Sky F1 pundit lifts lid on private Williams TPC test before Baku GP

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick has completed a secret TPC with Williams, saying it was “pretty surreal” to drive the FW47.

The Williams ambassador completed 32 laps in Williams’ F1 2025 car during a Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) at the Portimão circuit on Monday.

Jamie Chadwick on secret Williams test: Pretty surreal

Chadwick has enjoyed a successful motorsport career, winning the W Series title in 2019, 2021 and again in 2022.

She became the first woman to win an INDY NXT race on a road or street course, taking P1 at the 2024 Road America event with Andretti Global, and today competes in the European Le Mans Series.

The Briton and IDEC Sport Racing are fourth in the LMP2 class, with only one event, the 4 Hours of Portimão, remaining in the championship.

But despite her success in other series, she declared Monday’s TPC in the Williams FW47 to be the “best day of my life so far”.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media in Baku, Chadwick shared how the team came about.

“Obviously I’ve been with the team for a long time now, but only since last year Williams had a TPC [programme] so there’s never really been an obvious opportunity to do anything,” she said.

“To be honest, I think having now experienced it, I don’t think there was an obvious opportunity anyway. I think the level I was at doing everything that I was doing, it didn’t necessarily align.

“Whereas now it was sort of in conjunction with everything, with Williams now having this TPC car to sort of maximise that opportunity.

“So it’s sort of a conversation that loosely came about in the paddock a few months ago maybe, that I jumped at, yeah, took with both hands.

“Then for it to get across the line was pretty amazing. So, yeah, the preparation because it was all short notice wasn’t significant.

“But still, I got half a day in the sim and secret and what have you, and then the half day in Portimão, which was pretty surreal.”

The Williams ambassador, who is also a Sky F1 pundit, revealed she got “bits” of advice ahead of the test from Williams driver Carlos Sainz.

“I was lucky enough to speak to both of them,” she said. “Carlos, I happened to bump into the day before.

“Actually the best advice he gave, which is the bit I took the most, was ‘find a lap time or find a pace where you’re enjoying it and you’re comfortable and you’re having fun and then just stick to that’.

“That’s exactly what I did. I didn’t overdo it. I didn’t try and put myself in a position where my neck was going to be left somewhere in Portimão.

“For that reason, I think I really did get the most out of it and enjoy it. So some good advice for sure.”

A very special day.

Driving a Formula 1 car for the first time is pretty hard to put into words.

An incredible experience with @WilliamsRacing

Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen. A dream I’ve had since I was a little girl, finally ticked off the list 💙 pic.twitter.com/EjxMgKbi6l

— Jamie Chadwick (@JamieChadwick) September 24, 2026

“I pushed enough to enjoy it,” she added. “I didn’t go crazy.

“I mean, corners like Turn 1, for example, super high speed and you’re always going to have a bit of margin there but also don’t want to put the thing in the fence.

“So I was pushing enough to get a good feel for it and enjoy it, but obviously kept enough margin. I did 30 or so laps, a couple of new tyre runs at the end, so not loads and loads to even find myself anywhere near the limit.

“But still it’s so impressive even in the feeling that I had, what those cars are capable of.

“I think even finding the limit is giving me more appreciation to…I think to get within a second or half a second in a car like that is one thing, but that final bit, when the speeds are that high and the limit is that black and white, is super impressive.”

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Chadwick is amongst a short list of female drivers to have driven a Formula 1 car.

The list includes Maria Theresa di Filippis and Lella Lombardi, who both contested F1 Grands Prix, and more recently María de Villota, Susie Wolff, Dorianne Pin and Jessica Hawkins.

Williams team principal James Vowles called Chadwick an “inspiration”.

“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,” he said.

“Jamie gathered important data for the team as F1 prepares to return to Portimão next year, and her feedback and performance were impressive as we knew they would be.

“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.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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