Breaking the formula: The five women who competed in F1
- Bo Helmus
- 3d
- 11 min read
Written by Bo Helmus, Edited by Meghana Sree
In honour of International Women’s Day, we take a look at the five women who have competed in Formula One through the years. Who were these individuals who rose above the standards and defied all odds to reach the pinnacle of motorsport?
Maria Teresa de Filippis, Lella Lombardi, Divina Galica, Desiré Wilson and Giovanna Amati came from different backgrounds, but have one thing in common: they are so far the only women that have competed in F1. To commemorate International Women’s Day, we revisit the courageous journeys of these drivers who paved the way for future generations and representation in the sport.
To this day, motorsports remains a field dominated by men. Most high-ranked positions in F1 are filled up by men and it shows on the employee stats too. According to the Gender Pay Gap Report that F1 released in 2025, only 38% of the people that work in F1 are women. That makes it all the more impressive that some women broke the mould and defied social norms to follow their hearts, especially back in the 20th century.
De Filippis, Lombardi, Galica, Wilson and Amati are the only five women who have ever competed in a competitive F1 session till date. What are their stories, how did they get there and what did they do afterwards?
The Pilotino: Maria Teresa de Filippis
Growing up
Maria Teresa de Filippis had a favourable childhood. She grew up in Palazzo Marigliano as the youngest daughter of an Italian count and a Spanish noblewoman. When de Filippis was a teen, she developed an interest in sports, with horse riding and tennis being some of her favourites. After the second World War ended, her interests switched to all things on wheels, especially cars.
Start of her racing career
The men in her life told her that she wouldn’t get very far, and her brothers even made a bet on how slow she would be. De Filippis was determined to prove them wrong. She entered the Salerno - Cava de’Tirreni race in a Fiat 500. The 22-year-old driver-to-be left everybody else in the dust, winning her first race.
In an interview with ESPN reporter Kate Walker, de Filippis revealed that she only started racing because of that bet with her brothers, but when she liked it, she decided to carry on with it. In the following years, she would compete in multiple touring car races.
Her career blossomed in the Italian Sportscar Championship, where she started in 1953. In just two years, she managed to get second place in the championship. People soon came to call her ‘Pilotino’, or little pilot. Her talents didn’t go unnoticed, and she was soon offered a place at Maserati.
Formula One
In 1958, de Filippis became the first ever woman to compete in F1. She drove the Maserati 250F, the same car that Juan Manual Fangio won his fifth world title in. Her debut race was the Monaco Grand Prix, but she failed to qualify for the race. Another rookie, one Bernie Ecclestone, suffered the same fate.
In her second entry, the Belgium Grand Prix, de Filipis did race — starting 19th and finishing 10th. That sounds like a race full of overtakes, but in reality, nine of the other cars did not finish the race. The old F1 saying still is ‘to finish first, you first have to finish’. Taking her car over the finish line when the others couldn’t still mattered.
Unfortunately for The Pilotino, the Belgium Grand Prix would be the only F1 race that she finished in her career. Engine problems were the cause of most of her retirements. She wasn’t even allowed to race in the French Grand Prix in 1958, as the race director felt that “the only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdressers”.
In hopes of better luck, de Filippis switched to the Behra-Porsche RSK team in 1959. At the season opener, the Monaco Grand Prix, she failed to qualify yet again. Shortly after this event, the Porsche team leader, Jean Behra, suffered a fatal racing incident. De Filippis was so devastated by this that she hung up her gloves and retired from racing.
Retirement
After her career ended, de Filippis settled down for a quieter life. She married Theodor Huschek, an Austrian chemist, and together, they started a family. However, she couldn’t quite let go of the racing blood inside her, and joined the International Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers, where she later became the Vice President. In 2004, she founded the Maserati Club and became its chairperson.
De Filippis passed away in 2016 at the age of 89.
The Tigress of Alessandria: Lella Lombardi
Growing up
Maria Grazia ‘Lella’ Lombardi grew up in Frugarolo, a small Italian town, as the youngest daughter of the family. Her father was a butcher, and he gave her her first job as a delivery driver. This is where her passion for cars sparked. She started karting for a while, but changed to touring car races not much later.
Start of her racing career
Lombardi raced for the Scuderia Moroni of Lodi in the Formula Monza series for three years before she switched to racing on tracks. She competed in the Trofeo Cadetti series and quickly rose through the ranks to progress to higher championships. That wasn’t in vain: she won the Trofeo Italiano Formula 850.
