Just moments before the start of the French GP a Saudi woman, Aseel Al-Hamad, cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd, made history by driving a lap of the Paul Ricard circuit at the wheel of the Lotus Renault E20, the very same one that Kimi Raikkonen drove to victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2012.

The FIA, Renault and track driver Aseel Al-Hamad took this initiative to celebrate the lifting of the women driving ban in the Arab country. The French constructor which invited Al-Hamad to perform the honorary lap declared: “Renault and F1 are proud to enable Aseel to pursue the passion for motorsports she has cultivated over the years, at the same moment women are able to drive on the roads of Saudi Arabia.”

Aseel Al-Hamad, a keen pilot and successful businesswoman has driven in some of the most famous circuits in the world but this was her first time on board an F1 car. The pioneer is also a member of the Motorsports Federation in Saudi Arabia as well as a representative for the Commission of Women in the Sport of the FIA. In her country, she promotes the recruitment and education of women in motorsports.

The past 24th of June came into place the lift on the ban that forbade women to drive in Saudi Arabia, the last country in the world to have such discriminatory law. The absolutist regime of King Salman bin Abdulaziz decreed the lift last September as part of a pack of measures to modernise the country and according to the Saudi government 120.000 women have already started the paperwork to obtain their license. This gesture from Renault and the FIA is not only a celebration of this milestone but a powerful message to the opening of the F1 to women in which today are a considerable minority.

Jean Todt, the FIA president who was in the circuit at the time and published a photograph of himself with Aseel in his Twitter account declared this to be a great step forward, not only for the rights and mobility of Saudi women but for “women in motorsports in general which calls for more”.

Similarly the Saudi driver has vowed to become an ambassador for women in her country who want to pursue a career in motorsports, a sport in which there are not male and female categories and both men and women can compete on equal terms: “What I am looking forward to the most is to watch a new generation of young girls starting up in motorsports” Aseel declare to the media.

Despite this being a great step in the fight for female rights, Amnesty International reminds us that eight women driving activists remain in jail at Saudi prisons today.

(photo) www.renaultsport.com