Susie Wolff, Next Female Formula One Driver?

As a female Formula One fan I am sick of hearing comments, usually from men,  about female racing drivers, that they are not strong enough, that they shouldn’t be allowed to race, that female drivers cause too many accidents on track, but the comment that annoys me the most has to be: “No woman will ever drive in modern F1” WHAT??? WHY NOT?? We can driver just as well as the men!

Susie Wolff is a Scottish racing driver. She has progressed through the ranks of motorsport, starting off in karting, then moving up to Formula Renault and Formula Three before moving to the DTM to compete for Mercedes-Benz. In 2012, she was signed by the Williams Formula One team to work as a development driver.

1996 she was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year. In 1997, she competed in a number of different karting categories and came out on top in a number of them.

In 2001 Wolff made the step up from kart racing to single-seater racing. Her first experience was in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series, in which she raced for the Motaworld Racing team. In 2004 she competed in her third season in the Formula Renault UK Championship, this time racing for the Comtec Racing team and she finished 5th overall in the championship with 3 podium finishes during the year.

For 2005, Wolff made the step up to the British Formula Three Championship to race for the Alan Docking Racing team in the Championship Class, but her season was disrupted by an ankle injury sustained during the winter. She also made a one-off appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch in June.

In 2006 Wolff made the big step up to compete in the DTM, the German Touring Car series, one of the biggest Touring Car championships in the world. In her debut season she achieved a best finish of 9th overall in the final round of the season at the Hockenheimring. She remained in DTM until 2012.

After leaving DTM Susie became a development driver for the Williams Formula One team. And last summer Wolff got to drive in the Young Drivers test. She later stated:  “A lot of people were waiting for me to fail when I did the Young Driver Test at Silverstone last summer. They suspected I wouldn’t be strong enough to drive more than 10 laps or that I would be three seconds off the pace of my team-mate.” But Susie tested for 89 laps and was only nine-tenths of a second slower than team mate Pastor Maldonado, who had won the Barcelona Gran Prix.

So why can’t Susie Wolff drive in Formula One in the future? She’s already proven that she’s a great driver; she’s fast, determined and a real racer.  Has the world really gone back to the medieval frame of mind that women should be in the kitchen?

 These female racers are an inspiration for young girl who dream of racing.  Yes, females will always get stick for racing, but people need to realise that that won’t make them give up, they will continue following their dream just like any other human being! And why shouldn’t they?

People are very quick to judge drivers, especially female drivers; “Oh, she hasn’t achieved a podium finish yet” No maybe she hasn’t but you all seem to forget to mention that she has beat however many cars it is that particular race, all driven by males, to the finish line, so no she wasn’t on the podium but she didn’t finish last.

In the near future a woman will be back in Formula One, achieving that dream shared by thousands of little girls. And my money is on Susie Wolff. You show them girl!

 

A tribute to María De Villota

María de Villota Comba (13 January 1980 – 11 October 2013) was a Spanish racing driver. She was the daughter of former Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, and sister of Emilio de Villota, Jr.

De Villota was born in Madrid. She competed in numerous racing series, including the World Touring Car Championship and ADAC Procar Series. In 2005 she also competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race.

On 18 August 2011, the Lotus Renault GP team confirmed reports that de Villota had made her Formula One test debut in a Renault R29 at the Paul Ricard Circuit, and that her management was in talks to secure her a test driver seat in the future.
On 7 March 2012, it was announced that María de Villota had joined Marussia F1 Team as a test driver, with the opportunity to sample Formula One machinery later in the year.