After a couple of good seasons, Lombardi made it to Formula 3, where she drove for different teams and scored two top 10 finishes. She entered the Italian Ford Escort Mexico Challenge in 1973, and won. Graduating to the British Formula 5000 Championship, Lombardi became a serial podium-finisher. These results earned her the nickname the ‘Tigress of Alessandria’.
Formula One
Lombardi felt that she was ready for F1, so she tried to enter privately in a Brabham racing car. Lombardi made her F1 debut at the British Grand Prix in 1974. She was quick, but due to a broken driveshaft she couldn’t set a lap time fast enough to qualify.
After this unsuccessful attempt, Lombardi signed with the March F1 team, where she had more luck. In the third race of the season, she became the first woman to score points in F1.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Lombardi was driving in sixth place when a heavy crash happened. Rolf Stommelen’s rear wing broke and caused him to fly into the barriers, killing four spectators. The race was stopped and it was quickly decided that it would not resume. As they were only on the 23rd lap when this happened, the drivers received half points. Hence, Lombardi remains the only driver in history to score a total of 0.5 points in their entire F1 career.
At the Nürburgring, Lombardi finished just outside the points in seventh place. Later that season, she was offered a drive at Williams for one race. However, an unfortunate ignition problem prevented her from ever competing. Her F1 career wasn’t very successful after 1975. She drove for different teams but was never able to make a good impression.
Lombardi continued her racing career in other sports car series. She drove the Firecracker 400 NASCAR race, where she finished 31st. She won the 6 Hours of Pergusa, 6 Hours of Vallelunga and the 6 Hours of Mugello. She also entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and collected several other podium places in other European endurance races.
Retirement
In 1988, Lombardi retired from racing to live a quieter life with her partner Fiorenza. However, like many drivers, she couldn’t let go of cars. Soon after her retirement, she founded her own racing team, but wasn’t granted much time enjoying it. At only 50 years old, she passed away due to breast cancer.
The Olympian: Divina Galica
Growing up
Divina Galica grew up in Hertfordshire as the third of six children. The family took skiing trips often to relieve their father, who had a bad heart. The low altitude helped him be more active. When Galica was six years old, her father passed away. Nevertheless, she kept on skiing. Her mother even sent her to a school in Switzerland to allow her to ski more often.
When Galica was 19 years old, she represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympics. She finished 30th, but tasted success later that year at the World Cup, where she came in third place.
Galica then suffered bad luck at the Olympics, with her fortunes not changing for her second or third Olympics. She retired from skiing shortly after, though her efforts did earn her a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, awarded by the Queen.
Start of her racing career
At a loss with what to do with her life now she wasn’t skiing anymore, Galica accepted an invitation to compete in a celebrity auto race. She discovered a talent she never knew she had and came in second place.
That sparked an immediate interest in motorsport. Soon after, her second sports career started in the British Shellsport International Group 8 series, where she drove a Surtees TS16 F1 car.
Formula One
Nick Whiting saw Galica’s passion and helped her make her F1 debut at the 1976 British Grand Prix, driving the Surtees she’d driven before. Her start number and birth date, number 13, proved to be unlucky in this case as she failed to qualify for the race.
The next season, Galica continued to compete in the British Shellsport series. Unfortunately for her, the team lacked the finances to properly adjust the car for every race. Despite the setbacks, she still scored third place at Brands Hatch and second place at Donnington Park.
In 1978, Galica got offered a place at Hesketh Racing in F1, but this was a season with more downs than ups.
After switching back to the British series, she scored a second place right away in the first race in Zandvoort. Unfortunately, her car was outdated and throughout the season, she was often outperformed by competitors. Later, she raced in the Thundersports S2000 sports car class and took up truck racing.
Retirement
Not wanting to give up motorsports, Galica became a racing instructor at Skip Barber Racing Schools. She became Senior Vice President and managed the driving school as well as racing series. Reportedly, she is still a driving instructor to this day, at 81 years old.
The Winner: Desiré Wilson
Growing up
Desiré Wilson grew up in Brakpan, South Africa, in the Randall family. Her father, Charlie Randall, was a South African motorcycle champion, with anything motor-related was in her blood, from a young age. When she was just five years old, she started racing micro-midget cars on dirt tracks.
At 12 years old, she had already won many races and championships. Despite all of her successes, she decided to give up racing for a while, as she wanted to experience a normal teenage life. She took up a variety of sports, like athletics, horse jumping and polo.
