Women in motorsports.
Susie Wolff
Suzie, still under the maiden name Stoddart, very successfully performed in the most popular body DTM series. Behind the wheel of the pink Mercedes, she finished several times in the 7th place, which is very good, given that she performed on the old chassis.
In 2013, when her husband was still a co-owner of the Williams F1 team, she signed a test pilot contract and at the British Grand Prix in 2014 became the first woman to drive the Formula 1 cars within the Grand Prix for 20 years! The breakdown of the car did not allow her to drive more than 4 laps, but then she returned behind the wheel in Germany. Of course, immediately everyone started talking about the opportunity to take part in the race, but this never happened.
Before her, the last girl to be driven in Formula 1 was Giovanna Amati, who was in favor of Brabham in 1992.
Giovanna Amati
In 2014 Susie, along with David Coulthard, competed in the ROC championship, representing the team of Scotland, but they were forced to settle for second place, facing the incredibly strong couple - "Mr. Le Mans" Tom Christensen and the 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg.
If you are surprised that the girls not only stand with signs near the cars, but also sit behind the wheel, then this article is for you.
And what if I say that the first girl took part in Formula 1 in just 8 years after the appearance of the championship? Her name was Maria Teresa De Filipis.
Maria Teresa De Filippis
On the account of the Italian 5 Grand Prix, two of which she could not qualify, two went, and at the Belgian Grand Prix she was able to finish in 10th place behind the wheel of Maserati in two circles behind the winner. But points for 10 place then did not give.
In total, Formula 1 has 5 girls who competed in the championship, and in total they were able to score 0.5 points at all.
The only girl who scored points in Formula 1, called Lella Lombardi.
The Italian, in fact, alone saved her colleagues from a "dry account". In Formula 1, she played for teams with such high-profile names as Brabham, March and Williams, but not in their best years.
Lella Lombardi
"That" half of the point brought Lalle Grand prix of Spain in 1975, when the departed from the track, Rolf Stommelen took with him the lives of five spectators ... The race was immediately stopped, and according to the rules, the pilots were awarded half points, because the whole distance could not be passed. At the time of stopping the race, Lombardi was in sixth place in two rounds behind the winner. After the completion of her career in Formula 1, Lella went to the USA and performed in NASCAR, then in DTM, but she did not achieve much success.
A couple of years ago, another beauty got into Formula 1 - Carmen Jorda signed a contract with Lotus F1, which, apparently, expected to attract additional sponsors. Chances for the appearance of the Horda on the track were small - Lotus, experiencing financial problems, signed contracts with all who could, and kept 5 pilots in reserve, and then the team was sold to the Renault concern.
Carmen Jorda
Usually pilots who pass all the steps in the form of junior GP3 and GP2 series can not find a place in F1, even if they won the champion title, but Carmen did not even have a chance to try their hand at GP2 - apparently frightened that there they would pay attention to it More teams. But her experience was not enough even for obtaining super licensing ...
Due to its appearance, Chord made a lot of noise, even the then head of Formula 1 talked about the possibility of the appearance of a women's series. Despite the fact that there was logic in his words, no one, except for Horda, supported the idea. In general, there are no mixed football teams, and girls with guys do not compete in the race, why should everyone be equal on the road?
Bernie is no longer at the helm, about Carmen almost nothing is audible ...
Even before Horda and Wolff in the paddock of the Formula 1 there was a girl, her name was Maria De Vilotta. Unfortunately, this story has a tragic end.
Maria De Vilotta
In 2012, the Spanish racer was able to do what all girls ever dreamed of wearing a racing overall - signed a test driver contract with the Russian team Marussia F1 Team.
Nobody hid that Vilotta is unlikely to sit behind the wheel, but she was always in the team's boxes, she could be seen on the base, and most importantly, she took part in the tests. During one of their test runs, she crashed into the truck of the team. The doctors managed to save her life, but could not save her eyes. Maria found strength in herself, changed her image, shortened her hair and always smiled in public.
Maria De Vilotta
A year later she was found dead in a hotel room - the consequences of the accident were still incompatible with life ... Maria's feat was not left without attention, in many respects her achievements helped other riders approach the "Royal Races".
One of these girls was Simone de Silvestro, whom I would call the most stubborn of the entire list.
Simone de Silvestro
She has been karting since 2002 and shows good results + increased interest in girls in motorsport allows her to find sponsors.
In 2010, she debuted overseas in the formula series IndyCar, where she stably finished in the top ten, and when she could move to a competitive team, even finished on the podium.
