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This is a list of female motor racing drivers who have taken part in the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the World Championship for Drivers in 1950.
Five women racing drivers have entered at least one Grand Prix, although only two of them ever qualified and started a race. The woman who competed in the most Grands Prix is Lella Lombardi, with 17 entries and 12 starts.
Desiré Wilson became the only woman to win a Formula One race of any kind when she won at Brands Hatch in the British Aurora F1 championship on 7 April 1980. As a result of this achievement, she has a grandstand at Brands Hatch named after her. [1]
The involvement of women in Formula One was pioneered by Italian Maria Teresa de Filippis who entered five races in the 1958 and 1959 seasons [2] and started three [2] scoring a best result of tenth position in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix. [3] [4] In the following race in France, the race director denied her involvement, saying that "the only helmet that a woman should use is the hairdresser". [5] [6] Maria ended her career at the Monaco Grand Prix the following year.
After fifteen years without any women in the category, another Italian, Lella Lombardi, competed in three seasons, from 1974 to 1976. Lombardi entered seventeen races and started twelve, having her best result in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix where she finished sixth. With the race being stopped before three quarters of the scheduled race distance was completed, only half points were awarded. Lombardi became the first and so far only woman to score points in the World Championship. [7] [8] [9] [10]
In 1976 the Briton Divina Galica tried to qualify for the British Grand Prix. This was the only Formula One Grand Prix in which multiple female racers (Lombardi and Galica) were entered, but both failed to qualify. [8] [10] [11] [12]
In 1980, the South African Desiré Wilson tried to qualify for the British Grand Prix, not succeeding. In the same year she became the only woman to win a Formula One race of any kind when she won at Brands Hatch in the British Aurora F1 championship on 7 April 1980. As a result of this achievement, Wilson has a grandstand at Brands Hatch named after her. [1] [13]
The last woman to drive in a Formula One Grand Prix event was former F3000 driver Italian Giovanna Amati who was signed to Brabham at the beginning of the 1992 season. She failed to qualify for three races in which she was entered. She was replaced by Damon Hill, who also failed to qualify the same car in 6 out of the 8 following races he entered. Brabham lead driver that season was Eric Van De Poele who only managed to qualify once and after 11 races the team folded. [14] [15] [16]
Drivers listed in this table are those who have entered a Grand Prix. Actual starts are stated in brackets.
# | Name | Seasons | Teams | Entries (starts) | Points |
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1 | Maria Teresa de Filippis | 1958–1959 | Maserati, Behra-Porsche | 5 (3) | 0 |
2 | Lella Lombardi | 1974–1976 | March, RAM, Williams | 17 (12) | 0.5 |
3 | Divina Galica | 1976, 1978 | Surtees, Hesketh | 3 (0) | – |
4 | Desiré Wilson | 1980 | Williams | 1 (0) | – |
5 | Giovanna Amati | 1992 | Brabham | 3 (0) | – |
Some female drivers have participated in non-competition testing and evaluation sessions with Formula One teams. IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher performed a demonstration run with McLaren after first practice for the 2002 United States Grand Prix. [17] Katherine Legge tested with Minardi at the Vallelunga Circuit in 2005. [18]
Other female drivers have been contracted to Formula One teams in testing and development capacities. In 2012, Williams signed Susie Wolff as a development and test driver. Two years later, Wolff became the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years, when she participated in the first practice session at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone; [19] the previous time being in 1992, when Giovanna Amati who was the official Brabham team driver alongside Eric van der Poele, made three unsuccessful Grand Prix qualification attempts. Van der Poele and later Damon Hill, Amatis replacement only managed to qualify the uncompetitive Brabham 3 times out of 18 attempts and the team folded after 11 races. [20] [21] María de Villota, the daughter of Spanish Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, was hired as a test driver for Marussia [22] until her crash in 2012 at the Duxford Aerodrome during a straightline test. De Villota died from her injuries the following year. [23] In 2014, Sauber signed IndyCar Series driver Simona de Silvestro as an "affiliated driver", with the goal of having her compete in 2015. [24] In 2015 Lotus F1 signed Carmen Jordá to a deal including a run in a car. [25]
Sauber signed Colombian driver Tatiana Calderón as development driver for 2017. [26] Calderón was promoted from her development driver role to test driver for the 2018 season, and tested an F1 car for the first time with Sauber in Mexico in October 2018. [27] [28]
In 2019, Williams Driver Academy signed leading W Series contender Jamie Chadwick as a development driver for the Williams F1 team. [29] Chadwick later won the 2019 W Series championship, the 2021 W Series championship and the 2022 W Series championship, and continues as a Williams development driver in 2022. [30]
In September 2023, Aston Martin driver ambassador Jessica Hawkins tested a 2021-spec F1 car at the Hungaroring. [31]
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in 1950. The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s, before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s. This engine was the result of a deal between BMW and Brabham, which resulted in the team's chassis being powered by BMW engines from 1982 until 1987, a period in which Nelson Piquet won the 1983 championship driving a Brabham BT52-BMW. BMW also supplied the M12/13 on a customer basis to the ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier teams during this period, with various degrees of success. In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team under the Megatron badge. Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Technical Regulations for 1989, rendering the M12/13 obsolete.
