Susie Wolff this week moves a step nearer to racing in a grand prix when she takes the wheel of a Williams in the Young Driver Test at Silverstone.

The Scot, 30, a development driver with the Grove-based team, drives on Friday, with Pastor Maldonado in action on Thursday and Spaniard Daniel Juncadella tomorrow.

The sessions were originally intended solely for young drivers, but adapted to allow race drivers to test Pirelli’s new tyres following recent problems.

She raced in DTM, the German touring car championship, for seven years before quitting the series to concentrate on her work with the British outfit.

Wolff has driven an F1 car in a familiarisation test last October, but this will be her first full test.

She said: “It’s going to be a big challenge, but the most important thing is to do a solid and consistent job and to give good feedback to the team to be able to prove I am at the level to compete on a day such as this.

“Most of my work is based in the simulator, which is why this day is so important. “I am not naive enough to think it will be easy.

“I know it’s going to be a big challenge, but the team have prepared me well and I just need to believe in myself. I will go out there and do the best I can.”

The last woman to enter the F1 world championship was Italian Giovanna Amati, who failed to qualify for three races with Brabham in 1992.

The last woman to race an F1 car was Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976. Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen will also take part in testing on Friday.