Empowering Women: Breaking Barriers in Motorsport during pink october month

During this pink october month dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer, let's explore how women are making strides in the field of motorsports!

Shall we begin with a brief overview of the past?

Five female drivers have entered at least one Grand Prix, although only two have qualified and started a race. Lella Lombardi has competed in the most Grands Prix of any female driver, with 17 entries and 12 starts.

Lella Lombardi remains the only woman to score points in Formula One.

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 and started three scoring a best result of tenth position in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix. 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". Maria ended her career at the Monaco Grand Prix the following that year.

Maria Teresa de Filippis at the 1949 Aosta–Gran San Bernardo hillclimb.

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, achieving her best career finish of sixth at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. The race was stopped following a spectator accident, but because at least 29 of the scheduled 71 laps had been completed, the rules stipulated that half points were to be

awarded. Lombardi's sixth-place finish meant she became the first, and so far only, woman to score points in the World Championship.

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.

In 1980, the South African Desiré Wilson tried to qualify for the British Grand Prix, but did not succeed. 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.

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.

Maria Teresa de Filippis at Monza in 1958

How can I refrain from mentioning French rally driver Michèle Mouton!

Michèle Hélène Raymonde Mouton(born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.

Mouton debuted in rallying as a co-driver but quickly moved to the driver's seat, steering an Alpine-Renault A110 in national rallies. In 1975, she competed in circuit racing and won the two-litre prototype class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After being signed by Fiat France for 1977, Mouton finished runner-up to Bernard Darniche in the European Rally Championship. She went on to win the 1978 Tour de France Automobile and record consistent results in her home events in the WRC; the Tour de Corse and the Monte Carlo Rally. For 1981, Audi Sport signed Mouton to partner Hannu Mikkola. In her first year with the Audi Quattro, she took a surprise victory at the Rallye Sanremo.

In the 1982 World Rally season, Mouton finished a close second overall to Walter Röhrl, after wins in Portugal, Brazil and Greece, and helped Audi to its first manufacturers' title. Her campaign the following year resulted in fifth place. With the team having four top drivers for 1984, Mouton's participation on world championship level became part-time. In 1985, she won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, setting a record time in the process. In 1986, she moved to Peugeot and won the German Rally Championship as the first female driver to win a major championship in rallying. Soon after securing the title, Mouton retired from rallying due to the ban of Group B supercars. In 1988, she co-founded the international motorsport event Race of Champions in memory of her former rival Henri Toivonen. Mouton became the first president of the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commission in 2010 and the FIA's manager in the World Rally Championship in 2011.

Continuing with the one and only Susie Wolf, who is the wife of CEO of Formula 1 Team Mercedes Toto Wolf.

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; 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.

María de Villota, the daughter of Spanish Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, was hired as a test driver for Marussia until her crash in 2012 at the Duxford Aerodrome during a straightline test. De Villota died from her injuries the following year.

In 2014, Sauber signed IndyCar Series driver Simona de Silvestro as an "affiliated driver", with the goal of having her compete in 2015.

In 2015 Lotus F1 signed Carmen Jordá to a deal including a run in a car.

Sauber signed Colombian driver Tatiana Calderón as development driver for 2017.

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.

In 2019, Williams Driver Academy signed leading W Series contender Jamie Chadwick as a development driver for the Williams F1 team. Chadwick later won the 2019 W Series championship, the 2021 W Series championship and the 2022 W Series championship, and continued as a Williams development driver in 2022.

Jamie Chadwick Winning the Grand Prix at Road America 2024!!

Special mention to Hannah Schmitz ! (born May 1985) is a British engineer, currently working for Austrian Formula One team Red Bull Racing as Principal Strategy Engineer. She is widely regarded as one of the most successful female figures in the sport of Formula One, heralded as key in Red Bull's 2021, 2022, and 2023 title charges.

Education :

In 2009, Schmitz obtained a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, with a focus on optimization theory, regression analysis, and statistical models. At university, Schmitz was part of the Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) team, taking on the role of Mechanical Team Leader. She led the CUER team in the World Solar Challenge in Australia.

She attended Croydon High School, where she excelled at water polo.

Check out this highly intriguing video featuring the three KEY WOMEN behind Red Bull's success. It may be a bit lengthy, but I assure you, it's definitely worth watching!

It is clear that we need to discuss the F1 Academy!

F1 Academy is a female-only, junior-level single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One. The championship is a spec series, meaning that all teams compete with an identical Tatuus F4-T421 chassis and tyre compounds developed by Pirelli. Each car is powered by a 174-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine developed by Autotecnica Motori, a Tatuus subsidiary.

The inaugural season in 2023 was won by Marta García driving for Prema Racing, who won the teams' championship.

Do you recall Susie wolf? Well you'll soon understand why i asked this haha

On 18 November 2022, Formula One announced the creation of F1 Academy, a racing series for women aiming to focus on developing and preparing young drivers to progress to higher levels of competition. It was created to help smooth the transition from karting to the single-seater ladder.

The five teams that are currently participating in F1 Academy are ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing, Rodin Motorsport, MP Motorsport and Prema Racing.

On 1 March 2023, Susie Wolff was appointed the managing director for the series.

Here is an interview discussing how F1 Academy will assist female drivers in preparing for advanced levels of motorsports!

The initial season of the series was controversially not broadcast, with the exception of the season finale at the Circuit of the Americas. Every race of the second season will be broadcast, with live viewing available from a total of 23 broadcasters in more than 160 international territories. Formula E presenter Nicki Shields became the lead commentator for the season, with Alex Brundle and Jordan King joining her as co-commentators.

For the 2023 season, Formula One subsidised the cost of each car, with drivers having to contribute €150,000. This was reduced to €100,000 for the 2024 season. Also for 2024, all ten Formula One teams support one driver each who carries the team's livery on their car. The remaining five drivers are supported by the series' partners.

On 3 May 2023, it was announced that Reese Witherspoon's production company Hello Sunshine would be creating a docuseries about F1 Academy.

On 3 May 2024, exactly one year later, it was announced that the show would be available to stream on Netflix in 2025.

But i could not finish this post without talking about the two brillant driver of F1 Academy as in the leader of the championship, the british driver Abbie Pulling and the French driver Doriane Pin !

Pulling at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix

In March 2022, Pulling was signed by Alpine as a member of their new Alpine Affiliate programme. Prior to the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Pulling and Aseel Al-Hamad became the first women to drive a Formula 1 car in Saudi Arabia.

In 2023, Pulling was upgraded to a full-time member of the Alpine Academy and competed in the all-female F1 Academy series for the 2023 season

Pin entered the 2024 F1 Academy season with Prema Racing, representing Mercedes under the series' Formula One constructor affiliation system. Simultaneously, Pin signed with the Mercedes Junior Team.

I would like to give a special shoutout to Lissie Mackintosh! Thank you for all that you do. Your actions have motivated me to establish this website and pursue my aspirations. I admire your work and your values resonate deeply with me. Thank you!

Go check Her last Video with Abbie pulling !

Copyrights and images Author:

-Par Bertazzini.[3] — flickr, Domaine public, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75481989

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