Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian

Sozzi spoke to Susie Wolff, F1 Academy

Managing Director, and Jane Wakeley,

PepsiCo EVP and Chief Consumer and

Marketing Officer.

>> Good to see you both.

>> Good morning.

>> it. Um before I can even get into this

relationship and how it works, Susie,

tell me about

your story. How did you get this

position?

>> [laughter]

>> And and to the extent we have enough

time to talk.

>> Well, let me condense it into into a

really small um efficient uh paragraph.

Well, I started racing from the age of

eight, and obviously at the age of eight

you're not thinking about the future,

you're doing what you love. So, I didn't

really realize I was a girl doing

something unusual for girls cuz out on

track we all wear helmets, you don't see

us.

Um had a long racing career, raced for 7

years in with Mercedes-Benz in German

Touring Cars, then got my break in

Formula 1 as a test driver and reserve

driver with Williams Formula 1 team, and

then moved into management in

motorsport, running a Formula E team, we

nearly won the world uh championship,

and now I run F1 Academy for Formula 1,

which is an all-female series, which is

really about creating opportunity for

young female drivers, and giving them

the chance to climb up the ladder with

the end goal of possibly seeing a girl

making it to Formula 1.

>> Can I just give you a hell yeah? Like I

I just think that I think I just I think

the world of that is amazing. Like

how hard is it to be a trailblazer

because that's what you are?

>> I don't think of myself as a trailblazer

at all. I was very lucky to find a

passion early on in life. I never set

out to prove what a woman could do. I

set out on my own journey, and I just

love being in a sport where I I enjoy

every day seeing give give others now

opportunity because I was incredibly

lucky in my career to be given chances

which changed the whole course of of my

career, and now I'm in the situation

where I can make that happen for others,

and and that's something I'm very

grateful for.

>> Is it tempting to just drive? How do How

do you not like want to get behind the

wheel? Like she just driving you driving

>> driving something bigger. It's a

different business.

>> Yes.

>> And it's hard to do. Do you not want

[laughter] to get behind the wheel

again?

>> You know, we just discussed it because

Jane did a hot lap at the Monaco Grand

Prix, and I did as well, but I was

driven by my husband. And she said,

"Well, you're not keen to just like jump

in the driver's seat?" But I I look back

with fondness of all my years of racing,

but those days are over. Now, I've got a

lot on my plate to make everything else

work, and I enjoy it. So, and I'm also

too competitive. If I get back in the

driver's seat, I want to be fast. And to

be fast, you need to put the prep in.

>> What was a hot What was a hot lap hot

lap like for you?

>> Exhilarating. Exhilarating. But look,

Susie's book is called driven, right?

>> [laughter]

>> Great title. It's great.

>> Funny that, though.

There's a clue The clues are in the

title. But I honestly think, I mean, you

are a trailblazer. I know you didn't set

out to be that, but I think, you know,

women's sport in general is on fire, and

I'm super excited about the

opportunities that Susie is opening for

all women. Whether you're a driver,

whether you're in business, whether

you're starting your own to Cuz if you

can see her, you can be her. And Susie,

you know, you're amazing.

>> Thank you. I mean, coming from someone

like Gene, I really take that as a

compliment.

>> Susie, how does this partnership work?

How are you working with F1 Academy?

>> Yeah. Well, I mean, look, we're partners

in the in Susie's mission, and we

actually partner with F1 Academy, but we

also sponsor an incredible driver called

Lisa Billiard.

She's our Gatorade driver. So, she's on

the track on all the races. And, you

know, I mean, we're supporting it in in

many ways. We're supporting it visibly

with reach and with resonance. We try

and tell stories to bring to life these

incredible women who are

all trailblazers, all incredibly

courageous, following their passion, and

you know, fulfilling their potential.

But we're also supporting in terms of

the science and the performance.

I don't know if you know, but F1

drivers,

they are real athletes.

>> Absolutely. Yes.

