Simona de Silvestro has qualified for the Winter Olympics

The 37-year-old Swiss woman, who also piloted in tests in Formula 1 on behalf of the Sauber team, had announced in 2022 its change of direction, wishing to qualify for the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympic Games, which will begin on February 6, with the opening ceremony.

Competing in bobsleigh to represent the host country, Italy (de Silvestro holds dual nationality), Simona de Silvestro has participated this season in several World Cup events in monobob (a bobsleigh category where the pilot is alone in her sled) and two-person bobsleigh. The competition will begin for Simona de Silvestro on February 15th, with the first monobob races. In this discipline, she has finished on the podium in IndyCar in Houston in 2013, finished second twice in the European Cup this winter.

"I've always been very inspired by the Olympic Games, and about 15 years ago, I thought it would be really great to participate."Simona de Silvestro explained in an interview for the International Bobsleigh Federation. "I watched different sports and I thought that bobsleigh might be the one that would help me achieve my dream of going to the Olympic Games."

The speeds reached (over 100 km/h) and the trajectories refined throughout the descent are all factors that can explain Simona de Silvestro's ability to move seamlessly between two worlds. The development pilot Porsche en Formula E He also draws comparisons with Formula 1.

"I completely agree that bobsleigh is comparable to Formula 1 on ice, because the speed is quite high. You have to be very precise in your driving and it's a lot of fun, because you're on edge, like in a race car."

This is not the first link between bobsleigh and motor racing at the Olympic Games, since between 1994 and 2010, the former driver of NASCAR Geoff Bodine, through his company Bo-Dyn, manufactured the bobsleighs used by American athletes at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Nagano, Salt Lake City, Turin, and Vancouver. The American delegation won two gold medals during this period, both in Bo-Dyn bobsleighs.

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