PORTIMAO — Jamie Chadwick has tested a Formula 1 car for the first time with Williams at Portimao in Portugal, describing it as the "best day of my life so far" after completing 32 laps in the team's podium-finishing 2025 car at the Algarve circuit under Formula 1's Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) rules on Monday. The 28-year-old British driver, a Williams ambassador and Sky Sports F1 pundit who races in the European Le Mans Series, became the first woman to drive a Williams F1 car since 2015.
"It was a phenomenal day and an incredible experience," Chadwick said. "Few things can prepare you for driving a Formula 1 car at speed around a track like Portimao, but it was everything I imagined and 10 times more." She is the second woman to test an F1 car this year after reigning F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin drove a 2021 Mercedes at Silverstone in April, and the first British female to do so since Jessica Hawkins ran an Aston Martin in 2023. Chadwick said she remembered watching Susie Wolff step into a Williams F1 car and how much that inspired her own journey. Wolff is the last woman to drive in Friday practice in F1, completing four sessions across the 2014 and 2015 seasons for Williams, while Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976 was the last woman to start a Grand Prix.
Williams team principal James Vowles said: "Jamie Chadwick is an inspiration for millions of women and girls who has broken records at every level, and she has thoroughly earned this F1 test opportunity with Atlassian Williams F1 Team." Vowles said Chadwick gathered important data for the team as F1 prepares to return to Portimao next year and that her feedback and performance were impressive, adding: "This clearly shows there is a path for women to compete at the top level, and I look forward to seeing how Jamie uses this experience to advance her own driving and advise our young drivers on what it takes to drive an F1 car."
Speaking to Sky Sports before heading to Portugal, Chadwick detailed preparations that included half a day in the simulator, seat fit and procedural work, plus stepped-up neck training. "George Russell's been helping me a little bit with the preparation. I woke up the next morning after the first proper day of neck training I did with him, and I could barely move my head!" she said. Chadwick, who first joined Williams in 2019 as a development driver, has won all three seasons of the all-female W Series and in 2024 became the first woman to win a road course race in the US-based Indy NXT series. She had previously driven Portimao in European Le Mans and said Ollie Bearman told her mentally it is one of the toughest tracks with its undulating flow, adding most drivers just told her to enjoy it.