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After fizzling in F1, de Silvestro seeks a new start

 
Simona de Silvestro is ready to make the most of her chance this weekend in St. Petersburg.
Simona de Silvestro is ready to make the most of her chance this weekend in St. Petersburg.
Published March 28, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — Simona de Silvestro went a long way for very little last year.

This spring she has come a long way back with only this weekend promised to her. But at least she has that.

De Silvestro is at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on a one-race deal with Andretti Autosport after spending 2014 in a mostly futile quest for seat time in Formula One with the Sauber team.

"I think it was the (longest) time I haven't been in a race car in my entire life," de Silvestro said. "You always wonder how it's going to be but usually you pick it up pretty quickly."

The popular Swiss driver, 26, spent three years at IndyCar's HVM Racing, then drove at KV Racing in 2013 before giving F1 a shot. She got some testing time and said she "learned a lot" but she wasn't offered a ride, so she returned from Switzerland for something, anything, that IndyCar could offer.

For now, that's a one-race deal at Andretti to compete in the No. 25 Honda on downtown St. Petersburg's streets, where she finished an impressive fourth in 2011 and qualified third in 2013. She tested at Sebring and said the team has jelled quickly around her.

"I've already put a little bit of pressure on my engineers. I said I qualified third last time (in St. Petersburg) so it's only two more positions. That would be nice."

"She definitely has the talent to drive on street courses," ESPN analyst Eddie Cheever said. "She's definitely done well at St. Pete. … She's strong physically. To carry a car around a place like St. Pete where the walls are just inches away from you all the time, all that heavy braking, you need a certain physical strength."

Team owner Michael Andretti, who said he is trying to put together a deal to have de Silvestro drive in more races for him, said he understands the pressure a driver can feel in such circumstances.

"It's tough," Andretti said. "You have to be careful that you don't put too much pressure on yourself, thinking that if you don't get it done here you're done. We try to tell them that's not the case. My thing is to just go out and have fun. If you're going to have fun doing what you're doing, the results are going to come."

De Silvestro said she is taking a measured approach.

"You can always look at it from two sides," she said. "Yes, it's maybe a little bit more pressure because you only have this race, but I don't think you should go into a race (thinking) like this."

She said her time in F1 was "a good experience for me" to the extent that she was able to live out part of the dream of most aspiring European racers. But that dream ran into harsh economic realities.

"I'm not a victim; I think just that Formula One right now is a lot about money," she said. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to raise that money. There's a lot of really talented drivers out there who are not really getting a shot right now. I think that's what IndyCar is doing right, they are giving the opportunities. That also shows in the racing.

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"A lot of us got promised a lot of things that didn't happen (at Sauber)."

Or as Andretti, who drove in F1 for McLaren in 1993, puts it: "Formula One, they basically got eaten alive when they go over there. Because that's what that sport will do over there."

Would de Silvestro try again?

"I don't know," she said. "F1 is a dream, but I want to be racing. And if I look at the chances I have here, I think I can win in IndyCar. And now I have a team that really wants me, and I think we can build something.

"My goal is to be here at Andretti. Hopefully this weekend goes very well so that things keep rolling."