Renault GP test female driver De Villota

[Scott Webber]

Spanish driver María de Villota took to the wheel of Renault's R29 at the Paul Ricard Circuit earlier this month to become the first female to drive a modern F1 car since Katherine Legge in 2005.

The test took place in early August in secrecy to give the current Superleague Formula driver and daughter of ex-F1 driver Emilio de Villota, the chance to taste F1, and allow her to become familiar with the onboard systems and car balance.

"As a female driver, I was very happy to get the opportunity to drive in a Formula 1 car," she said.

"Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motor racing and has always been a dream for me. The running went very well, conditions were ideal, and the team made me feel at ease straight away. It did not take too long to get used to the car and, after I felt comfortable with it, I was able to start pushing and, as a result, really enjoyed the experience. I have been impressed by Lotus Renault GP’s professionalism. I want to thank the team a lot for this opportunity."


Team principal Eric Boullier added: "We were delighted to offer María the chance to drive in the R29. As a team, we pride ourselves on our ability to assess new talents and offer different drivers opportunities with us.

"María did exactly what was expected of her; she took things one step at a time, and achieved some very reasonable laptimes, not putting a foot wrong all day."

It's believed Bernie Ecclestone was present at the test and had a hand in organising the day, as he's keen to see a women in F1.

So what do you guy's think if a female Driver had a shot at F1 with the big boys? no sexism or you'll be reported.

 

[Riley Preston]

Didn't we see this in indycar as well and she ended up as a backmarker? Who knows, if she has talent, she has talent.

 

[Philip Antonia]

If they're good enough, they have every right to get into F1.

Whatever discipline of motorsport a driver races in, they should aim for the top .

 

[ufunacaoenn]

A Female in F1, that would be great. First, because she will be the first Female to race in F1 plus she got talent because who said it is so easy to get in F1 if you don't got talent.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

A Female in F1, that would be great. First, because she will be the first Female to race in F1 plus she got talent because who said it is so easy to get in F1 if you don't got talent.

She wouldn't... Desire Wilson won a non-champ f1 race and Leila Lombardi scored half a point. The last female in f1 was Giovanna Amati who was about 20 seconds off pace in a useless Brabham (although her teammate was like 9 seconds faster than her)

@Riley: she was never in indycar (she was in superleague formula tho). Your thinking of Carmen Jorda who is a backmarker in Indy lights.

 

[Luke McVicar]

When a good Female driver comes we will know, there's no point pushing them into catagorys that will just make them a laughing stock.

If there happens to be one with even an ounce of Talent it will stand out because talent and female hasn't been seen before(apart from rally).

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Would be great to have a talented female driver in the F1 someday. However theDe Villota family only comes so far because they have quite some money to spend. Has not much to do with talent i fear

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

If there happens to be one with even an ounce of Talent it will stand out because talent and female hasn't been seen before(apart from rally).

Ever heard of Lella Lombardi? Desire Wilson? Danica Patrick? Simona de Silvestro? Suzie Stoddart, Katherine Legge, etc.

I'm affraid Maria doesn't fit in that list however. A few seasons in Superleague, intense backmarking, few significant results. And if you add this absolutely priceless brain fade on the top of it...(yes, she is driving the Atletico car):

This test is probably a PR move from Renault, more than a genuine evaluation test. Her father's money probably helped too.


Anyway it'd be interresting to see Simona de Silvestro in F1, probably the only woman who would really stand a chance right now. However she shouldn't bother IMO, she has a much brighter future in the US.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Ever heard of Lella Lombardi? Desire Wilson? Danica Patrick? Simona de Silvestro? Suzie Stoddart, Katherine Legge, etc.

Lella Lombardi and Desire Wilson sure. Suzie Stoddart and Katherine Legge? I'm not too sure either are really that talented... Didn't Katherine Legge failed in ChampCar? Also Danica Patrick is an average driver. She's kinda like Ed Carpenter. Decent and drives very well in rare occasions but overall is just an average driver and probably wouldn't be in a full time ride if it wasn't the fact that she's a woman.

Simona de Silvestro is in a weird situation. She's driven very very well in the past but she has a horrible results record. A lot of people says it's due to her car but gradually i'm starting to wonder if a part of that is her as well. IDK imo, the true test will be if she gets picked up by a top team

 

[TheHemps]

Ever heard of Lella Lombardi? Desire Wilson? Danica Patrick? Simona de Silvestro? Suzie Stoddart, Katherine Legge, etc.