Start of her racing career
When Wilson turned 18, she felt the urge to return to racing. She competed in Formula Vee, getting fourth and second place in the South African Championships in a car that her father built. In 1974, she took the step to Formula Ford 1600 and became the first woman ever to win a national racing championship.
By winning this title, she received the Driver-to-Europe award. This allowed Wilson to move to the Netherlands and race in Europe and England. In this period, she won a few races and set several fastest lap records.
Her good efforts were rewarded: in 1977, Wilson got to drive a tyre test in F1. She drove the three-year-old March 751, but set quicker lap times than the March factory drivers in newer, faster cars. This didn’t go unnoticed: she was asked to drive for the Mario Deliotto team for the rest of the British Formula One season.
The next year, Wilson made the step to the British Aurora AFX Formula One Championship (not to be confused with the FIA Formula One World Championship). In her Tyrrell 008, she became the first woman to lead a Grand Prix. She got some good results, including several podiums. All of this was practice for her first win in this series.
In 1980, she was the first driver to cross the finish line at Brands Hatch, becoming the first and only woman to ever win a Formula One Grand Prix of any kind — honoured with a grandstand named after her at the circuit.
In the following years, Wilson competed in Formula Pacific and several endurance races. She scored third place in the Brands Hatch 1000km, and won the Monza 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hours. This got John Macdonald interested in Wilson’s career, who offered her a drive in his RAM Racing team.
Formula One
At a test at Brands Hatch, Wilson drove the Williams FW07 and recorded the twelfth quickest lap time. She made her F1 debut at the 1980 British Grand Prix. Unfortunately, her car was swapped for an inferior model, and she was unable to qualify.
The next year, she was invited to drive her home race with Tyrrell. The South African Grand Prix was a non-championship race, but Wilson drove it nonetheless. She qualified in 16th place and moved up to sixth place in the race. A malfunctioning gearbox ended her race prematurely.
Wilson decided to try her luck on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and competed in the Indy 500. There, she set the quickest lap ever set by a woman with 191 mph. Despite her fast pace, she wasn’t able to qualify as her teammate suffered a fatal crash.
Retirement
Wilson kept driving several sportscars and endurance races in the following years, but retired in 1991. For her final race, she drove Le Mans with an all-female team. She settled down with her husband, track designer Alan Wilson, only showing up for the yearly Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The go-getter: Giovanna Amati
Growing up
As the daughter of theatre-chain owner Giovanni Amati and actress Anna Maria Pancani, Giovanna Amati had a happy childhood in Rome, where she naturally developed a passion for all things on wheels and grew to love racing.
Unfortunately, her wealthy upbringing didn’t prevent her from all harm. When Amati was 18 years old, she was kidnapped. For 75 days, she was locked up in a wooden cage until her parents paid a ransom of 800 million lira.
Start of her racing career
Evidently, the kidnapping with mental and physical abuse took a toll on her, but it did not stop her from doing what she loved. She enrolled in a motor racing school and started racing in the Formula Abarth series. She won a few races in the four years to come, and her successful run allowed her to step into the Italian Formula 3 and later Formula 3000.
Amati scored some more good results, and she decided to move to Japan to compete in the Super Formula Championship. After a year, she moved back to Europe to race in the international F3000. Her perseverance was rewarded when she got to test drive an F1 Benetton.
Formula One
The next season, Amati signed with Brabham to make her F1 debut at the South African Grand Prix. The team was struggling at the time, and that showed. A combination of Amati’s inexperience and the BT60 caused her to spin on track several times and as a result, she was unable to set a lap time quick enough to qualify.
At her next race, the Mexican Grand Prix, Amati clocked 10 seconds slower than pole sitter Nigel Mansell, which meant she couldn’t race at this track either. Her last hope was the Brazilian Grand Prix. But again, she wasn’t quick enough in qualifying and had to sit out the race. Due to her poor results, she was replaced by Damon Hill mid-season. That meant the end of her F1 career, and it was the last time a woman competed in the series to this day.
However, her racing career did not end entirely. On the contrary, Amati started racing in the Porsche SuperCup and went on to win the Women’s European Championship. She competed in several sportscar series until her retirement in 2000.
Retirement
After having given her entire life to motorsports, Amati couldn’t quite let it go. She picked up a career as a sports commentator and is enjoying a content life still surrounded by motorsports.
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