The 1975 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 1 March 1975. It was race 3 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 21st South African Grand Prix since the first Grand Prix was held in 1934 and the ninth to be held at Kyalami just outside Johannesburg. It was held over 78 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 320 kilometres.
Emilio de Villota Ruíz is a former racing driver from Spain, born in Madrid. He entered 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix between 1976 and 1982, qualifying twice. He entered most Spanish Grand Prix between 1976 and 1982 and became a major force in the short-lived Aurora AFX Formula One Championship for F1 cars, winning the title in 1980.
Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female driver who scored points in Formula One.
Maria Teresa de Filippis was an Italian racing driver, and the first woman to race in Formula One. She participated in five World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1958, but scored no championship points. Though her Formula One racing career was brief, she won races in other series and is remembered as a pioneer in the sport.
Robert Józef Kubica is a Polish racing and rally driver, competing for AF Corse in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. He previously competed for Team WRT where he won the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class. He was the first and, as of 2024, only Polish racing driver to compete and win a race in Formula One.
Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993. Sauber operated under their own name from 1993 until 2005 and from 2011 until 2018. They were known as BMW Sauber from 2006 to 2010 and as Alfa Romeo from 2019 to 2023 in partnership deals with BMW and Alfa Romeo respectively. Sauber returned in 2024 as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and is set to be the Audi works team from 2026 onwards, with the German outfit planning to acquire the Swiss team.
Giedo Gijsbertus Gerrit van der Garde is a Dutch former racing driver, who last competed in the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship for TDS Racing. From 2018 to 2021 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Racing Team Nederland in the LMP2 class. He is best known for driving in Formula 1 for the Caterham F1 team in 2013 and joining Sauber as a reserve driver in 2014.
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. In doing so, Vettel became the youngest World Drivers' Champion in the 61-year history of the championship. Vettel's victory in the championship came after a dramatic season finale at Abu Dhabi where three other drivers could also have won the championship – Vettel's Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing, Super Formula for Kids com Team KCMG, and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 50 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing. He also serves as team principal for Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe for their FIA World Endurance Championship team. Kobayashi previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the GP2 Asia Series. He became champion of the FIA World Endurance Championship alongside co-drivers Mike Conway and José María López in the 2019–20 season and in 2021, where he also won the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British motor racing company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth. Manor has participated as a team in many motorsport disciplines since its inception, including Formula One.
Charles Pic is a French retired professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for two full seasons in 2012 and 2013, racing for Marussia F1 Team in the first season and then for Caterham in the second season.
María de Villota Comba was a Spanish racing driver who competed in Superleague Formula and Euroseries 3000. She had an accident in straight-line testing as the Marussia Formula One team test driver, where she suffered serious head and facial injuries, and died one year later.
Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Nasr is a Brazilian racing driver. He is a 2 time IMSA Sportscar champion and won the 2019 12 Hours of Sebring. Nasr also won the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche Penske.
Tatiana Calderón Noguera is a Colombian racing driver currently competing in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship driving for Gradient Racing. Calderón previously drove for the Drago Corse with ThreeBond squad in the Super Formula Championship and for Richard Mille Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Marussia F1 Team was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and competed with a Russian licence from 2012 to 2014 and a British licence in 2015. The team was operated by Manor Motorsport, which was previously a subsidiary of Marussia Motors, a now defunct sports car manufacturer which was based in Moscow. The team originally started racing in 2010 under the "Virgin Racing" name; the following year Virgin adopted Marussia as a title sponsor becoming "Marussia Virgin Racing" until being fully rebranded as the "Marussia F1 Team" for 2012.
There have been fifteen Formula One drivers from Spain, the most successful of them being Fernando Alonso who won the World Drivers' Championship twice. Alonso is the only Spanish champion and one of only two Spanish drivers to win a Grand Prix, the other being Carlos Sainz Jr. Two other Spanish drivers have achieved a podium with Pedro de la Rosa and Alfonso de Portago having taken one apiece.
Antonio Maria Giovinazzi is an Italian racing driver who currently competes in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship driving for Ferrari – AF Corse. He was the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and raced with Prema in the 2016 GP2 Series, again finishing runner-up with five wins and eight overall podiums. Giovinazzi made his competitive debut for Sauber at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, replacing the injured Pascal Wehrlein. He also replaced Wehrlein at the following Chinese Grand Prix as Wehrlein continued his recovery. Giovinazzi raced full time for Alfa Romeo Racing from 2019 to 2021. During his tenure for Ferrari AF Corse, he won the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
There have been seventeen Formula One racing drivers from the Netherlands who have taken part in Grand Prix races since 1952. Max Verstappen is the most successful Dutch driver to date, as the only one to have won a Formula One World Championship, to have won a race, or to have taken a pole position.
The 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 68th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 65th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars, recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The season commenced in Australia on 16 March and concluded in Abu Dhabi on 23 November. In the nineteen Grands Prix of the season, a total of eleven teams and twenty-four drivers competed for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships. The season was the first Formula One season since 1994 to see an accident with fatal consequences as Jules Bianchi died on 17 July 2015 after spending nine months in a coma following a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.