Simona de Silvestro finished second at the Houston Grand Prix, the third to last race of the 2013 IndyCar season, and stormed into the KV Racing truck to confront the owners.

“Me! You need to hire me!” the Swiss racer told her bosses. They were seeking a replacement for Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who had formally announced one day earlier he was leaving the team. De Silvestro was not on the short list for his seat.

She finished the next two races with KV Racing – her one and only season with the team – and then her four-year IndyCar run was over. She made three starts in 2015 driving for Michael Andretti, and was the only woman in last year’s Indianapolis 500, driving for the all-female Paretta Autosport team.

The road back to a regular ride has been long and winding, and de Silvestro will make her first IndyCar start of the season on Sunday at Road America in Wisconsin. It’s the first of three races Paretta Autosport plans to enter this season, and de Silvestro will join Tatiana Calderon in the field to give IndyCar two women entering multiple events for the first time since 2013.

“It’s a shame it was a long period the last couple of years that we hadn’t had somebody in the top level of single-seaters,” said Calderon, who will make her fifth start of the season for A.J. Foyt Racing. The Colombian’s best finish was 15th on the road course at Indianapolis; she only competes on the road and street courses.

“There are females that can compete against men in a very competitive championship,” she continued. “I hope that together we can keep that momentum going and to see more females.”

De Silvestro can’t help but reflect on what might have been if funding and the politics of racing had been a little different in 2013. Her lowest finish in the final nine races of that season was 14th and she closed with five consecutive top-10s. In the final point standings, she was 13th – wedged between Sebastien Bourdais, the driver who did replace Kanaan at KV Racing, and Josef Newgarden, who was in his second season of IndyCar and on his way to stardom.

“In racing, definitely money makes a big difference,” said de Silvestro, who is 33. “In ’13, I finished in front of Josef in the championship. He ended up going to Penske and then won the championship two times. You need to get the right shot. You need to get people behind you who really want to support you.

“I think as a female driver, we do get the opportunities, but I think also sometimes it’s really quick when we have a bit of a bad season. The support then isn’t really right away. I think with some guys, they get more chances at it.”

FORMULA ONE: Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the day in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, Azebaijan as he aims to turn around his recent run of disappointing race results, after Sergio Pérez led the first session.

Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari with a lap of 1 minute 43.224 seconds in the second session, .248 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and .356 faster than championship leader Max Verstappen. Fernando Alonso was fourth for Alpine and Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz fifth.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was 12th fastest, five places behind his Mercedes teammate George Russell.

• Former world champion Nico Rosberg has not been allowed to enter the Formula One paddock this season because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

Rosberg has been working as a commentator and pundit on TV after he won the F1 title in 2016 with Mercedes and retired from racing shortly thereafter.

Rules for this season issued by F1’s governing body, the FIA, require anyone entering the paddock, where the teams are based, to be fully vaccinated or hold a medical exemption. The rules apply to team members, journalists and other staff.