Swiss racer Simona De Silvestro’s hopes of becoming the first woman since 1976 to race in Formula One have suffered a setback with the Sauber team ending a testing deal due to lack of funds.

The 26-year-old had been expected to take part in first practice at next month’s US Grand Prix in Austin and had set her sights on a race seat for 2015.

Sauber had said in February, when it was announced that she was joining as an “affiliated driver”, that they intended to support her ambitions.

However, a team spokesman said yesterday De Silvestro’s driving programme had been stopped “due to financial reasons on her side”.

“Everybody in the team who worked with her during the last six months is very disappointed it came to this point, because they liked working with her,” he added of the contractual problems.

Swiss-based Sauber, once a solid midfield team who have yet to score a point in what has become their worst Formula One season, have financial troubles of their own and need their drivers to bring funding with them.

The team said they were looking at other possibilities for De Silvestro.

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