Female drivers in Formula One
Formula One F1 – Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco, Monaco – May 22, 2025 General view of the F1 logo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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LONDON, Aug 10 : It is 50 years since a female driver last competed in Formula One, with Italian Maria Grazia “Lella” Lombardi finishing 12th in the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg’s old Oesterreichring on August 15, 1976.
The following looks at the involvement of women in grand prix racing since the world championship started in 1950:
• Two women have raced in the Formula One championship, both were Italian and neither is alive today. Maria Teresa de Filippis started three races in 1958-59 and Lombardi raced in 1975 and 1976 after failing to qualify in 1974.
• Lombardi made 12 starts and scored a half point for sixth, when points were awarded only to the top six, in a shortened Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Montjuic circuit in 1976. No woman has scored a full point in Formula One.
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• South African Desire Wilson is the only woman to win a Formula One race, a non-championship round of a British Aurora series held at Brands Hatch in 1980. She failed to qualify for that year’s championship race at the same circuit.
• British skier Divina Galica failed to qualify for three grands prix in 1976. That year’s British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch remains the last at which multiple women (Galica and Lombardi) entered.
• Italian Giovanna Amati failed to qualify for three races for Brabham in 1992 and was replaced by Britain’s future world champion Damon Hill. The team folded that season.
• Several teams have had female test and development drivers. Former IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher did a demonstration run for McLaren at the 2002 U.S. Grand Prix while Susie Wolff drove for Williams in first practice for the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
• Spaniard Maria de Villota was a Marussia test driver who died in 2013 after a crash the year before. In 2014 Sauber hired Swiss racer Simona de Silvestro as an affiliated driver while Lotus signed Spaniard Carmen Jorda in 2015.
• Colombian Tatiana Calderon tested with Sauber in 2018. Britain’s Jamie Chadwick has been a development driver for Williams while Britain’s Jessica Hawkins, at Aston Martin, and French racer Doriane Pin, with Mercedes, have tested F1 cars.
Source: Reuters
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