Simona de Silvestro enters Sauber’s orbit
For several years now, one of the major marketing strategies in motor racing has been to try to promote a female driver. Sauber has just signed the Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro as an affiliated driver.
The native of Thun spent the last four seasons in the United States in IndyCar. In 2010, she was the best rookie in the famous Indianapolis 500 miles. During the 2013 season, she advanced in the hierarchy by joining the KV Racing team. This allowed her to achieve her first podium, with a second place in Houston.
The Swiss woman joins Susie Wolff in the list of women currently under contract with an F1 team. Toto Wolff’s wife was the first to drive the FW35 at the start of the 2013 season. But this time, the program seems much more ambitious as the IndyCar driver clearly states she aims to become a full-time F1 driver as early as next season: « This is a major step towards achieving the dream of my life and I am so happy for the opportunity to take this step with such a great team. The Sauber F1 Team is a team with heritage and the only Swiss team in Formula One, which makes it all the more exciting. I cannot thank Monisha Kaltenborn and Peter Sauber enough for their support and for giving me this chance. I am thrilled to have this unique platform on which to prepare for this challenge. »
The planned program for the 2014 season will include both track tests, simulator sessions, and thorough physical preparation. The aim is to enable the driver to obtain her valuable Super License, essential for aiming for a Formula 1 seat. Contacted by your correspondent, it was confirmed to us that she had decided not to race during the season in order to focus exclusively on her 2015 objective. Similarly, given that the Hinwil team does not have a simulator, work on this tool will be done using another team’s equipment. Due to the close ties between Sauber and Ferrari, one can imagine that Simona de Silvestro will travel to Maranello.
The two official Sauber drivers for the season, Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil, could therefore feel threatened as the team increases its roster of drivers, with Russian Sergey Sirotkin also in the starting blocks to rise to F1, while Giedo van der Garde relies on his reserve driver position to make his return to the grid next year.
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
