It's great news for females in motorsport that Susie Wolff will take part in two Formula 1 practice sessions for Williams this year.

She will test for the Grove-based team in free practice 1 at the British and German Grand Prixs. The last woman to race in an F1 car was Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976.

Meanwhile, it is less than a month until the start of the Formula 1 season and so far, the pre-season testing has been interesting.

All the teams have frantically been trying to get their cars sorted for the first race, which is in Australia on March 16.

For the last four years, Red Bull have won the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

However, is that set to change this season?

They appear to be having problems with reliability and Renault’s new turbo hybrid engine is lagging behind Mercedes and Ferrari, having completed only one-third of track time compared to their closest rivals.

Red Bull’s fastest test lap in the week of February 17 was six seconds off the pace set by Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

Saying this, all teams seem to be struggling with the new turbo engines – and adapting to the new fuel restrictions is also proving to be a problem.

Races have to be raced on no more than 100kg of fuel, and McLaren have also shown some promising form.

Last week was the first time we saw the new Lotus E22 hit the track, with Romain Grosjean not having as much time as he would have liked behind the wheel.