheer downforce, the grip, the straight-line speed. It's phenomenal."
Chadwick, who joined the Williams Driver Academy in 2019 and now serves as an ambassador and F1 Academy Advisor, also reflected on her personal journey with confidence. For years, she wrote the word "confidence" on the inside of her racing gloves as a reminder, a practice that began during her W Series career. However, for this test, she felt the reminder was no longer necessary, stating, "I think it's seeped into my skin now. It's ingrained in me now. I'm just confident. I know what I am capable of."
Her drive is significant not only for her career but also for female participation in motorsport. She is the first woman to drive a modern Williams F1 car since Susie Wolff in 2015. Chadwick believes that while progress is being made, the small talent pool of women in motorsport remains a significant barrier to greater representation in Formula One.
"I think the reason we've not seen a woman in over 50 years is a few reasons," she said. "One is the talent pool is just so small. This is changing, but still, I think when you start in the sport, there's so few women, and so naturally to filter through to the pinnacle, there's only 22 seats in Formula One."
Chadwick expressed hope for the future, anticipating that initiatives like F1 Academy and grassroots programs will help identify and develop more female talent. She aims to use her firsthand experience to guide the next generation of aspiring female drivers.
"I now think my feeling of the sport at the top level is that much greater," she said. "I better understand what it takes to be a Formula 1 driver, and that's what a lot of these young drivers have aspirations of, and now I can feel a little bit closer to that."
Despite her driving prowess on the track, Chadwick humorously admitted to still struggling with parking, a stark contrast to her ability to control a high-speed F1 car.
"Big Jamie's pretty overwhelmed," she said when asked what her younger self would think. "It's insane. It's a dream come true more than anything else, and very surreal.
"To anyone that's not driven a Formula One car, it's hard to put into words just what that feeling is like. It's phenomenal. It's something so few people get the chance to do, and yeah, it's unbelievable."
Chadwick's message to the next generation of female drivers is one of perseverance: "Don't let anything put you off. If there's a tiny bit of today's feeling that you can feel in the future, then it's absolutely worth it. Days like today are unbelievable, and yeah, I think it's possible. I cannot wait for the day that we see a young female driver line up on the Formula One grid."
