Desiré Wilson

Desiré Randall Wilson (born 26 November 1953) is a former racing driver from South Africa and one of only five women to have competed in Formula One.

In 1967, at the age of twelve, Wilson came second in the South African nationals, driving midget cars.

By 1972, she had made her full racing debut and was fourth in her first season of the South African Formula Vee Championship.

After two more seasons on the Formula Vee circuit, finishing 4th and 2nd respectively, Wilson decided to pursue the international acclaim associated with Formula One.

She won the South African Formula Ford Championship in 1975 and defended the title the following season, as well as securing the "Driver to Europe" award.

As a result, Wilson moved to Europe for the 1977 season, competing mainly in Formula Ford 2000 races, in the Benelux and British Championships, where she finished third and fourth respectively, winning races at Zandvoort and Colmar-Berg.

Since 1978, Desiré Wilson has been recognised as the most accomplished female racing driver in the world.

To date, she is the only woman to have been licensed to drive in a CART Indycars event, as well as holding a FIA Super Licence, which enabled her to race at the highest level, FIA Formula One World Championship.

She took another huge step forward in 1978, racing a Formula One March 751, updated to 761 specifications.

After impressing many team bosses, she signed up to race in the Aurora AFX F1 Championship for Mario Deliotti Racing.

Driving their Cosworth-powered Ensign N175, her best finish was a third place at the Thruxton Circuit.

As her knowledge of the European tracks improved, so did her results.

In 1979, she became the first woman to lead an F1 race.

She headed the field at Zolder for Melchester Racing, in their Tyrrell 008, although she spun in the wet on the penultimate lap, but fought back to finish third, whilst claiming the fastest lap of the race.

In addition, Wilson took three more 3rd places at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Thruxton.

She ended the season in 7th place.

Born in Brakpan, she entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1980 with a non-works RAM Racing-prepared Williams FW07, but failed to qualify.

She became the only woman to win a Formula One race of any kind when she won at Brands Hatch in the short-lived British Aurora F1 Championship in 1980.

As a result of this achievement, she has a grandstand at Brands Hatch named after her.

Following her attempts in Formula One, Wilson participated in other disciplines including CART and sports car racing.

In 1980, she won both the Monza 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hours World Championship for Makes races, thereby becoming the first female to have outright victories in any FIA World Championship race.

1980 was to be her big year, although it started sponsor-less, racing Formula Pacific in New Zealand.

Teddy Yip and his Theodore Racing team came to her rescue, giving her a Wolf WR4 for the Aurora series.

Yip's faith was repaid by round two, when Wilson won the Evening News Trophy at Brands Hatch, beating Norman Dickson and Eliseo Salazar.

In doing so, she became the first woman, and so far the only woman to win an F1 race.

She recorded two more podium finishes, a fine 2nd place at Thruxton and a 3rd at Mallory Park, before her team ran out of money.

Her successes did not stop there in 1980, when she formed a partnership with Alain de Cadenet and shared the driving duties of his De Cadenet LM1.

After an impressive outing where the pair took third in the Brands Hatch 1000km, the pair went on the win both the Monza 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hours races.

Desiré's victories drew the attention of John Macdonald and his F1 RAM Racing team.

During a private test at Brands Hatch, driving a year-old Williams FW07, things looked promising, where she was twelfth overall.

However, by the weekend of the British Grand Prix, the car had been replaced with an inferior model, which she had been beaten in several times in the Aurora AFX series.

The car lacked aerodynamics modifications, and her lack of experience at this level meant she did not qualify.

She also raced in the 1981 non-world championship South African Grand Prix in a one off deal with Tyrrell Racing.

This race was not part of the 1981 world championship due, in part, to the FISA–FOCA war.

In 1982, Wilson entered the Indianapolis 500, but failed to qualify.

She did not qualify for 1983 and 1984 Indy 500s either.

She is married to fellow South African and road course architect Alan Wilson.

Whilst racing F1, she still drove a Lola T490 in the British Sports 2000 Championship, despite it being a minor national championship.

She continued to race in Sports 2000, finishing third in the championship with her Lola.

She qualified 16th and, after a disastrous start where the car stalled, she moved up through the field in wet conditions; as conditions dried she fell back and damaged the car when it touched a wall while she was letting the race leader through.