I'm affraid Maria doesn't fit in that list however. A few seasons in Superleague, intense backmarking, few significant results. And if you add this absolutely priceless brain fade on the top of it...(yes, she is driving the Atletico car):

This test is probably a PR move from Renault, more than a genuine evaluation test. Her father's money probably helped too.


Anyway it'd be interresting to see Simona de Silvestro in F1, probably the only woman who would really stand a chance right now. However she shouldn't bother IMO, she has a much brighter future in the US.

That's not a brain fade. That's trying to turn around with 15 oncoming cars. What a stupid move. Hamilton got a drive through for spinning his car around and missing Di Resta by about 7 and a quarter miles, so imagine what would have happened to her if she did that in F1? I think this is a publicity stunt by Renault but hopefully we will see a talented female driver in the future, just not this one, she looks dangerous.

 

[Kevin Ascher]

If one did that on a public road you would want them in prison.
If one does that on a race track you will never want to see them in a race car again.

 

[TheHemps]

If one did that on a public road you would want them in prison.
If one does that on a race track you will never want to see them in a race car again.

seconded

 

[Ross Balfour]

De Villota is an awful driver, she's a backmarker is Superleague Formula where the competition isn't exactly fierce.. it is a joke she is allowed inside a Formula One car.

 

[Ivo Simons]

I am oke with woman driver etc. But not when they do this.

 

[Bradley Vanian]

She is doing a 3 point turn instead of a basic 180 tire smoking spin..... WHAT A DUMBASS

 

[Bradley Vanian]

She could of been killed or suffered a major injury if a car had hit her. That was the sort of thing I would do in a Racing Game when I'm bored and want to take everyone out.

 

[TheHemps]

Haha, love it how we've had a warning not to be sexist, so instead of saying anything, we show video examples of why a woman shouldn't be in Formula 1. It's a shame we can't discuss this properly in fear of upsetting the hippie eejits that are convinced men and women are the same in every way. So, without being 'sexist' all I can say is men and women are VERY different, in every way. Behaviour, looks, strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, outlooks etc... Take football for example. How many people watched Arsenal play yesterday? 60,000 at the stadium and god knows how many on TV. Now how many watched Arsenal ladies? My guess is about 7 and a dog. Why? Because it looks like my 3 year old trying to play FIFA on xbox. A few people would see this as sexist, normal people would see this as simply terrible football. Same goes for F1. Imagine a woman flying around Monza at quali pace. Would her smaller, weaker body be able to take the strain than the men can?

I don't know, maybe or maybe not. But we'll just have to guess seeing as any slight criticism or factually based assessment will be regarded as sexism and I'll get lambasted for even daring to suggest a women may be different to a man or vice versa, and I really can't be bothered with all that.

That will be a big thing in the paddock with a woman as well. If anything goes wrong, if anyone says anything if anyone has a concern regarding her driving it will immediately be a case of 'It's only cos I have breasts' and automatically any issue is ignored. Until someone dies.

 

[My993C2]

If a woman ever does show the skill to drive in F1 then by all means let her drive. So far I don't think there is a female who is capable of racing in the modern day F1 circus. However while I do think what Ms De Villota did in the previously show video was a boneheaded move, and today once Maryeve Dufault was spun up she should have turned right instead of left so Maryeve also did a boneheaded move (by the way she had some help in this spin as another driver nudged her rear end). But let us not forget Lewis Hamilton just did a similar bonedheaded move. Lewis was more concerned about regaining lost ground from his spin in Hungary than he was about safety. He claims he did not see Paul di Resta, but from the in car view from Hamilton's car I have a hard time understanding how one of the best racers in the world could not see di Resta.

Looks like boneheaded moves from all three drivers. Of course Hamilton does have the skill to race in F1 whereas these other two do not.

 

[TheHemps]

The thing is, you can't find out if a woman is good enough for F1 unless she gets a chance in F1. That's where the trouble starts because if your from the UK, which most teams are, and the female driver isn't good enough, and she gets dropped, it will be screams of sexism, sexism, sexism. It doesnt matter if she's good enough or not here in the UK, if she is a woman and tries, there is no fear of failure as we had this mental politician called Harriett Harman that pretty much made it the law that it is a womans human right to do anything she wants even if she's not good enough.

