“I have always worked hard and let lap times speak for me. It was never my goal to just be the token woman in motorsport.” Simona De Silvestro always knew what she wanted. Her open, humorous manner makes her very popular with her team-mates and rivals. She has earned due respect with good performances on the track.
As a teenager her great passion was car races. She abstained from many things and worked hard to live out her dream. The Swiss national wasn’t quite 18 when, after initial single-seater successes in Europe, she was drawn to the USA. Through Formula BMW and Formula Toyota Atlantic she ended up in the IndyCar Series. She was crowned ‘Rookie of the Year’ at the legendary Indy 500 in 2010. And she earned even greater recognition among drivers and fans a year later when, the day after a serious accident in the practice session, despite burns on both hands, she got into the car and qualified at Indianapolis. After this courageous performance the Americans, who had previously only ever seen her as the nice ‘Swiss Miss’, gave her a new nickname: ‘Iron Maiden’. She wasn’t a fan of the music by the heavy metal band of the same name back then, but she can identify with the attitude the name expresses.
She is hard on herself, but not stubborn. A confident young woman. Word quickly spread in the industry that she also gets the performances on the track, so Sauber added her to their Formula 1 squad in 2014, in the 2015/2016 season she drove for Andretti in Formula E, then she contested the Australian Supercars Championship. She became a Porsche works driver in 2019.
Personal details
Date of birth: 1 September 1988 Birthplace:Thun (CH) Nationality: Swiss Lives in: Zurich (CH) Marital status: Single Height/weight: 171 cm/70 kg Hobbies: Golf, tennis, fitness, music and karting Twitter:@simdesilvestro Facebook:@simdesilvestro Instagram:@simonadesilvestro