>> And, you know, they lose about 2 to 4 L

of liquid during a race. And if you're

dehydrated, like in any aspect of life,

you can't focus, you're you perform

physically less well. So, this is an

incredibly important performance aspect

of the sport. So, what we've done is in

recognizing that actually hydration,

personalized hydration for drivers is

key. Lisa's come to the Gatorade Sports

Science Institute with us and done a

personalized regime and we've really

helped her with her hydration and her

nutrition so she can perform her

potential.

>> How do you know out of all the amazing

drivers in F1 Academy, how do you know

who to work with and tell those stories

with?

>> Sorry, I'm sorry.

>> you How were you able to tell who to

work with within F1 Academy? How did you

know that was the driver you wanted to

tell stories with?

>> I think look, we we look for authentic

partnerships where someone is really

prepared to work with us. We're not We

don't think of it as a sponsorship, we

think of it as a partnership. So, for us

for example, putting the time in,

putting the performance, putting the

research in, coming to the GSSI for a

whole week to train, to refine the

schedule. We want to make to help make a

difference and Lisa was incredibly open

to that and and with Susie's guidance,

we were we were pretty sure we had a

very very good winner. Lisa's

incredible.

>> Is this something where you Jane you you

don't even measure metrics because the

partnership is just so amazing and it's

a great story to tell?

>> Uh look, I love the thought that a CMO

doesn't measure metrics. Of course we

measure metrics as well and and look,

you know, we're doing a great thing

here, but we also think this is a growth

driver.

You know, why do I care? Because I'm

passionate about it. It's the right

thing to do, but also women's sport is

on fire.

So, this is a growth driver for us. So,

this isn't just a

nice to do project on the side. This is

our growth strategy. And you know, for

something like Gatorade for example,

um

women have 20% less consumption than men

of Gatorade just to give you a stat.

>> Why?

>> So, I want I want to make it clear the

hard-nosed business facts of women's

sport. Women's sport is on fire and

brands should and can get involved

because it's a major growth driver for

our business.

>> Susie, you uh you mentioned you have a

lot on your plate right now. How are you

growing F1 Academy?

>> Well, I think just to touch upon what

Jane said, um firstly, we don't expect

us as let's say the female arm within

Formula 1 for it to be a charity

project. It needs to make sense. We need

to build a platform that works for our

partners, and that's something which for

our long-term success is vital. What's

game-changing for us is when a brand and

a person like Jane comes to the table

and says, "Yes, we want to enter F1, but

we will also enter F1 Academy because

that's where we also want to show up."

And that's hugely powerful. If you

imagine F1 Academy is only in its fourth

year,

if you put that up against something

like the WNBA, which has taken over 20

years to build, it's been an incredible

journey in a short space of time because

we've had the full support from within

F1, from the management of F1 to all the

F1 teams coming on board, to getting our

slot on the F1 race weekends, and then

brilliant brands coming in and saying,

"This is where we want to show up. We

want to support these young drivers."

And that's really allowed us in a very

short space of time to have a huge

impact on the sport. And if you look

down at the next generation, we've never

seen so many young girls competing in

karting, now seeing that they have a

clear destination and they have a

pathway through the sport. And we're one

of the few sports in the world that

isn't segregated men and women. And we

are one of the few series in the world

that nearly fully funds our drivers

because motorsport has a high financial

barrier to entry. So, incredibly proud

of what we've achieved, but very

ambitious for what we can go on to

achieve because like Jane said, women's

sport is on fire. Formula 1 is having an

incredible um popularity and and growth

over the last years, which looks set to

continue, and that's really so much for

us to capitalize on.

>> What's the next big unlock for F1 uh

Academy? Is it a broadcast deal? Is it

adding more teams to the grid?

>> I don't think it's any one singular

thing. I think we've built a very strong

foundation, and it's about making sure

we evolve it year on year and keep

building. We obviously want to always,

you know, have a grow our audience, make

sure that we have the eyeballs. The

eyeballs count in many different ways.

