Simona de Silvestro

[LC2guy]

I don't know a great deal about her, but she seems to have done fairly well in the states;

http://www.motorsport.com/#!/f1/news...liated-driver/

Should generate some sponsorship for Sauber in 2015 if it comes off. Sirotkin deal seems to have disappeared though.

[Peat]

She's the real deal. If places in F1 were given on merit, she'd certainly be in the queue ahead of some of the people that have seats currently.

Cynical Peat can't help that feel this is just Sauber trying to exploit new sponsorship markets. Not sure if that will be enough to buy a race seat though.

[BSchneiderFan]

Best female prospect for some time, I'd say.

[davyboy]

Agreed. She's very good. I'm really thrilled for her.

[JeremySmith]

Great news, best of luck Simona

[miniman]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Agreed. She's very good. I'm really thrilled for her.

Brilliant! results in various championships since 2005: 20th, 4th, 19th, 8th, 3rd, 19th, 20th, 24th, 13th!!! F1 material??? I can think of better, sorry

[nobster]

ridiculous announcement, just looking for more (female friendly) sponsors?
Not good enough to be a winner in Indycars so certainly not a competitive driver in F1

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by miniman

Brilliant! results in various championships since 2005: 20th, 4th, 19th, 8th, 3rd, 19th, 20th, 24th, 13th!!! F1 material??? I can think of better, sorry

I tend to agree. She's been racing in IndyCar since 2010, with her best result 2nd at the first Houston double header last year and finishing 13th overall last season. It'll be interesting to see if she can improve on that this year. Otherwise, I think this is a bit of a marketing gimmick, what with both Simona and Sauber being Swiss.

[chillibowl]

i must admit i am currently suffering from the Olympic fever so im happy that Sauber are looking to promote and help out a driver from their own country and if the fact that its a women helps them in the slightest to find new sponsorship opportunities then of all the teams which need money Sauber is the one i most want to find it and survive.

F1 is ridiculously expensive and even though we are all not in agreement on the best ways to correct that, surely we can all agree that as 'gimmicks' go this is preferable to finding faceless investment consortiums buying into F1 or pay drivers.

[Gingers4Justice]

I'm going to go easy on the cynicism here because she is much more worth of her role than others who have been test drivers, or even raced, in recent years.

She's a handy IndyCar driver, a competitive driver in a competitive series. Being competent in IndyCar doesn't make you competent in F1, but that works both ways...who knows, F1 could suit her better.

Good luck to her.

[S griffin]

It helps that she is Swiss. But she certainly ain't shabby either.

[NaBUru38]

The official F1 website story has a false fact:

She has spent the past four years driving in the IndyCar Series, winning the prestigious Indy 500 ‘Rookie of the Year’ Award in 2010 and becoming the first woman to earn an IndyCar podium finish on a street circuit.

Danica Patrick had a 2nd finish at Detroit 2007.

[EERO]

I'm a huge fan. After seeing her nearly lap the field at Lime Rock in 2009 in Formula Atlantics, I was imnpressed, more so when I saw the tiny kid with real poise on the podium. She was sabotaged in 2012 by the dreadful Lotus.

I have high hopes and I am genuinely pleased for her.

[Flavio Galtieri]

I watch each Indycar race as well as F1 and I must admit she has impressed on occasions.

F1 badly needs a female driver and I hope she gets a shot. She's certainly more qualified than any others on the horizon. Good luck to her

[rwintle]

As an IndyCar fan I am sad to see her go. She was never on a team that could consistently deliver her a fast car, but did well with the machinery she had. Major props to her for not whining about being saddled with a pathetic Lotus engine for an entire season with the chronically underfunded HVM team, too.

She is personable, great with the fans, and yes, will likely attract much-needed sponsorship if Sauber is smart and takes advantage, rather than just treating her as some anonymous test driver.

FWIW she was very fast in Formula Atlantic (yes, I know, it wasn't what it was in the glory days, whatever) and led the championship in 2009 before suffering a huge crash at Mosport (and obviously, no points). She wound up third in the standings that year and was the only Atlantics driver to make the jump directly to IndyCar.

Will she be a full-time competitive F1 driver one day? I think the jury is out - as noted above, no major results. I certainly thought she would have scored a win or two in IndyCar. She seems to my eyes to be a bit more of a cautious driver than was required to really get to the front of the pack. Time will tell I guess and I hope she does well in F1.

[wnut]

I wish Simona all the best in F1.

Just wish she was racing in a series as well, and I am not quite sure what "affiliate driver" means, little or nothing I suspect!

I take it they will use her for some of the demo days and capitalize on her marketing potential, she is very promotable from a sponsorship and public relations point of view!

[Nicholosophy]

It's hard to compare her to other drivers in other formulae because it's harder for women to get seats at any level. Not because of ability but because of this idea that women aren't up to par.

I hope she can turn her simulator time into some track time at the young drivers test and then perhaps into a drive at some point.

[BSchneiderFan]

I thought Sauber didn't have a simulator?

[Starfish Primer]

All the best for Simona, I don't like the idea of being a playstation driver with nearly zero oportunities to do real kms. I think also that a driver needs real competition to keep the pace.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The official F1 website story has a false fact:



Danica Patrick had a 2nd finish at Detroit 2007.

She also had a win at Motegi in 2008.

[wolfhound]

I hope that de Silvestro ca perform well at F1 as she seems to have done a good job so far.
However I am trying to assess the level that Indycar is currently at compared to other series. Out of 16 rounds there are only 3 on road courses in 2013 with 7 street circuits the rest being ovals. This is not the type of circuit mix that you will find in F1.
The other factor is there have not been many drivers who have moved between Indycar and race series outside of North America. The most recent I can think of is Simon Pagenaud who came from P1 sportcars and has done well with one of the the weaker indycar teams. Other than Simon then one has to look at the likes of Sebastian Bourdais and Takuma Sato who were in F1 in the mid naughties. The last person to move sucessfully from Indy car to F1 was Montoya and that is a long time ago.
I wonder how Indycar compares to GP2 or Renault 3.5 as a preparation for F1. I suspect if is not as good due to circuit type however Indycar uses single turbo charged V8 engines. None of those three series is an open chassis formula but Indycar at least uses different engines.

[NaBUru38]

IndyCar has lots of 2-hour races, three 500 mile races, lots of parity, and no power steering.

[Mr V]

If de Silvestro gets a race seat with Sauber in 2015 i'll eat my hat.

[Nikki Katz]

I very much doubt she'll get a race seat. Actually, is this the same sort of deal that Frijns had this time last year, and he never even ended up testing the car?

I doubt she's F1 material and somehow doubt she'll ever be given the chance to prove me wrong. Still a bit of a loss for Indycar though, especially considering she's been replaced by a nobody.

[Paradise City]

She'll be lucky to get a testing gig really. She's a good driver. And very tough.