( CNN ) -- Susie Wolff , the second woman to join Formula One in recent weeks , hopes her new role will pave the way for more females in the elite level of motorsport . The 29-year-old Briton was signed to Williams as a development driver on Wednesday , just weeks after Spaniard Maria de Villota joined Marussia in a testing role . `` I hope to demonstrate women can play a role at the highest levels of motorsport , '' Wolff said . `` I shall be working closely with the team on its social responsibility program in the areas of education and road safety . '' Wolff is just the seventh female F1 driver in the 60-year history of the sport and her recruitment , along with De Villota , has been seen as an important step forward in the gender divide . However `` Racy Susie , '' as she has been labeled in the British tabloid press , may still have some way to go before changing old-fashioned thinking at the top . F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone , who has long wanted a competitive female driver on the grid , welcomed Wolff 's arrival . `` 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 , '' the 81-year-old said . Wolff will be undertaking some aerodynamic and full-track testing of the team 's FW34 F1 championship car as well as attending a number of races . Her role was approved by the Williams board , of which Wolff 's husband , Toto , is a member . He sat out the selection process . Susie , who lives in Switzerland , is no stranger to the driver 's seat . She first began karting as a child before moving into single-seaters in 2001 with a drive in the Formula Renault series . She was twice nominated for the prestigious Young Driver of the Year Award and enjoyed a spell in the British Formula Three championship before joining Germany 's DTM touring car series in 2006 . Wolff has been in a Formula One cockpit before , having received a test drive courtesy of the team formerly known as Lotus Renault F1 at Paul Ricard in August last year , where she achieved 300 kilometers of track time . De Villota , daughter of former British Formula One Series Champion Emilio de Villota , also has experience racing at the Spanish F3 , the Daytona 24 Hours , the Euroseries 3000 and Superleague Formula Championship . Of the five women to join F1 before Wolff and De Villota , only two have ever qualified to start a race . The most prolific of these was Italian Lella Lombardi , who started 12 grands prix in the 1970s . Lombardi made history while driving with March at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix , becoming the only woman to register a point-scoring finish in a grand prix .
Williams signs Susie Wolff , F1 's second female driver in last month . - The first woman to drive a Formula 1 car is the German Sabine Schmitz who drives for Sauber at Monaco. F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone welcomes the move , calling her an asset to the team . The Scottish driver has previously tested with Lotus Renault F1 .