Fifty years ago today, Lella Lombardi lined up 24th at the Austrian Grand Prix, marking the last time a woman started a Formula 1 race. She finished four laps down in her year-old Brabham but made the flag—an inauspicious end to a career that had peaked a year earlier when she scored half a point in Spain, still the only championship points ever earned by a woman in F1. Lombardi accounted for 12 of the 15 starts by women in the sport's history. Since Austria '76, the drought has been near-total: Giovanna Amati failed to qualify four times in 1992, and Susie Wolff ran practice sessions a decade ago. That's it. F1 Academy now feeds female drivers into the junior ladder, but the timeline is long. Stefano Domenicali said four years ago that a woman reaching the grid within five years was "very unlikely." The clock is ticking on that window, and the pipeline remains thin.
Read the full story at RaceFansHISTORY: 50 YEARS SINCE THE LAST TIME A WOMAN STARTED A FORMULA 1 RACE
Fifty years ago today, Lella Lombardi lined up 24th at the Austrian Grand Prix, marking the last time a woman started a Formula 1 race. She finished four laps down in her year-old Brabham but made the flag—an inauspicious end to a career that had peaked a year earlier when she scored half a point in Spain, still the only championship points ever earned by a woman in F1. Lombardi accounted for 12 of the 15 starts by women in the sport's history. Since Austria '76, the drought has been near-total: Giovanna Amati failed to qualify four times in 1992, and Susie Wolff ran practice sessions a decade ago. That's it. F1 Academy now feeds female drivers into the junior ladder, but the timeline is long. Stefano Domenicali said four years ago that a woman reaching the grid within five years was "very unlikely." The clock is ticking on that window, and the pipeline remains thin.
