Jamie Chadwick calls Williams F1 test the highlight of her career
Jamie Chadwick has called testing a Formula 1 car the highlight of her motorsport career.
She told BBC Sport that driving an F1 car sat at the very top of her dream and bucket list. It followed 32 laps in a Williams at the Portimao circuit in Portugal, her first full run in current-style F1 machinery. BBC Sport
That is a lot of laps. It is enough to work through procedures, build speed and feel how the downforce arrives.
Williams said the outing took place on Monday, 21 September in the FW47, the team's 2025 car. The run was a TPC test, shorthand for Testing of Previous Cars, a regulated outing in year-old machinery run outside grand prix weekend limits. Williams
Chadwick is a Williams ambassador and an F1 Academy adviser for the team. She first joined Williams as a development driver in 2019, working largely on the simulator before this track chance arrived seven years on. BBC Sport
The team said she is the first woman in more than a decade to test drive a Williams F1 car. Formula1.com Overall, she became the 12th woman to drive a Formula 1 car. BBC News
Chadwick said afterwards the experience was hard to put into words. That understatement fits. Drivers often say the braking and cornering grip of an F1 car has to be felt to be believed.
Her route to Portimao has crossed several paddocks. She won all three seasons of the W Series, the all-female single-seater championship, and later became the first female driver to win a road race in IndyCar's feeder series in the United States.
Away from single-seaters she has raced in endurance events, including a reserve role in top-level Le Mans hypercar racing, the fastest class at the French 24-hour classic. She is also a Sky Sports F1 pundit. Sky Sports
For fans, this means something simple. A driver known mainly for support-series success and TV analysis finally got to tick the box she wanted most.
What makes this stand out is the wider timing. Doriane Pin won the F1 Academy title in 2025, the development series for young women drivers led by managing director Susie Wolff. Pin became the first woman to drive a Mercedes F1 car in April. Chadwick's Williams test keeps that slow widening of access moving in the right direction.
