Giovanna Amati: The last woman to enter F1

The 1992 Brabham garage smelled of stale fuel and desperation. The once-great team, now running on fumes, handed their keys to an unlikely candidate: Giovanna Amati, a determined Italian racer who would become the last woman to attempt a Formula 1 start.

A Seat No One Wanted
The Brabham BT60B wasn’t just bad—it was a rolling tragedy. The Judd V10 wheezed, the chassis flexed like wet cardboard, and even the team’s legendary name couldn’t hide the decay. Amati’s teammate, Eric van de Poele, fared no better—neither could drag the car into qualifying contention.

• In South Africa, she was 4+ seconds slower than pole time.

• In Mexico and Brazil, the gap widened to over 6 seconds.

• Her teammate Eric van de Poele also struggled to qualify, confirming the car’s poor performance.

Yet the spotlight burned hottest on Amati. In South Africa, she missed the cut by 4 seconds. In Mexico and Brazil, the gap stretched past 6. Critics pounced, but the truth was brutal: This car couldn’t have qualified Senna. When Damon Hill replaced her mid-season, even he couldn’t salvage it.

The Road Less Traveled
Amati’s path to F1 was improbable from the start:

Formula 3000 battles where funding mattered more than talent

A standout 7th at Le Mans in 1991, proving her racecraft

Brabham’s gamble, born more of financial Hail Marys than meritocracy

She wasn’t unprepared—just underequipped. In an era when teams routinely fielded pay drivers with zero skill, Amati at least had pedigree. But history remembers gaps, not context.

Why Her Story Still Resonates
Three decades later, Amati’s brief F1 chapter remains a Rorschach test:

To some, a cautionary tale about unpreparedness

To others, proof that machinery defines opportunity

To a few, a quiet triumph—she made the grid when countless men never came close

Her legacy isn’t lap times. It’s the door she cracked open—just enough for the next woman to push harder. When F1 finally fields another female driver, they’ll stand on Amati’s unseen shoulders.

• Hill replaced Giovanna Amati starting with the Spanish Grand Prix.

• The Brabham BT60B was widely considered one of the worst cars on the grid that year — severely underfunded and uncompetitive.

Race-by-Race Breakdown:

So in total:

• 8 attempts

• 2 successful qualifications

• 0 points

Even Damon Hill, who would later become World Champion in 1996, struggled massively with the same Brabham car. This puts Giovanna Amati’s failure to qualify in perspective — it wasn’t just her, the car was completely uncompetitive.