Former IndyCar Star and F1 Test Driver Set for Winter Olympics Debut

Former IndyCar driver and Formula 1 test driver Simona de Silvestro will take part in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games for host nation Italy.

De Silvestro achieved a best finish of fourth [St Petersberg, 2011 and NOLA, 2015] across seven years in the IndyCar Series between 2010 and 2022, racing for teams including KV Racing and Andretti Autosport, while also testing for Sauber in F1 and racing for Andretti in Formula E.

But the Swiss-Italian will now take part in the Winter Olympics Bobsleigh event at the Milan-Cortina Games, the opening ceremony for which takes place on Friday, February 6.

"We officially made it, We’re going to the Olympic Games," de Silvestro said in an Instagram post.

"We’re going to the Olympic Games. Proof that a little crazy, mixed with belief, can make the impossible real. It all started with a dream that I wasn’t scared to chase! I cannot wait to represent Italy in Milano Cortina 2026 🇮🇹"

She will race in the monobob and two-person disciplines, having qualified based on results from the 2025-26 Bobsleigh World Cup Season.

De Silvestro sits 28th in the two-woman bob standings, while she is a place higher in the monobob table.

The sliding events at the Winter Olympics will take place at the new Cortina Sliding Center, which was opened only late in 2025 in preparation for the games. The Center is considered a challenge for sliders, with precision needed on the fast hill.

F1 drivers at the Olympics

Current Alpine driver Franco Colapinto competed for Argentina at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in his home country, racing in an e-karting demonstration race. He won alongside teammate Maria Garcia Puig, but no medals were on offer.

The first Thai driver to race in F1, Prince Bira, drove in 19 grands prix between 1950 and 1954 and then went on to represent his country at four Olympic Games in Sailing. Incredibly, he would face another former F1 driver in Roberto Mieres at the Rome 1960 Games, the Argentine having driven in 17 grands prix between 1953 and 1955.

Divina Galicia is one of just five women to race in F1 to this date, but was a successful skier ahead of her debut, competing in three Games between 1964 and 1972. She then returned to the slopes for the 1992 Games at the age of 47.

Ben Pon raced only once in F1 but would become an Olympian at the 1972 Munich Games, finishing 31st in the Skeet Shooting event, while fellow one-and-done racers Bob Said and Robin Widdows took part in Bobsleigh - the latter in 1964 and 1968, the former in 1968 and 1972.

The most famous and successful to have transferred is Alex Zanardi, who raced 44 times in F1 in the 1990s, including for Williams. After a devastating incident during a 2001 CART race at the Lauzitsring in Germany that saw him lose both legs, Zanardi became a gold medalist at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics, winning in para-cycling.

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