Um but we've got to have some exciting

announcements coming and the work that

we do at the very core because as much

as it's great to create all the buzz and

excitement, at the core there has to be

the authenticity and the sporting

credibility. And that's why brand

partnerships like this, which are

Gatorade are doing so much scientific

research also on making sure our female

drivers are given the right tools to be

successful because women are different

to men. We have 30% less muscle. What a

female racing driver needs is slightly

different to what a male driver needs

and making sure that we get all of those

building blocks in the right order and

in the right place is is fundamental to

our long-term success.

>> The the racers on the grid right now in

F1 Academy, how is their

journey been different than your journey

when you were driving?

>> You know, I I sometimes go to the races

and and I had the situation at the first

race in Shanghai where a driver's a

female driver stood on our podium and 6

months previously she'd given up all

hope on her her racing career, but we

gave her a test. She did very well in

the test. She had the speeds.

And she came to me after the podium, she

said, "I just can't believe how much my

life is has changed in 6 months and that

I'm standing on the podium on the

Shanghai Grand Prix weekend."

And to be a part of creating that

opportunity for her, it's an opportunity

I could only have dreamed of at that age

because there wasn't the exposure, there

wasn't the belief that a woman could. Um

so, very proud not just of what F1

Academy's done, but the fact that

Formula 1 has also put a lot of

investment and opportunity to these

young female drivers cuz they've

recognized the global fan base is now

42% female. The fastest growing fan

demographic is the 18 to 24-year-old

female. We have such an opportunity to

connect with our female fans.

>> Jane, you're good.

>> I was going to just say, so it's

incredible because F1 Academy is

bringing in new

engagement and and and new viewers to

F1, right? So that is an incredible

recruitment drive. But the other thing

that we're working on is the science

behind sport for women, right? So one of

the stats that

Susie and I were just talking about is

only 6% of the world's science

for sports and hydration is actually

done on men.

And Susie said women are not men. You

know, women are not little men. And yet

most sports science is done exclusively

on men and then generalized to women.

So we're actually also working on how do

we help women perform to their potential

by really ensuring that we're also

backing it with science

that is specifically done on women

across life stages.

>> Just sitting here with both of you, I

can see how this really works. Like this

is a No, no, really. This is like a

This is a major partnership for you

both. Um

Jen, you know, how I think you have one

of the toughest jobs at PepsiCo. No

offense to your CEO Ramon Laguarta, who

I've talked to for many years. Um on one

hand you're marketing these amazing

products that have been in the market

for decades.

On the other hand, now you have a whole

new wave of more health-focused

products, whether it's protein snacks

you have to market as well.

How do you allocate those resources when

the consumer is on GLP-1s? They want

these protein snacks, but then, you know

what, one random night during the month

they want a full-calorie Pepsi.

>> Look, we are pivoting our portfolio, as

you know. We're incredibly proud of the

whole range of our portfolio, but we are

always putting consumer needs at the

heart of what we do. And we're looking

ahead to say what are the needs that,

you know, consumers are shifting to and

what will they shift to. And we have an

incredibly exciting portfolio. I think,

you know, I we you and I were talking

about the protein, the need for more

protein. And you know, Doritos protein

is as as my son's favorite.

>> Why wasn't this around when I was a kid?

>> Why is it Yeah, why was it It's around

now, but uh not for long cuz we can't

make enough to keep up with demand. So,

you know, look, we're Of course, we're

here to serve the consumer. We reach

billions every day, and it's our job to

delight them. So, we're going to

continue to do so.

>> Uh lastly, Susie, um when will we see

one of your amazing drivers on the grid?

And why isn't this happened already?

Come on.

>> Well, I don't want to be judged

on just getting women to Formula 1

because we can do women much more than

that. We can change the perceptions of

women in in motorsport, we create so

much opportunity. Will it happen? I

think yes. Can Can I give you a

definitive date? No, because it comes

down to talent. A door shouldn't be

opened or an opportunity given just

because it's a woman, but we will find a

young girl that's going to be talented

enough, and I have no doubt that there

will be a team that gives her the chance

um

because we just see so much exciting

talent coming up through the ranks.

>> Well, I wish you uh both much success.

It's good to see you here uh out on the

end of the pier. I appreciate it.