RIYADH – Aseel Al-Hamad drove a Renault Formula One car around the FrenchGrand Prix circuit in front of thousands of fans on Sunday and declared thestart of a new era for Saudi women in motorsport.

The lap of Le Castellet’s Paul Ricard track, in a race-winning 2012 LotusRenault E20, came on the day a ban ended on female drivers getting behindthe wheel on the Gulf kingdom’s roads.

“I believe today is not just celebrating the new era of women starting todrive, it’s also the birth of women in motorsport in Saudi Arabia,” shetold Reuters. “The most important thing I am looking forward to is to startseeing the next generation, young girls, trying (motorsport). I want towatch them training and taking the sport very seriously as a career. Thisis going to be really my biggest achievement.”

Sunday was not the first time Al-Hamad had driven a Formula One car, theSaudi interior designer and businesswoman trying out the same one at thecircuit on June 5 as part of a familiarisation day. But that was private,whereas Sunday was very public as part of a parade of the Frenchmanufacturer’s historic racing cars to mark the return of Formula One toFrance after a 10 year absence.

The car took 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, now at Ferrari, to victoryin Abu Dhabi in November 2012. “It was perfect. Everything was smooth, Ifelt I belong in the seat,” she said afterwards. “I loved the fact thatthere was an audience around…today is magical.”