Three full decades have now passed since the last occasion a female racing driver was hired to race for a Formula 1 team.
But Giovanna Amati’s time at Brabham proved brief, and never saw her start a race. She was widely considered to have been promoted beyond a level she was prepared for. She also had the misfortune to arrive at a team which was on its last legs, and would collapse just four months after Amati’s final appearance for them.
Having taken Nelson Piquet to the drivers championship in 1983, Brabham’s descent was startlingly swift. Just five years later it disappeared from the grid – owner Bernie Ecclestone having steadily lost interest in a team which had won just three races in the interim, and increasingly preoccupied with building his F1 empire.
He sold the team to Joachim Luthi, who returned it to F1 in 1989, but was subsequently arrested on fraud charges. Nonetheless, Brabham’s season did have its bright spots – particularly at slower tracks which favoured…