At approximately 09:30 on 3 July 2012, de Villota was involved in a testing accident at Duxford Aerodrome whilst carrying out straight-line testing for Marussia; her first time in the car. Her car collided with a stationary truck at the end of a test run, it took paramedics over an hour to remove her from the wrecked car. The motoring world along with millions of fans held their breath waiting to hear news about María's well being. The next day we were all informed that María was stable but had lost her right eye, but she still remained upbeat, even joking with doctors about the lose of her eye; "Tell me doctor, do you need both your hand to preform an operation? Well I need both my eyes to race, so you better fix it"
After 17 days in hospital she returned to her home in Spain to help recover from her neurological damage. Over the next few months the millions of fans cheered her on, sent her messages of support and motivation. Then last October she made her first public appearance since the accident and left us all gobsmacked. She looked beautiful, she had this new vision of life, an true inspiration.

At the beginning of this Formula One season María teamed up with Spanish Aterna3 and before every race gave us a lesson on car safety not only F1 but road cars, her mission was to save as many lives as possible.

Today, the 11th of October, we were all shocked by the tragic news that Villota's body had been found in her hotel room.
The whole racing community, drivers and fans, come together to send prayer and condolences to her family.

R.I.P María de Villota, A true smile, a true racer, a true inspiration and a true zest for life. Gone but never forgotten. A little piece of blue sky by day and the brightest star at night.

One extra Chromosome, No difference!

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is typically associated with physical growth delays, a particular set of facial characteristics and a mild degree of intellectual disability.

Down syndrome is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. It  can be identified in a new-born by direct observation or in a fetus by prenatal screening. Sadly nearly 93% of pregnancies with this diagnosis are terminated. But why?

The first time I had any contact with Down syndrome was when I was 7 years old, in my first year of Junior School, I remember the whole year like it was yesterday.  On my first day I got sat next a boy called Aaron and he happened to have Downs,  but to be perfectly honest I didn’t know he was any different to me or the rest of my classmates. Yes he went to a main stream school and why shouldn’t he? Aaron was better at maths then the whole class, he could read and write just as well as the rest of us, to me he was just the same as everyone else. Over the next few weeks we became good friends. But no everyone saw him like I did, older boys would laugh at him and call him names and I didn’t understand why.  So just before Christmas break, when I came out of school and my mum asked if I had a good day I blurted out “Some boys were calling Aaron names” She told me that Aaron's mum was telling her about it while they were waiting for the bell to ring. I asked her “why? It makes me sad”  mum explained to me that Aaron was a little different from the other kids and when I asked her what she meant she replied “Don’t you think he looks a bit different from everyone else?” I stopped to think before replying “But we ALL look different, NONE of us look the same…”  Without another word mum hugged me, no words needed to be exchanged, she knew I understood. So from then on Aaron and I were inseparable, we were best friends, I stood up for him and he stood up for me. He taught me that we are all the same. He laughed, spoke, cried, joked and had moody days just like the rest of us.

Society’s attitude towards Down syndrome is starting to change, and it’s for the better, we are starting to see the world through their eyes. Society doesn’t put them down as much, we no longer have the “they are doomed” or  “ Poor kid, won’t do very well in life” attitude,  words that used to make my blood boil, It drove me mad, why did society insist on giving these children such negative labels? Why couldn’t they see that they are beautiful individuals, capable of doing like the rest of us, yes maybe with a bit more help, but if they are determined to do something they are capable of reaching their goal. These kids aren’t stupid, they are highly intelligent! But like I said that is starting to change, just the other day I was in the town and I saw a beautiful little girl with Downs walking around wearing a T-shirt that said: KEEP CALM, IT’S JUST AND EXTRA CHROMOSOME!” She was so proud of her T-shirt, I just wanted to hug her!

Another amazing example of how much people with Down syndrome can achieve is a gorgeous little girl named Natty, she reminded me of how much someone can achieve and how life will smile back if you smile at it. Natty is main streamed and loves to write, she is also a model, has been on TV, gossip magazines and in fashion catalogues! Its amazing how this one little girl can be such an inspiration to so many!

A special thank you to Aaron and Natty for reminding me that Beauty comes in many shape and sizes and to never give up.

Also thank you to everyone reading, and guys just remember apart form that tiny extra chromosome they are exactly the same as the rest of us.