British Grand Prix 2014: Susie Wolffs big day ends in disappointment
Williams driver was the first female to take part in a grand prix weekend for 22 years but lasted only four laps in practice
Formula One has development and innovation at its heart, pushing boundaries is its lifeblood and yet at the sharp end, behind the wheel, change has been an awfully long time coming: 22 years to be precise. But at Silverstone on Friday the boys club finally opened its doors again, when Susie Wolff took to the track in her Williams for the first practice session of the British Grand Prix. Perhaps it is fitting that it was at Silverstone, a real drivers circuit, that for the first time in a generation there was a woman among them.
Giovanna Amati was the last female driver to take part in an F1 race weekend, entering three qualifying sessions for Brabham in 1992 but failing to make the start for any race. Indeed, it was the Italian Lella Lombardi who was the last woman to compete in an actual race, back at the Austrian GP in 1976, and she remains the only one to have scored world championship points half of one at the Spanish GP, which ended prematurely under red flags in 1975.
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