That is where the trouble will be. The only teams able to even consider giving a female driver a chance are Torro Roso, Ferrari, Sauber or HRT.
Never gonna happen with Ferrari, HRT won't be around long enough, Torro Roso have the money for established or at least proven drivers so that leaves Sauber. One team out of 12 can safely think about giving a female a shot at F1, and that's why we won't see it for a long long time.

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

Lella Lombardi and Desire Wilson sure. Suzie Stoddart and Katherine Legge? I'm not too sure either are really that talented... Didn't Katherine Legge failed in ChampCar? Also Danica Patrick is an average driver. She's kinda like Ed Carpenter. Decent and drives very well in rare occasions but overall is just an average driver and probably wouldn't be in a full time ride if it wasn't the fact that she's a woman.

Simona de Silvestro is in a weird situation. She's driven very very well in the past but she has a horrible results record. A lot of people says it's due to her car but gradually i'm starting to wonder if a part of that is her as well. IDK imo, the true test will be if she gets picked up by a top team

Of course, none of those women are future F1 champions, but it's hard to argue they've no talent. After all they've all ran several seasons in some of the world's most prestigious series without making fool of themselves(most of the time), and getting some occasional top 5/points finish.

Katherine Legge wasn't that bad in ChampCar(a few top 10 finishes, she also lead a few laps in an oval races IIRC), although as we know the field was extremely weak in the series' last few years. Her three DTM seasons were absolutely catastrophic however. I heard rumours about her switching back to IndyCar next year, we'll see.

Suzie Stoddart had a nice season last year, taking 2 points with the older spec Mercedes, beating Coulthard in the process. Now some would say it was about time with all the seasons she's had. Not sure how she's doing this year, can't be bothered with DTM anymore.

Danica is probably massively overrated by the average Joe, allright. She might be rather weak on road courses, but she won once on ovals and she's been fighting for the top 5 very often. Being at Andretti helps, but still.

Hard to judge Simona on results only. HVM isn't ever close to have the ressources to challenge Penske, Andretti or Ganassi. Also, being in a 1 car team is quite a tough situation for someone with so little experience. Nevertheless she's been running strong in midfield on road courses so far, and that's mighty impressive considering the situation. Not sure why she's been so slow on ovals recently though, probably a problem on the oval chassis after all the hard crashes it has undergone had this season, don't know.

Haha, love it how we've had a warning not to be sexist, so instead of saying anything, we show video examples of why a woman shouldn't be in Formula 1. It's a shame we can't discuss this properly in fear of upsetting the hippie eejits that are convinced men and women are the same in every way. So, without being 'sexist' all I can say is men and women are VERY different, in every way. Behaviour, looks, strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, outlooks etc... Take football for example. How many people watched Arsenal play yesterday? 60,000 at the stadium and god knows how many on TV. Now how many watched Arsenal ladies? My guess is about 7 and a dog. Why? Because it looks like my 3 year old trying to play FIFA on xbox. A few people would see this as sexist, normal people would see this as simply terrible football. Same goes for F1. Imagine a woman flying around Monza at quali pace. Would her smaller, weaker body be able to take the strain than the men can?

I don't know, maybe or maybe not. But we'll just have to guess seeing as any slight criticism or factually based assessment will be regarded as sexism and I'll get lambasted for even daring to suggest a women may be different to a man or vice versa, and I really can't be bothered with all that.

That will be a big thing in the paddock with a woman as well. If anything goes wrong, if anyone says anything if anyone has a concern regarding her driving it will immediately be a case of 'It's only cos I have breasts' and automatically any issue is ignored. Until someone dies.

Cliche, I'm affraid.

See, there are 3 women in IndyCar this year. All 3 are doing fine. They're not causing more incidents than the average, in fact, I don't think they've been found guilty of causing an avoidable incident this season, while we've seen dozens of them so far. They're coping great with the physical constraints, although the races are slightly longer - and I don't think the F1s can provide so many more Gs than the F1.

It kinda bothers me how many people automatically think that all women are dangerous and incompetent if put at the wheel. Just because of prejuges, and a few crazy ones(Milka Duno...). Yet absolute jokes like Viso, Valerio or Bianchi(although the latter has some huge sheer pace, can't deny that) can take out 1 car or more at almost every single event they take part in, and receive little(if any) public bashing in the end. I wonder how the public would react if those 3 were women.