INTERVIEW: IndyCar veteran Simona de Silvestro on her “surreal” Revival debut

It’s safe to say that de Silvestro has repeatedly proven any of her doubters wrong. Starting in single-seaters and competing in Junior Formulae, she impressed from the off through Formula BMW and Formula Toyota Atlantic and was quickly offered an IndyCar Series test, resulting in a full-time drive for the 2010 season where she would be crowned ‘Rookie of the Year’ at the legendary Indy 500 – an event she would later compete at five times. 

A second-placed podium finish in IndyCar followed in 2013 before joining the Sauber F1 team in 2014. In 2015/16, de Silvestro drove regularly in Formula E for Andretti Autosport, and then became the first full-time driver in the demanding V8 Supercars Championship in Australia. In 2019, she secured her career highlight to date, in the face of a plethora of obstacles, by becoming the first female Porsche Factory driver, focusing as a test, development and reserve driver in Formula E.

After that morning’s qualifying session for the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, we delved into what brought her to the Goodwood Revival.

“This is the first time I've raced classic cars actually,” de Silvestro revealed. “It was really interesting learning and pushing the car. At the end of the day it has four wheels, so it sort of makes sense straight away. But it slides much more than anything I've ever driven.”

From the off, her confidence meant de Silvestro’s pace was competitive, placing the 1954 Cooper-Jaguar T33 in eighth place on a 26-car grid full of Goodwood and classic racing veterans. 

“It was the first time this morning going out in the car. I've had no testing. We did a track walk yesterday with Katarina and some of the team. She explained certain aspects of the circuit and how the car handles. I went for it. It was quite surreal, as an experience, because you're driving out there and all of a sudden you're surrounded by all these old cars, you feel like you're in a movie or something.

“You have to really work for the speed here. Getting all the downshifts right. Nowadays you don't need to think about certain aspects of driving all that much, so it was a really cool challenge.”

She recalled the morning’s session with a good-humoured manner and a natural, confident ease, much-like her ‘make the most of every opportunity’ approach to driving that’s stood her in such good stead all these years. That said, de Silvestro’s admitted she was still nervous about stepping into a 1950s sportscar.

“It was good nerves. It's not my car so I had to respect it and the occasion. Everyone is definitely pushing, though. It's really competitive. I was watching before and saw 250 GTOs thrown into that chicane. It was a real 'wow' moment. Pretty scary, but totally amazing.”

The sparkle in her eye nods to an ingrained hustle that all drivers have. But with de Silvestro, you sense this is a person who has a life-long thirst for challenging herself and finding the very outer perimeter of her comfort zone. 

“I always want to do well. I am competitive. Every time I step in a car I want to win. I love competitive sports. Every time I watched the Olympics, I always felt it would be really cool to go there and compete. That’s how my latest crazy idea started.”

What de Silvestro referred to here is her ambition to take on the 2026 Italian Winter Olympics as part of an all-new female-only bobsleigh category, known as monobob. Unlike usual bobsleigh events, where team members divide the vital roles of pushing, driving and breaking among themselves, monobob athletes do it all solo, in a metal missile that must weigh at least 162kg.

“I had to decide what sport could get me there. If you ski, you need to be skiing since you were 3. So I thought maybe driving could relate to bobsleigh. I had that thought ten years ago, but if I want to make it happen, now's the time to get serious about it and see if there's some possibilities.”

“There's definite similarities to driving. But the start is the most important aspect, so that's where I need to put the most work into my training. Speed, power, technique. I've never sprinted in my life. I've been sitting in a race car!” laughed de Silvestro. 

She had a first taste of the sport when she competed at the Swiss championships in March 2022, and is now part of the Italian national team. Her most recent result was eighth in the Europe Cup in Winterberg, Germany, as she continues her mission to quality for next year’s games.

Racing is still the priority, though; de Silvestro’s focus is to once again regularly compete in IndyCar, as well as continuing her commitments with Porsche. In November 2024, she took part in the historic all-female Formula E test, driving for Kiro Race Co.

“Last year [2021] my racing calendar was thin, and then all of a sudden IndyCar comes around again. So now for sure, it's more difficult to do both the driving and monobob, but when one season finishes, the other starts.

“I feel sometimes in racing, it becomes work. The competition, the pressure really takes over and you're in a tunnel. So, driving here today was great, having fun, playing with the car, and just the event’s overall ambiance. Everyone here helps you out and everyone gets on. It's a really cool atmosphere. I feel classic events like this could deliver a really great balance.”

With that outlook, Revival 2022 may well have marked the arrival of a future Goodwood star. When she’s not off chasing Olympic medals, that is.

Main image courtesy of Motorsport Images.