Modern F1 cars are so difficult, so physically grueling to handle, they say, that you need to be in peak physical condition to actually drive one. So could a 79-year-old lady manage the task?
As it turns out, yes. But not just any old lady. As part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, the Renault Sport team invited veteran rally driver Rosemary Smith to climb behind the cockpit of one of its F1 cars, and she seems to have risen to the task with grace and poise.
The Irishwoman trained as a seamstress and opened her own dress shop in Dublin decades ago, but got her first taste of motorsport when a client asked her to navigate in a rally. She evidently found her calling, switched to driving, and started competing regularly, winning events like the 1965 Tulip Rally in the Netherlands.
These days Rosemary runs a driving school – using Renault Clios – and campaigns for young driver education in her home country. And with a little help from the Renault racing driver Joylon Palmer, she climbed into what appears to be a 2013 Lotus-Renault E21 (repainted in the team's current livery) and deployed its 800 horsepower around the Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France, where Robert Kubica is getting back up to speed as well.
“Driving an 800bhp car is something I, like many other racers, have always dreamt of but I didn’t think I’d ever have the opportunity to do it, so when the team at Renault UK contacted me I jumped at the chance. It was definitely very different to the rally cars I’m used to but was an amazing experience,” said Rosemary. “It just goes to show that anyone can fulfil their dreams at any age if they put their mind to it and always follow their passions.”
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