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Jess Hawkins becomes the first woman to test an F1 car since 2018 following her drive of the AMR21 at the Hungaroring.
Having joined Aston Martin in 2021, Jess Hawkins finally completed her first F1 outing last week. Image Credit: AstonMartinF1.comJess Hawkins has made history after she test-drove the AMR21 at the Hunagroring last week. This outing has made her the first woman to drive an F1 car since 2018. She shared testing duties with F2 champion Felipe Drugovich.
Speaking about the achievement, Hawkins discussed the hard work she put in to reach this milestone moment.
“I want to say a big thank you to everyone at AMF1 Team for having the trust in me, believing in me, and for giving me this opportunity. It’s taken me every bit of blood, sweat and tears to get here.”
“When I first heard it might be a possibility, I could hardly believe it.”
“I’ve had to keep it secret for months now – which was pretty hard!”
“It’s been absolutely worth it and it’s given me really valuable insight. Nothing will compare to the acceleration and braking of a Formula One car and, having looked at the data, I’m really proud of my performance.”
The team’s thoughts
Mike Krack, Team Principal at Aston Martin, was signing the 28-year-old’s praises when asked about the testing day.
“We were really impressed by Jessica’s preparation for the test. She worked incredibly hard with our simulator team and that made it an easy decision to put her in the AMR21.”
“Jessica approached the opportunity with great maturity; she was up to speed quickly and found a nice rhythm
Robert Sattler, director of Aston Martin’s F1 Evolution Programme, was also very complimentary.
“Jessica excelled in her first F1 test. After the installation lap we had a small delay as the circuit was hit by heavy rain. That resulted in a green track and on her first proper run there were still some damp patches in a few corners.”
“Jessica progressively built up speed on a tricky track while managing flawlessly the complexity of the AMR21 car.”
Not only was Sattler impressed with Hawkins’ driving but also her ability to feedback to the team.
“Her feedback was precise and correlated with our data. After three runs, the track had dried and she was already matching the reference lap speeds.”
Aston Martin is aiming to join F1 Academy in 2024, the all-female support series. Hawkins is supporting the team in their endeavour to join the competition. The completion of this test is one of a number of crucial steps in her work with the team.
Feature Image Credit: AstonMartinF1.com
