April 27, 1975, the date holds a still unbroken record. Specifically, Lella Lombardi drove a March 751 to the 6th place at the Spanish Grand Prix and was awarded 0.5 points. This is the one and only time that a woman finished in the top six of a Formula 1 race. She had something to show for it. If there were any online sports betting agents at that time, they surely would not have missed this event and would have promoted it to all their clients interested in motorsports.
April 28, 2023, marked another first. Namely, in Austria. There, the first races of the new institution of the Women’s F1 Academy came to reality. Fifteen female pilots lined up to begin accumulating experience and the know-how of competitive racing, before making an attempt for the F1, F2, and F3 single-seaters. All of them drove the same car, the Italian Tatuus T421 rated at 165 HP, featuring an Abarth FT-J 1.4L turbocharged engine.
Teams and drivers
Five teams with three drivers each participated in the F1 program:
| Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Driver 3 |
| Campos Racing | Nerea Marti | Lola Lovinfosse | Maite Cáceres |
| MP Motorsport | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Emely De Heus | Amna Al Qubaisi |
| ART Grand Prix | Léna Bühler | Carrie Schreiner | Chloe Grant |
| Rodin Carlin | Abbi Pulling | Jessica Edgar | Megan Gilkes |
| Prema Racing | Chloe Chong | Marta García | Bianca Bustamante |
Fomula1 will be funding the endeavor up to a point. Each of the pilots needs to cover an amount of 150,000 Euros through sponsorships. If one were to take a look at the list, then one would see an even further surprise than just the gender of the pilots. And that comes through the two participants from the United Arab Emirates.
The race schedule
The Grand Prix will be held in eight locations:
- Apr 28-29 Spielberg, Austria
- May 05-07 Valencia
- Jun 23-25 Zandvoort, The Netherlands
- Jul 07-09 Monza, Italy
- Jul 29-30 Le Castellet, France
- Oct 20-22 Austin, USA
On each date, there will be two practice periods, two qualification rounds, and three races. The grid for the first race will be formed by the results of the first qualification round. For the second race will be formed by the first eight drivers in reverse order. The third race will be formed by the results of the second qualifying round. The first 10 drivers of each race will be awarded points as per the F1 point system, plus one point for the fastest lap.
Susie Wolff
The former British driver is the CEO of the organization and the stated goal is to introduce at least one woman to the main Formula 1 grid within the next few years. Just like the predecessor of the Academy, W Series, the main idea is to reduce the deficit of female pilots within motorsports in general not just F1. It is quite indicative of the situation that only 1.5% of the racing licenses have been awarded to women.
It would be interesting to see if the most reliable bookmakers decide to include this program in their offers to bettors. We are sure that it would be a success among the followers of this exciting sport.