Well, not just any woman: Simona de Silvestro, who was racing Indycars. She is doing her first laps in a F1 at Fiorano, courtesy of her sponsors (hence the strange livery). The car is a NA Sauber and the tires are demo. Testfahrt mit Sauber von 2012: Simona de Silvestro auf ihren ersten Formel-1-Runden! ? Formel 1 ? Blick Yes, it is all a PR stunt, but it'd be really cool if she could land a seat in F1. Regardless of what she would achieve with that, it'd be great for F1 to have a female driver again. PS: Of course I'm biased, she is from Switzerland.
Interesting. Thanks for the post. A competitive woman in F1 is overdue. We have female fighter pilots in the world pulling more G's.
Well she quit racing for indycar full stop IIRC, simply to take the job at Sauber (she's an affiliate driver, weirdly), so she must be serious about it. She did quite a few laps in the morning, in the 60s. Seriously doubt we'll see her enter an actual race though.
May be she can start out getting job as a test driver for Sauber. Who is the test driver for Sauber currently?
She is probably fast enough to make it past the 107%. It all depends on Bernie and how much he wants to spice up the show. Look what Danica did for Indycars. She was all the rave. And if Charlie times the SC the right way she could end up on pole position (remember Winkelhock Jr. on pole for the 2nd half of the German GP?).
I wish her the best of luck, but I don't want to see a marketing stunt in F1. If she can hack it, I hope she gets a ride. If it's purely for "the show," I don't want to see her in F1. I want to see the best (or very nearly the best) drivers, I don't care what race, sex, age, or whatever they are. Mark
Not disagreeing there. If I had a team like Caterham, Marussia or in particular Lotus I'd give her a fair shot. I think a lot more people and especially women would tune in to follow the races.
Simona is a very talented driver with serious potential. I wish her all the best! The plan is to have her drive for Sauber F1 in 2015. My company sponsors her, and she was our host at the Long Beach Grand Prix. She is one tough girl!
Nice ideals, but the reality is that much of what you see in F-1 is some sort of marketing stunt; all that "green energy" BS, races held in remote locations where 99.9% of the population can't afford a ticket, single supplier designed tire degradation, and so-on and so-forth. Half (or more) of the drivers are marketing stunts themselves; i.e. take away the sponsorship money they bring to the team and someone else would be filling the seat. If some sufficiently (enough to get a super license and be within 107%) talented guy with a big wad of money can get a ride in F-1 what's the difference if a sufficiently talented woman (also most likely with a big wad of money) gets a ride too? Few (if any) people have driven F-1 in the last 25 years based purely on driving talent and driving talent alone. Marketing and F-1 go hand-in-hand. In fact, F-1 may be the best example of such relationships.
Danica was popular for her swimsuit pics and reasonably hot looks, haven't seen this girl yet, but there won't be much of a storm unless she is either extra-talented, or extra-hot. Otherwise, she's just another racer in a mid-table team, just like any other rookie...
After Danica and "Duno why she's in a car", I was so glad to see a female actually *driving* in Indycar. But then she got stuck with that lame "Lotus" (sic) mill for a year. Indycar seems to be a tough place for "outsiders" (those not from one of the "Americas": North, South, or Australia. ) I'd love to see her get a shot in a Sauber F1 car. I don't know why there aren't more women in motorsports. Nobody thought Michelle Mouton was "just a gimmick". We all love fast women.
Great that you are supporting her. She did reasonably well: Sauber-Simona strahlt nach Debüt: «Es ist ein unglaubliches Gefühl!» ? Formel 1 ? Blick Her best time was a 1:00.6 She was impressed by the high G forces and by the amount of stuff that she has to do in the cockpit (steering wheel buttons). It was a lot to learn coming from Indy. She'll be testing another 3 days in Valencia in June. In all she will have 10 test days this year, which will probably determine her future with Sauber. Today Gutierrez will do some movie shooting laps in the turbo around Fiorano.
Here she is with her Dad, who recently took delivery of an Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think I saw that car at the NY auto show at the Pirelli display downstairs. I remember thinking it's livery looked strange. Don't sleep on Simona. If she had stayed in Indycar I'm sure she would have won several races. She's very talented and tough as nails. I think she's the real deal.
