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The Nissan Altima of Simona de Silvestro at the 2017 Clipsal 500 Adelaide by GTHO –

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Simona de Silvestro

Simona de Silvestro is a Swiss-Italian racing driver, who Porsche currently employs as a factory driver. Porsche is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She has previously driven for Amlin Andretti in the 2015/16 season of the FIA Formula E Championship.  Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The inaugural championship race was held in Beijing in September 2014. Since 2020, the series has had FIA world championship status.

Simona also competed in the IndyCar Series for several years. The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States. Simona’s nicknames are the Iron Maiden and Swiss Miss.

Here are the top 10 Remarkable Facts about Simona de Silvestro.

1. Simona was the second woman to win the Atlantic race at the 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach

Simona raced for Newman Wachs Racing’s Nuclear Clean Air Energy-Entergy team in the Atlantic Championship in 2008 and for Team Stargate Worlds in 2009. She won the Atlantic race at the 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach, making her the second woman to win in that series after Katherine Legge and providing NWR with its first win.

Simona won four times during the 2009 season and led in points for most of the season, but ultimately finished third in the standings after retiring on the first lap during the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

2. De Silvestro competed full-time in the IndyCar Series for HVM Racing for the 2010 season

Simona De Silvestro at the 2010 Indianapolis 500 opening weekend by Manningmbd –

On 22 May 2010, she qualified in the 22nd position for the 2010 Indianapolis 500. She finished the race in the 14th position and earned Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors. She suffered a burned right hand after a fiery crash at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway on 5 June 2010. 

Her team strongly criticized IndyCar Series safety officials for their response to that accident. For the season, de Silvestro started 17 races, finished ten, and recorded two top-10 finishes, with a best finish of eighth at Mid-Ohio. She finished 19th overall in the series standings and was runner-up to Alex Lloyd for rookie of the year honours.

3. Simona recorded the fastest lap of the race in the 2011 season of the IndyCar Series 

The 2011 season began with fourth and ninth-place finishes at St. Petersburg and Barber; however, the next race, at Long Beach, was not as successful: she started 18th and finished 20th. 

At the next race, the São Paulo Indy 300, an accident between her and Hélio Castroneves put her nine laps down, after the race was postponed to the next morning due to severe rain conditions. She started 13th and finished 20th, nine laps down, but recorded the fastest lap of the race.

4. For the 2013 IndyCar Series season, de Silvestro signed on with KV Racing Technology

Simona de Silvestro by Gordon Tarpley –

Simona was driving the No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet with sponsorship from Nuclear Clean Air Energy. De Silvestro joined veteran driver Tony Kanaan to make KV Racing Technology a two-car team for the 2013 season.

On 5 October 2013 at the Grand Prix of Houston, de Silvestro finished second in the first race for her first podium finish, joining Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher as the only women in IndyCar history to record a podium finish.

5. Simona joined the Formula one team as an affiliated driver in 2014

In February 2014, Formula One team Sauber announced that de Silvestro would join the team as an “affiliated driver” and would undergo a year-long training programme with the team, with the ultimate objective of racing in 2015.

De Silvestro began testing with the team at the end of April 2014 at Fiorano Circuit. She had her first drive in the 2012 Sauber on 26 April and completed 112 laps during the test. However, in October 2014, Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn stated that the team had suspended de Silvestro’s driving chances due to contractual troubles.

6. De Silvestro became the first female driver to score points in Formula E

Prerace Driver intros Simona de Silvestro by Valder137 –

On 15 June 2015, it was announced de Silvestro would drive for Andretti’s Formula E team at the championship’s double-header finale in London. 

She was confirmed with the team full-time for the 2015-16 season opposite Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frijns. In 2016, de Silvestro became the first female driver to score points in Formula E with 9th place in the 2016 Long Beach ePrix. She finished the championship in 18th place with 4 points.

7. Simona partnered with Renee Gracie at Prodrive Racing Australia

Prodrive Racing Australia is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. It was announced on 19 August 2015 that Simona would partner Renee Gracie at Prodrive Racing Australia in the Bathurst 1000 for V8 Supercars.

Following an impact with the wall at Forrest’s Elbow on lap 15 for Gracie, the car underwent extensive repairs before being sent back out to finish 21st and 40 laps down, one more lap lost and the car would not have been classified.

8. In 2017, de Silvestro was contracted as a full-time driver for Nissan Motorsport 

Simona de Silvestro at the 2015 500 Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana by Sarah Stierch –

On 5 September 2016, it was announced that she had signed a three-year contract as a full-time driver for Nissan Motorsport in the Australian Supercars Championship, beginning from the 2017 Series.

This followed another appearance at Bathurst alongside Gracie, this time with the Nissan squad, where the pair managed to stay out of trouble amid the chaotic final laps and finish in 14th place and two laps down.

9. In 2015, de Silvestro announced she would drive the Andretti Autosport No. 29 Honda 

On 2 April 2015, de Silvestro announced she would drive the Andretti Autosport No. 29 Honda in the 2015 IndyCar Series season in an attempt to make the Indianapolis 500. De Silvestro finished fourth in the second race of the season, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana.

On 19 January 2021, Paretta Autosport announced they would make their Indycar debut at the 2021 Indianapolis 500 with de Silvestro as the driver in the no. 16 Rocket Pro Chevrolet.

10. In 2020, De Silvestro returned to Europe as a factory Porsche GT driver

Simona was contesting the 2020 ADAC GT Masters for Timo Bernhard’s Team75 with Klaus Bachler.

She finished 23rd in the championship with 41 points. The duo switched to Herberth Motorsport for the 2021 ADAC GT Masters.