female pilots. Simona de Silvestro, the driver of an all-female team at the Indianapolis 500

Simona De Silvestro was born on September 1, 1988 in Thun, Switzerland in the canton of Bern. She didn’t see the light of day with a steering wheel in her hands… but almost!

As a child, she did circuit laps in a kart on her father’s lap before he offered her one. Simona was then 7 years old!

A year later, she competed in her first race, beginning a career as a « kartwoman » which would last ten years. In 2005, Simona made her debut in single-seaters but competed in only one season in Italian Formula Renault 2000.

Indeed, in 2006 and at only 18 years old, she left alone for the United States and moved to Indianapolis. That year, she competed in Formula BMW USA, which was raced with single-seaters manufactured by Mygale Concept, at Magny-Cours. Simona finished fourth in…