Afterword by Toto Wolff
“It was 2002 and I was racing in the FIA GT World Championship at Donington Park. Between sessions, the circuit announcer mentioned a girl competing in Formula Renault. That caught my attention. It was a fiercely competitive category, and the announcer said she’d been on the podium. That was something new – I hadn’t seen any girl racing at the front in a series like that.
Lewis Hamilton was also there, and he was being talked about as the next big thing. I couldn’t watch the race but the girl stuck in my mind. I hadn’t even caught her surname – she was simply Susie. But the name stayed with me.
A few years later, I came to the track to assess the Mercedes DTM team that I co-owned and was introduced to all eight drivers. To my surprise, there she was. I watched Susie from a distance, talking to her engineer. She was wrapped in a thick jacket, her blonde hair was tucked back, and her cheeks were a little red from the cold.
Then I saw her get into the car. She was strapped in, visor down, transformed. Fierce. Focused. And fast. Much faster than I could ever be. Fast enough to hold her own against the best. It stopped me in my tracks.
Thank goodness she had the courage to send that text. From the first conversation, it was a coup de foudre. That moment when someone steps into your thoughts and doesn’t leave. She saw me clearly, and I saw her. Our connection was instinctive. We were soulmates from the beginning.
I’ve watched Susie grow from a fierce racing driver into a formidable businesswoman. She is always listening, always curious. She takes everything in, decides what’s worth pursuing, then dives deep if it matters to her.
It’s a quality I’ve rarely seen; the only other person I’ve known like that is Lewis Hamilton. That same drive to improve, to keep learning. The mindset that says, I’m an adult, but I can still change. I can be better tomorrow than I was today.
Above all, I am so very fortunate to call her my wife. For the first time, I had met somebody I could share everything with – my thoughts, my ambitions, my insecurities – and she simply got it.
Our marriage is strong also because we are so different. She’s never late and everything is timed to the second – I’m lucky if I can time myself to the hour. Her clothes are laid out the night before, in the exact order she’ll put them on. Even her jewellery is lined up in sequence by the washbasin.
That’s just how Susie is – disciplined, meticulous, organised to the core. And I love that about her. Truly. But after sixteen years together, it can still drive me mad. And I know the feeling is entirely mutual!
When she’s on a call, she’s completely locked in – nothing breaks her focus, just like when she was driving. I’ll come into the room and try to distract her with funny faces behind the screen, doing everything I can to get a reaction. She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t even blink. When the call ends, she looks at me, smiles, and says, ‘You’re such an Arschloch.’ German for asshole. Which, coming from her, somehow always makes me laugh.
Some people still think women can’t have it all – but Susie proves otherwise. She balances drive and devotion, strength and softness. There’s an inner confidence that’s quiet but unshakeable: in a world like Formula One, full of people trying hard to be seen, Susie stands apart. She’s fiercely ambitious, relentless in her pursuit of excellence and also the most present, loving wife and mother.
Some days, as I watch her with the deepest admiration, I still catch myself wondering: how does she manage it? How can she push so hard, aim so high, and still be the anchor for our family? That’s the myth she busts every day – not by trying to prove anything but by living it. By simply being Susie.
Sometimes I think she was made for me – though perhaps the truth is, we were made for each other.”
— Toto Wolff, Monaco, 2025
