Silvia Bellot receives Outstanding Official Award at the FIA prize ceremony 2012 – Formula 1 news
Silvia Bellot, who is the first graduate from the FIA’s steward training programme, received the Outstanding Official Award at the FIA’s prize giving gala held last week in Istanbul.
Bellot talked about her inspiration of motorsports and how she got involved with F1 while being present at the paddock during the Brazilian GP of this past season.
“My father has been involved in motorsport all his life, so I grew up inside this world,” Bellot told. “My father used to work in rallies, but I prefer Formula One.”
Bellot admitted that she has been interested in her current job since she was very young.
“I started when I was 16,” she explains. “I took my exams to be a marshal, and then when I was 18 I started to steward. So it's been a long time. I tried to race cars when I was younger, but my mother said no. She said 'you can be involved as a steward,
but not as a driver!’ My mother was really worried about the cars and everything.”
Even though Bellot is still just 25 years old, she has already achieved significant success in the field of motorsports. She has remained the permanent chairman of stewards at the European F3 Open and Spanish Endurance Championships. She has also been the
permanent steward of GT Open International Championship.
In 2009, trainee F1 stewards were suggested to attend at least one Grand Prix and observe before they become an active steward at a race.
Talking about her own experience in training, Bellot told that after she spent some time observing, she attended GP2 and GP3 which must have helped her learn a lot as she is standing in F1 today. She said that each race experience is different and you always
learn something new. She admitted that she wants to attend every race but then there are too many stewards.
The role of the race stewards is a significant one in F1 as they have been provided with various technologies to make their work easier. The newest technology was introduced in the recently ended season where race stewards can now obtain real time telemetry
from the cars.
Bellot’s success in F1 is a rare incident since women have not remained very significant in the field of motorsports.
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