When you Google the phrase “women in F1,” one of the first also-searched questions is, “Are female drivers allowed in F1?”
It’s a fair question, given that none of the sport’s 10 teams have a female driver (or team principal).
Are female drivers allowed in F1? The short answer is yes. No explicit rules bar female participation. But various barriers have limited their presence.
The last woman to compete in Formula One was Lella Lombardi in 1976. Giovanna Amati tried to qualify for a few races in 1992. Susie Wolff, the managing director of the F1 Academy, was the last woman to participate in an F1 grand prix weekend in 2015, with a few practice outings as a Williams test driver. According to advocacy group Females in Motorsport, women spoke for just 1.5% of the time during the latest season of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” — their lowest representation thus far.
F1 is looking to change that by bringing in a new generation of female drivers.
“We want to build up the right pyramid with the right approach, step-by-step, in order for them to start to race against the guys at the right age, with the right car,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said ahead of last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. “That’s really what we are working on.”
A few months later, F1 announced the…
