Room for another Stoddart in F1?

Whilst that Australian Formula One team boss keeps his name firmly in the headlines, there's another Stoddart in the world of motorsport, a whole lot better looking and with far less facial hair, in the form of British F3 contender Susie Stoddart. Crash.net finds out more.

Whilst Paul Stoddart keeps his Minardi team plugging away and also proves to be an irritating thorn in the side of the FIA, Max Mosley and anyone else who disagrees with the gritty Melbourner, Scot Susie has been steadily working her way up though the motorsport ranks.

Last season saw Stoddart compete in the British Formula Renault series which has proved a stepping stone for many drivers wanting to prove themselves. For Susie it was in fact one of a number of years spent in the category which she joined straight from a successful karting career.

"I started karting at a very young age and I moved through all the ranks but I found success in each rank, I didn't move up until I won races and I did well, reached the front of the grid and got podium places," she explains of her race history to date.

For 2005 Stoddart races for the Alan Docking Racing concern, which has seen drivers of the likes of Mark Webber, Andy Priaulx, Marcos Ambrose, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Mika Salo move through its ranks.

"It's looking great," Susie told Crash.net Radio at Silverstone recently. "I did my deal with Alan Docking Racing in January and we got our car a little bit late so we're a little bit down on track time, but obviously we're testing and developing the car and things are looking great."

Looking down any motorsport grid it's obvious there aren't too many female drivers lining up, so it's an obvious question to ask Susie why she thinks this could be? "I think there's a number of reason why we don't see women in top level motorsport," she replies. "I think there's a lack of role models which has a big part to play, there's no role model women who have made it in motorsport to show young girls that it can be done and obviously I aim to be the first - my aim is to be the first British female to be successful in Formula One."

Now that certainly sounds like the words of a true racing driver. "I think you've got to just get in with the boys and prove yourself and ultimately forget that you're a girl in a man's world," she says.

Whilst reckoning that young girls don't have a role model available in the world of motorsport, Susie does admit to having one for herself. "Ellen MacArthur has opened up the world of sailing, and Ellen's done for sailing what I want to do for motorsport - open it up for the women," she says.

So what differences does Susie find, being 'just a girl' in the pitlane? "Obviously I get a lot of media attention, but I like to think that's not just because I'm a girl but I'm a girl breaking new ground in motorsport," she says. "I certainly don't think of myself any differently when I put my helmet on, I've been doing it so long I'm just one of the boys and it's not even that I'm just one of the boys, I'm just a racing driver on the track.

"I think the whole sport, especially formula one could do something different, it could do with a woman in there, something different to rock the establishment a bit." So maybe she is looking to emulate that Minardi boss?

The British Formula Three season kicks off at Donington Park at the beginning of April. Susie is expecting big things from the year. "I think I've got a great season ahead of me," she says. "I've got a really, really good team behind me, Alan Docking Racing has great team personnel, I've got a great engineer, Paul Anthony, it's a really good team - I believe in them, I think they believe in me, as well and we're just going to work hard this year and aim for race wins and podium places at every round."

We'll soon find out...