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De Silvestro: "Making it to F1 depends on money"

Published on 12 May 2016 16:19
3
By: Rob Veenstra

The woman who arguably got closest to a race seat in recent years says physical ability is not the reason there are no female drivers in F1. Although Susie Wolff actually participated in Friday practice sessions, many insiders regard Simona de Silvestro as a bigger talent and two years ago she tested extensively in a Sauber.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone caused a stir recently with comments about the potential of female drivers, but Swiss 27-year-old de Silvestro said: "Whether you make it to F1 or not depends not primarily on your sex, but money. As a woman, you may very well be able to drive a formula one car, but to get in there it's extremely difficult without a lot of money or sponsors," she told Speed Week.

Recalling her many laps in the Sauber, de Silvestro explained: "I was always fast and never had any problems even when I did race distances. I was never afraid of that, because I used to drive in Indycar which is much more strenuous. So physically it was no problem at all," she added.

De Silvestro says the biggest problem for women is money. "Access for most young drivers is the biggest problem," she said. "Because in most racing series you have to buy your chance, and I lacked the budget for formula one because this is really an incredible amount of money."

Tackling the notion that he is sexist, Ecclestone insists it is simply "pretty factual" that women have struggled to make their mark in formula one. "People don't take them seriously," he told ITV News London this week. "To put someone in a formula one car it's going to cost a team probably 25-30 million (pounds) so they have to decide whether or not it's worth doing that or getting someone else in and they probably think at the moment it's a bit of a risk." (GMM)

F1 News Susie Wolff Sauber

Replies (3)

Hooligans Racing

Posts: 901
Frijns who is the teammate of De Silvestro in FE (Andretti) has proven himself to be a much better driver if you compare their results. So he deserves a seat in F1 much more!
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- May 12 2016 - 16:50
- Hepp
  
  Posts: 200
  I believe the point of the article was women in F1 not getting the recognition, Simona's point was clear, Not the driver, but the financing, gives you the opportunity. Thus opportunity is not dependent on gender, rather and favoring the money you bring or projected worth.
  + 0
  
  May 13 2016 - 02:02
mclarenfan1968

Posts: 1,027
It's simple, if you are just some marketable loud mouth like the merc diva money follows you. If you were a precocious talent like Ayton Senna you don't need to be funded to get noticed and move your way up.

Today initial money matters just get into F1 and if you are shaite like Tiago you need a lot of money to pay bills and remain in F1 because the team needs to get money on the lost points the waste of driver has caused the team to lose out on.

But as always if you are just too good money will always follow you, or you can be mediocre with a loud mouth since that also helps. F1 is a show business at the end of the day. You can dress it up however you want with occasional claims of how F1 tech has trickled down to road cars and other aspects of industry, eventually F1 for the most part is show business. And showbiz needs loud mouths, it's no wonder Bernie thinks lowly of someone like Vettel or other reserved drivers who are not busy being gangsta, all Hollywood style junk hip hop garbage.

If a women comes along kicking men's butt in F1 on pure speed money will follow her and she can't be stopped from being successful or she can be a very 'marketable', if you know what I mean. Then again that's just being cheap.
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- May 13 2016 - 08:49