Lombardi reached the chequered flag, albeit four laps behind winner John Watson<\/a>. She was six laps ahead of team mate Loris Kessel, though he spent a lengthy time in the pits while a fault with a fuel union was fixed.<\/p>\n This marked an unfortunate end to Lombardi\u2019s F1 career after a season which had begun promisingly. A year earlier she became the first (and still only) woman to score points in a grand prix. Famously, she took half a point for finishing sixth in the shortened Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuich Park.<\/p>\n Her seventh-placed finish later the same year in the German Grand Prix on the daunting Nurburgring is less well-remembered. Lombardi switched to Frank Williams\u2019 team for the final race at Watkins Glen but her FW03\u2019s clutch failed on the formation lap.<\/p>\n She started 1976 at March but the team replaced her after just one race as her sponsorship failed to materialise and Ronnie Peterson switched teams from Lotus. Lombardi reappeared at RAM, but the Austrian race would be the only time she managed to qualify.<\/p>\n Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free<\/a><\/p>\n Lamentably few women have since had the opportunity to join Lombardi and Maria Teresa de Filippis as F1\u2019s only female racers. Desire Wilson won a non-championship F1 race at Brands Hatch<\/a> but laboured with much less competitive equipment when given the chance to compete at the top flight. Nor did Divina Galica manage to get her car onto the grid in the seventies. <\/p>\n The only other woman to participate in a grand prix weekend since then was Susie Wolff who made four practice appearances for Williams over a decade ago. But if F1 ever manages to get another woman onto the grid it will likely have Wolff to thank, as she now heads up F1 Academy, the all-female racing category which runs as a support series to F1 and puts female racers in cars backed by grand prix teams. With F1 now making a serious effort to promote female racers, it is hopefully only a matter of time until more of them reach Formula 3, Formula 2 and eventually the top flight.<\/p>\n But it will take time, as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has acknowledged. \u201cRealistically speaking, I don\u2019t see, unless something that will be like a sort of meteor coming into the earth, a girl in F1 in the next five years,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is very unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n He was speaking four years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Giovanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/racefansdotnet-21-02-04-22-22-35-1-470x313.jpg\")
<\/a>Feature: How F1\u2019s last female racer stood little chance in a once-great team close to collapse<\/a>The last woman to attempt to qualify for a grand prix was Giovanna Amati in 1992, also in a Brabham, albeit for the now-beleaguered works team. Given her lack of experience and the team\u2019s dire financial situation, her failure to qualify in four attempts came as no surprise<\/a>.<\/p>\n