Auto Racing, Formula One

Formula One racing consists of a series of automobile races held from March through November. Historically, the season included mostly European sites, but in the 21st century, the races have become more fully international. The 2010 season includes races in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia, and Brazil. A Formula One race is the elite among automobile races, featuring cars that cost multiple millions of dollars that are built according to a formula determined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, which limits engine size and determines overall body design. From car design to driving, Formula One racing is a man's world. The women who have infiltrated this world are few in number, and their recognition has been minimal.

The first Formula One race was held in 1947. It was more than a decade later that Maria Teresa De Filippis became the first woman to compete in a Formula One Championship race, finishing tenth in the Belgian Grand Prix. She entered six more races and qualified for three that counted toward the championship title. Seventeen years after De Filippis, Lella Lombardi entered racing history as the first woman to score a World Championship point (literally half a point) in a Formula One race.

British Olympic skier Divina Galica and Aurora Formula One champion Desire Wilson entered but failed to qualify in Formula One races, as did Giovanni Amati in 1992. Amati, the last woman to race in Formula One, complained about the all-male environment; from drivers to journalists, she found they belonged to a closed club.

It has been 18 years since a woman has entered a Formula One championship race. Speculation was rife that Danica Patrick, the highest-qualifying and highest-finishing female in Indianapolis 500 history, would end the drought in 2010, but the speculators [Page 114]were wrong. German Touring Car star Susie Stoddart has expressed a desire to drive in a Formula One race.

Sarah Fisher, the youngest woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, was also the first woman in the 21st century to drive a Formula One car, albeit in a test. Alice Powell, who at age 16 years was winning championships, has announced her ambition to be the first British woman to compete successfully for the Formula One title. The door may be closed, but a company of young women are poised to open it.

Some women have earned a place in less public positions in the Formula One world. Diane Holl has been with the Ferrari Design and Development team since the 1980s. Other women in technical jobs include Elf technician Valerie Jorquera, Goodyear tire engineer Janet Melia, and electrical engineer Sharon Hopkins. However, women in technical positions are still the exception, and women in administrative positions are even rarer.

Greater numbers of women can be found in Formula One jobs that are more traditionally female. Di Spires, who has worked in Formula One hospitality/catering since 1978, acknowledges that when she started, her field was the only way women could find a job in the rarified world. Public relations is another field in which Formula One employs women. Predictably the largest group of women involved with Formula One is composed of models. Some are employed by team sponsors to publicize the link between the racing team and the sponsor. Others, such as the “grid girls,” are merely decorations whose presence serves as a foil for Formula One's masculine image.

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