Special feature: Women making their mark in F1

(Ben Johnston 2014)

Formula One has long been considered as a male dominated sport both on the driver front and at a management level, however it is fantastic to see that women are making their mark on the sport. In August 2011, the Renault GP team announced that Spanish racing driver Maria De Villota, the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio De Villota had made her Formula One debut testing for the team at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Following her test for Renault Maria joined the Marussia F1 Team in March 2012 where she was going to be given the opportunity to test for the team on a regular basis conducting straight line speed tests. In July, she got her chance to test for the team at Duxford Aerodrome in England, unfortunately however, after conducting a number of runs Maria lost control of the car in damp conditions and as we all know as a result of the accident Maria lost her eye and sadly passed away last year.

Maria was not the only female driver involved in Formula One as in April 2012, the Williams F1 Team announced that they had signed DTM driver Susie Wolff as the team's development driver. After conducting tests in the team's simulator in Grove Susie got her chance to shine last year during the Silverstone Young Driver Test and showed everyone that she is extremely capable of driving an F1 car and also put in very competitive lap times. Following her successful outing with the team Susie has remained in the role of development driver and is currently working towards gaining her FIA Super Licence which would allow her to take part in Formula One weekend's.

This would be absolutely fantastic to see. She has shown that she deserves her chance to race in Formula One and it would be absolutely brilliant to see her on the F1 grid as soon as possible.

In America, Danica Patrick has shown that female drivers can deal with top level motorsport she became the first female racing driver to win a major open wheel race when she Motegi Indy 300 in 2008 for Andretti Autosport and she is now competing in NASCAR.

The management side of the sport has also proven to be a great successful area for women as Monisha Kaltenborn became Formula One's first ever female team boss when she took over the helm at the Sauber F1 Team in 2012. In her first season in charge of the Swiss team Monisha oversaw the team finish in 7th place in Constructors championship with 57 points.

Last year, Sir Frank Williams announced that the Williams board had appointed his daughter Claire to the position of deputy team principal a move which will in time result in her taking over as team boss. Claire has worked her way up the ranks through the Williams Team and has held role's in the team's Communications department which was the perfect place for her to learn the ropes when dealing with the media and with her in the role of deputy team principal the team have welcomed Felipe Massa to the outfit, he will join Valtteri Bottas this season and not only that but the team will also have a supply of Mercedes power units this season. 

The team have all the ingredients that they need to succeed this season with the arrival of Pat Symonds at the team along with a number of other key signing's.

Williams and Sauber aren't the only team's with women in key management positions but the Lotus F1 Team also do as Jenny Moore is the team's Travelling Spare parts co-ordinator and is also involved in the teams pitstop procedures.

It is absolutely fantastic to see that women are doing really well in Formula One and it is now a matter of when will we see a female driver in the sport not if.