Who will be the 6th female Formula One driver?

In the history of Formula One there have only ever been 5 female drivers:

·         Maria Teresa de Filippis born the 11^th of November  1926 in Italy. Filippis was the first ever woman to race in Formula One. She took part in 5 races in 1958 but failed to score any championship points. She then went on to succeed in other series. She only managed to finish 1 F1 race, Belgium 1958. In 1979 she joined the International Club of Former Formula One Grand Prix Drivers where she became president in 1997. She also founded the Maserati Club in 2004 where she became Chairman.

·         Lella Lombardi (26^th of March 1941- 3^rd March 1992) another Italian born female racer, who raced for one whole season with Brabham. Lombardi is the only female F1 driver to ever score championship points. She received points at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, were half point were awarded as the race distance was shortened. Before F1 she has performed well in Formula 3 and Formula 500, in the early 70’s. After her F1 carer she races sports cars with successful results. In 1992 she lost her battle with cancer, age 50.

 

·         Divina Galica born in England on the 13^th of August 1944. As well as being the only British female F1 driver she is also the only racing driver who has competed in F1 as well as the Olympics. In 1964 she competed in the Innsbruck winter Olympics in Down Hill skiing and Slalom, she was Captain of both female teams and finished in the top 10 in both events. She would return to compete in the Olympics after her driving carer, taking part in the Speed skating of the 1992 Great British winter Olympics.
Galica got  the chance to race in F1 when Hesketh Racing offered he the opportunity to replace Rupert Keegan in 1978. She took part in 3 race weekends but failed to qualify on all 3 occasions. She then decided to take a shot at British Formula One Series in which between 1978 and 1980 she took part in 6 races, with one podium finish and 22 career points.

 

·         Desiré Wilson born in South Africa on the 26^th of November 1953. She entered the Formula One world championship in 1980 with non-works Williams FW07, she took part in one race weekend but failed to qualify with in the 107% rule. She later took part in the South African GP as a one off deal with Tyrrell Racing, she qualified 16^th and after a bad start she made her way back up through the field in the very wet conditions. But when letting the leader past, she touched the wall and damaged her car and forcing her to retire. After her short F1 career she competed in Indianapolis 500 in 1982, Le Mans 24 and American Open-Wheel racing.

Giovanna Amati, born the 20^th of July 1959 in Italy. Giovanna is best known for being the last woman to enter a Formula One race. In 1978, at the age of 19 she was kidnapped and kept in a wooden cage for 75 days where she was physically and mentally abused. Her kidnapper was later sentenced to jail for 18 years but managed to escape in 1985 and remained a fugitive until his re-arrest in 2010.
She began her racing professionally in the Formula Abarth in 1981, wining several times before moving up to Formula 3 in 1986, where she continued to win. Amati signed a contract in 1992 with Brabham, an announcement that brought the team publicity. She took place in 3 races weekends but failed to qualify for every race. She was then sacked and replaced by Damon Hill. Amati then went on to win the 1993 Woman’s European Championship in the Porsche Super Cup. From 1994 to 1996 she raced in the Ferrari Challenge, where she had consistency and many wins. In 1999, she was placed 3^rd over all in the Sports Racing World Cup Class Championship.

So, these are the only 5 female F1 drivers in history. In this sport dominated by men, who will be the next brave girl to show them we can race as well?

A Friend With Autism, No Different...

A few months ago I met a amazing young boy called Luca; he has become one of my best friends, he is always there if you need help, he has a heart of gold, so kind, understanding and he doesn’t judge you, he also has Asperger’s Autism. When I found out I had to write an essay on Asperger’s I asked him if he was willing to help and I was delighted when he said yes. I learned loads from him. And would like to share some of it with you.

Autism is a disorder of neural development that starts in infancy or childhood. These kids/ people just want to be treated as equal to everyone else. Sometimes they feel insecure because they think that others are intolerant of their condition and therefore have difficulties socialising, they feel like they are constantly being bought down by society and by others their age.

Some individuals with Asperger’s may display intense interests; they collect volumes of detailed information on a narrow topic, without having an understanding of the broader topic. For example: An Autistic child may memorise camera model numbers without having any interest in photography. These interests may change and become more unusual and more narrowly focused. These intense interests are sometime combined with restricted and repetitive patterns in behaviour.

Meltdowns/breakdowns are almost inevitable, no matter what the age, because their senses, especially hearing, sight and smell are heightened. Which makes loud noises become very distressing, they can become very panicked. It’s almost as distressing as a change of or in a routine.

Schools have special units to help autistic kids; but is this a help or a hindrance?  Some say it helps them because they teach other kids about Autism. While others think that by doing this it’s shouting out to the world that they have an issue, it makes some kids feel very uncomfortable,  and feel like aliens.

Luca has taught me a lot, he has an amazing outlook on life, it is an absolute joy talking to him and an honour getting to know him and in my eyes he is no different to any of my other friends.

A massive thank you to Luca, who helped me to understand. Love you! :)

Learning to dance in the rain...

At many times in your life you will come across unexpected problems, hills or mountains, unforeseen obstacles that are put in your way. They will be there to test you, some more than others, some will make you scream in anger, cry in frustration or sadness while others will be easy to overcome. But they are all there to remind us it's not about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Learning to dance in the rain is probably one of the hardest things to learn in life, it's like having to choose whether to give up and walk away or to try even harder... No one can make the decision for you, like no one can teach to dance in the rain, It depends on you, you have to teach yourself.

I learnt to find something positive in these obstacles, it took a while but I finally conquered the whole dancing in the rain thing; Or at least I did for a few years. Recent months have shown me that it's something that gets harder to do as the days go on, it gets overshadowed whilst your fighting with the voices in your head....

As you get older your problems get bigger, more important and therefore take longer to go away, longer to solve. Dancing in the rain gets harder to conquer, some days you don't even want to get out of bed and on those days everything ends up going wrong. But the sun still shines and life continues.

I'm not a little girl anymore and my life has changed drastically and continues to do so on a daily basis. But I'm very grateful for those few people I'm blessed to have in my life, whether they are there for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Formula One, not just a mens sport.

Whenever anyone asks me "what's your passion?" I always answer " Formula One". And the amount of times people have looked at me in disgust and said " But your a girl..."
So, what? Is there a law that forbids girls to like Formula One? I think not. And what surprises me more than anything else is that these people actually have no idea about the sport to start with.... But are still willing to criticize the drivers, the cars and the fans.

Last week in Philosophy class, we were talking about being prepared to die and is anyone really ever prepared for the inevitable? Well, my answer was that some people will be more prepared than others. For example I think Formula One drivers, knowing the risks they face every time they get behind the wheel, are more prepared then maybe an artist.

A girl in my class disagreed, nothing new there, and to my horror said that Formula One wasn't a dangerous sport at all, that it's impossible to die out on circuit cause the drivers take no risks.

I then went on to ask her if she had ever seen a F1 race in her life and she said "No..." I preceded to tell her that the driver round a narrow circuit at speed of up to 320 km/h, she continued to disagree with me. Then to my absolute delight 4 other GIRLS in my class turned around and backed me up.

Turns out us 5 girls knew more about F1 than all the boys in our class put together. So before you judge me about liking Formula One make sure you know what you're talking about first. Because Formula One isn't just a mens sport!!