Williams has announced that it has signed Susie Wolff, formerly Susie Stoddart, wife of Toto Wolff, a shareholder in the company, as its development driver.

According to the Grove outfit: "Born in Scotland, Susie Wolff has had the classic racing career, beginning in karting and then moving to junior single-seater series and was twice nominated for the prestigious Young Driver of the Year Award before moving up to DTM. In 2012, Susie will contest her seventh season in DTM.

"Susie is a talented, successful and highly professional racing driver who competes in one of the world's most fiercely-contested racing series," said Frank Williams. "Susie will join Williams as a Development Driver, in which capacity she will assist us with the development of our simulator and other technical challenges. Susie will also undertake some aerodynamic testing of the FW34 and a full track test in the coming months. Susie will also attend a number of races with us. I should add that, as Susie is married to Toto Wolff, a Director of Williams, her appointment was carefully considered and then approved by the Board, with Toto excusing himself from the process."

"I would like to thank Sir Frank for giving me this opportunity both on and off the track," added Wolff. "I must also thank Mercedes Benz AMG and HWA for supporting me to take up this new experience with Williams. Formula One is the ultimate challenge for any racing driver and it offers me the chance both to apply and to improve the skills I have developed racing in DTM. In return I shall be offering some of my own technical insight and experience - coming from a different discipline - and helping the team engage with its partners. I hope also to demonstrate that women can play a role at the highest levels of motorsport and I shall be working closely with the team on its social responsibility programme in the areas of education and road safety."

"If Susie is as quick in a car as she looks good out of a car then she will be a massive asset to any team and on top of that she is very intelligent," said Bernie Ecclestone. "I am really looking forward to having her in Formula One."