Women in F1: who started races, and who drove in practice and tests

Have there been women in F1?

Yes. Since 1950, five women have entered World Championship races, and two of them took the start. Together they have 29 entries and 15 starts. For comparison, our database has 792 drivers who started a championship race between 1950 and September 2026.

A woman last started a championship race in 1976 and last entered one in 1992. There are no women among the drivers entered for races in the 2026 season. Every championship driver since 1950 is on the All drivers page.

Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first to start

The Italian from Naples was the first woman to start a World Championship race. In 1958 she drove a Maserati and failed to qualify at Monaco in May. On 15 June, at the Belgian Grand Prix, de Filippis started a race for the first time: she lined up 19th and finished tenth, two laps behind the winner.

She made two more starts, in Portugal and Italy, and both times her engine failed. In 1959 at Monaco, now in a Behra-Porsche, de Filippis again failed to qualify. She died in 2016, aged 89.

Lella Lombardi, the only one with points

Lella Lombardi is the only woman to have scored World Championship points. On 27 April 1975, at the Spanish Grand Prix, she finished sixth in a works March. The race was stopped early, after 29 of its 75 laps, and half points were awarded, which is how Lombardi got half a point.

It was only her second start. Lombardi first entered a race in 1974, the British Grand Prix, in a Brabham, but failed to qualify. She made her first start on 1 March 1975 in South Africa. That season she also finished seventh in Germany.

Her last start was the Austrian Grand Prix on 15 August 1976: 12th in a Brabham. In all, from 1974 to 1976, Lombardi had 17 entries and 12 starts.

Who entered but did not start

Three more women entered championship races but failed to qualify:

• Divina Galica from Great Britain, an alpine skier who competed at four Winter Olympics — the 1976 British Grand Prix in a Surtees, and two rounds in 1978, in Argentina and Brazil, in a Hesketh.
• Desiré Wilson from South Africa — the 1980 British Grand Prix in a year-old Williams entered by the RAM team.
• Giovanna Amati from Italy — three rounds in 1992 for Brabham, in South Africa, Mexico and Brazil; after that, her seat went to Damon Hill.

The 1976 British Grand Prix is the only round for which two women entered at once: Galica and Lombardi. In 1980, the same year as her Grand Prix entry, Wilson won a race in a Formula 1 car in the British Aurora series, which was not part of the World Championship. According to Formula 1, as of 2026 it is the only race a woman has won in a Formula 1 car.

Susie Wolff and first practice

After Amati, it was 22 years before a woman drove on track at a Grand Prix weekend again. Susie Wolff, a British Williams test driver, took part in four first practice sessions:

A practice session does not make a driver a championship participant: it brings no starts and no points. Why teams give out these runs is explained in the chapter “How a Grand Prix weekend works”.

In November 2015 Wolff retired as a driver. From 2018 to 2022 she ran the Venturi team in Formula E, and in 2023 she took charge of F1 Academy.

Test drivers and team programmes

Women have worked for teams as test and development drivers, and some have driven Formula 1 cars in tests and demonstration runs:

• María de Villota — a test in a Renault in 2011, and Marussia test driver in 2012.
• Simona de Silvestro — an affiliated driver with Sauber in 2014.
• Carmen Jordá — Lotus development driver in 2015.
• Tatiana Calderón — Sauber test driver; in October 2018 she drove a Sauber C37 in a demonstration run in Mexico City.
• Jessica Hawkins — an Aston Martin ambassador since 2021; on 21 September 2023 she completed 26 laps in an AMR21 at the Hungaroring.
• Doriane Pin — 2025 F1 Academy champion and Mercedes development driver; on 17 April 2026 she completed 76 laps in a Mercedes W12 at Silverstone, the first woman to drive a Mercedes F1 car.
• Jamie Chadwick — three-time W Series champion and a Williams team ambassador; on 21 September 2026 she completed 32 laps in a Williams FW47 at Portimão.

Tests and demonstration runs do not count as starts and bring no points. No woman has entered a championship race since 1992.

Are women allowed to race in F1?

Yes. The FIA International Sporting Code states explicitly that its provisions on people apply to both genders. Under the 2026 rules, the requirements for a Super Licence are the same for everyone: a Grade A licence, a minimum age, two seasons in single-seaters, 40 points and knowledge of the rules. The details are in the article “How to become an F1 driver”.

Formula 1 has created a separate series to prepare young female drivers: F1 Academy.

F1 Academy and W Series

Formula 1 announced F1 Academy on 18 November 2022, and its first season was held in 2023. It is a series for female drivers only, and its aim is to prepare them for the next steps up, all the way to Formula 1. The announcement for the first season, 2023, listed five teams with three Tatuus T421 cars each, a 165 hp engine and 21 races over seven rounds.

Since 2024 F1 Academy has awarded Super Licence points: the champion gets 10 of the 40 needed, then come 7, 5, 3 and 1. How the whole points table works is explained in the article on the path to Formula 1.

W Series, a separate women-only championship, appeared earlier than F1 Academy, in 2019. Its 2020 season was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Jamie Chadwick won three W Series titles, the first in 2019.

Where else women work in F1

Women work in teams and series as engineers and managers. A few examples:

• Monisha Kaltenborn — the first woman to be a Formula 1 team principal: Sauber, from October 2012 to June 2017.
• Claire Williams — deputy team principal of Williams from 2013 to 2020.
• Laura Müller — the first woman to be a full-time race engineer: in 2025 she became Esteban Ocon’s engineer at Haas.
• Susie Wolff — took charge of F1 Academy in 2023.