It seemed that her debut in Formula 1 is close, when she signed the contract with Sauber, but the team is experiencing financial problems from the moment of parting with BMW and, in the hope of somehow staying afloat, signs contracts with everyone. Repeated trials took place with pilots who had a valid contract, so that Simone's debut depended more on her sponsors than on the performance.
Unable to find a place, Simone returned to IndyCar and combines the performance with Forumula E. Her purposefulness can only be envied.
By the way, Simone was not the only racer in IndyCar.
I think Daniku Patrick can be called the most famous girl in motorsports, largely due to her appearance. She has been performing in various series for many years, including IndyCar and NASCAR. Many times she was in the top three and even won the Japanese stage in 2008. True, it is worth mentioning that because of problems with the organization and consolidation of two series of the top division of America at the start came only the IRL series car.
Danica Patrick
Two years later, she finally moved to the championship of stock cars, although she continued to perform at the stage of 500 miles of Indianapolis.
It's funny that the rumors about Danica's transition to Formula 1 appear as often as the American team in the championship. At first, she was associated with a promising US project USF1, which received the right to participate in Formula 1, but so on the start and did not come out ...
Then, after the announcement of Haas F1 on the transition from NASCAR to F1, Patrick joined in Formula 1 with a new force, but Gene Haas quickly denied this information.
The success of Danica Patrick allows American racers to feel better in local championships than in the rest of the world.
But what about formula racing?
The Paris-Dakar rally, which was held in Europe and Africa from 1979 to 2007, is still considered one of the most dangerous races in the world.
The bravest racers dared to challenge the African desert and many of them were girls.
German girl Jutta Kleinschmidt proved to all that girls can fight with men on a par with all the difficulties that are encountered in the way of crews.
Jutta Kleinschmidt
In 2001 she was the first to overcome the distance, having written her name in history as the first winner of the race, and the following year she again struggled for the victory, finishing in second place. The second place was enough to prove to the whole world that victory was not an accident. The success of the German woman allowed the girls from all over the world to challenge even in the offset of motorcycles.
The truth "Dakar" now passes not only far from Paris, but also from Dakar itself - when performances in Africa began to threaten the safety of racers, the organizers "moved" to South America.
How about a classic rally?
I think that many will agree with the fact that Michel Mouton is the most successful girl in the history of motorsport. Now Muton heads the FIA Women's Motorsport Committee, and has been organizing the "Champions Race" since 1988 (the annual international auto show, which features outstanding riders of the most prestigious series: Formula 1, WRC, NASCAR, 24 Hours of Le Mans, WTCC and others The popularity of this show is quite high, and most pilots are always happy to receive an invitation.) But long before that, she was a very successful rider.
Michel Mouton
Muton performed in the world championship in rally from 1974 to 1986 and won 4 wins, 9 times climbed to the podium and drove faster than all 160 dopes. Until now, Michelle is the only girl who managed to win the championship.
Muton won all the victories at the wheel of the Audi Quattro, although some appearances were overshadowed by scandals - first the organizers drew attention to the fact that the car instead of the two headlights installed additional air intakes, and then the team tried to disguise the support car for racing so that Mouton could continue the race after a breakdown Engine ... It ended with the dismissal of the team's chief engineers and parting with Muton.
Then she got behind the wheel of Quattro only in 2010 during the demonstration races on the ROC and turned over. Everything went without injury.
Performance in the rally was not enough for her. And in 1975, having completely assembled a female crew with Kristin Dacremont and Marianne Höpfner, she went to the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the Moynet LM75. Even the finish for them would be victorious, but they took the 21st place in the overall standings and the 1st among cars with the engine capacity of 1.6-2.0 liters.
Well, and finally, the German again - Sabina Schmitz. Many know her about the transfer of Top Gear, where she repeatedly appeared with the old leaders, and then joined the new team of Chris Evans.
World fame came to Sabina during the filming of Top Gear, when she was driving a Ford Transit trying to beat the time shown by Jeremy Clarkson at the wheel of the Jaguar S-type. After several attempts, Sabina lost to the former Top Gear leader for only 10 seconds, but she managed to impress the audience.
Sabina Schmitz
But long before that Sabina became the Queen of the Nurburgring, the very "Green Hell", which many consider the most dangerous route in the world. The first round of the North loop, she drove before obtaining a driver's license. Then she worked as a driver for Ring Taxi, driving amateurs on the road behind the wheel of the BMW M5, and along the way she won two wins in the "24 hours of the Nurburgring".