What we learned about Chadwick's Williams F1 test debut

Jamie Chadwick has become the first woman in more than a decade to drive a contemporary Williams Formula 1 car, having recently completed a test at Portimao.

Chadwick drove 32 laps behind the wheel of Williams's 2025 car on Monday September 21, her first taste of modern F1 machinery.

The Race heard from Chadwick after the test to find out how it went.

Why it's finally happened now

The F1 test took place as part of Williams's Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme that currently allows teams to use pre-2026 machinery in up to 20 test days across the year, with race drivers limited to 1000km total mileage.

Not every team has a TPC programme, but Williams was able to start its own last year, and that was crucial to Chadwick's opportunity.

Chadwick had previously demonstrated historic Williams cars at Goodwood, such as Nigel Mansell's championship-winning FW14B car (1992) and Keke Rosberg's title-winning FW08 (1982).

But this marked Chadwick's first proper F1 test, her having joined Williams in 2019, first as a junior driver, then later transitioning into being a driver ambassador.

"Obviously I've been with the team for a long time now, but only since last year Williams had a TPC [programme] so there's never really been an obvious opportunity to do anything," Chadwick told media including The Race after the test.

"To be honest, I think having now experienced it, I don't think there was an obvious opportunity anyway. I think the level I was at doing everything that I was doing, it didn't necessarily align."

Wolff inspiration

Susie Wolff - who participated in several practice sessions for Williams in 2014 and 2015 - was the last woman to drive a Williams before Chadwick.

"I remember being young and watching Susie Wolff step into a Williams F1 car and how much that inspired my own journey," Chadwick said.

"I'd love to be able to do the same for the next generation, and the experience I gained will make a real difference both to my own racing and to what I can pass on to the drivers coming through.

"I'm so grateful and incredibly happy with how the day went."

Chadwick said she had coffee with Wolff the week before her F1 test bow.

"I keep saying I remember clearly the day she did her test and the impact that had on my journey, 11 years later, being sat speaking with her about me doing a test felt quite surreal," Chadwick said.

"Everyone said the same thing, but 'just go out and enjoy it. Rest your neck. Don't even try and hold it up. Don't crash. Just have fun.' So, yes, obviously took all of those bits of advice, and definitely [they] helped a lot."

Williams team principal James Vowles called Chadwick "an inspiration for millions of women and girls, who has broken records at every level" and said she had "thoroughly earned this F1 test opportunity".

The F1 test adds to Chadwick's CV, which includes three W Series titles and race wins in IndyCar's support series Indy NXT and the LMP2 class in the European Le Mans Series.

Alongside being a team ambassador for Williams, Chadwick also advises Williams-backed young driver Jade Jacquet in F1 Academy and French Formula 4, where Jacquet recently became a race winner.

Chadwick is one of only three women to drive an F1 car in the 2020s, after F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin (Mercedes, 2026) and Jessica Hawkins (Aston Martin, 2023).

Sainz advice

Chadwick got advice ahead of the test from Williams's race drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

"I was lucky enough to speak to both of them. Carlos I happened to bump into the day before," Chadwick said.

"Actually the best advice he gave, which is the bit I took the most, was 'find a laptime or find a pace where you're enjoying it and you're comfortable and you're having fun and then just stick to that'.

"That's exactly what I did. I didn't overdo it; I didn't try and put myself in a position where my neck was going to be left somewhere in Portimao.

"For that reason, I think I really did get the most out of it and enjoy it. So some good advice for sure."

Learning for Williams

The test will be used as a feature for Sky Sports F1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix coverage, but - as a whole two-day test, with reserve driver Luke Browning at the wheel on the first day - it will also provide important learnings for Williams ahead of F1 returning to the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao next year.

"Jamie gathered important data for the team as F1 prepares to return to Portimao next year, and her feedback and performance were impressive as we knew they would be," Vowles said.

The track has changed since the last time F1 raced there, and Chadwick has experience of it from racing in an LMP2 car in the European Le Mans Series there.

How fast was Chadwick?

Chadwick had less than half of a race distance behind the wheel and headline laptimes were not the target of the TPC test.

But Vowles hinted at where Chadwick ended up relative to Browning, telling Sky Sports F1 that Chadwick was within a couple of seconds of Browning's benchmark.

Vowles said: "That is a very good place to be on the first outing."

Chadwick said: "I pushed enough to enjoy it. I didn't go crazy. I mean, corners like Turn 1, for example, super high speed and you're always going to have a bit of margin there...[you don't] want to put the thing in the fence.

"So I was pushing enough to get a good feel for it and enjoy it, but obviously kept enough margin. I did 30 or so laps, so not loads and loads to even find myself anywhere near the limit.

"Even finding the limit is giving me more appreciation...I think to get within a second or half a second in a car like that is one thing, but that final bit - when the speeds are that high and the limit is that black and white - is super impressive."