Key Findings at a Glance
- → Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to compete in an F1 championship race in 1958 She qualified 19th for the Belgian Grand Prix driving a Maserati 250F and finished 10th, after making her racing debut a decade earlier in a local hill-climb. [Formula1.com]
- → Lella Lombardi remains the first and only woman to score a point in Formula 1 Her result stands as a benchmark still referenced when discussing women's on-track achievement in top-tier motorsport. [Formula1.com]
- → Lynn Schultz Kehoe founded Shift Up Now in 2014 to help women access grassroots racing opportunities Kehoe began racing after her husband's 2010 death, eventually competing in NASA's Spec BMW E30 class before starting the organization. [Grassroots Motorsports]
- → Sarah Montgomery became the first woman to podium in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series Montgomery credits Shift Up Now with connecting her to racing teams and securing funding to complete a full 2019 season. [Grassroots Motorsports]
- → Iron Dames was founded in 2018 by Deborah Mayer, president of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission The project supports women across every level of the sport, from drivers to mechanics, engineers, and team managers. [International Women's Day]
- → W Series ran from 2019 to 2023 as a free-to-enter, all-female single-seater championship Jamie Chadwick won all three championship editions before the series folded, showing both the promise and fragility of standalone women's racing series. [International Women's Day]
- → Xero's sponsorship of England's Lionesses football team is cited as a model for grassroots motorsport sponsorship strategy The campaign supported the full sport ecosystem, from elite athletes to grassroots clubs, rather than simple logo placement, offering a template for racing sponsorship pitches. [Racing Mentor]
F1 ACADEMY enters its fourth season in 2026, marking a sustained multi-year push to develop female racing talent from grassroots level upward, according to Formula1.com. The program builds on a history that includes Maria Teresa de Filippis's 1958 Belgian Grand Prix start and Lella Lombardi's still-unmatched point-scoring finish. Grassroots groups such as Shift Up Now and Iron Dames now work alongside series like F1 ACADEMY to widen access to seat time, funding, and technical roles across the sport.
1How Many Seasons Has F1 ACADEMY Run Heading Into 2026?
F1 ACADEMY launched in 2023 and enters its fourth season in 2026, running alongside longer-established projects such as Iron Dames, founded in 2018 by Deborah Mayer, and the now-defunct W Series, which operated from 2019 to 2023 before folding after four seasons.
| METRIC | VALUE | SOURCE |
|---|---|---|
| F1 ACADEMY season count | 4th season | Formula1.com |
| Iron Dames founding year | 2018 year | International Women's Day |
| W Series operating years | 2019-2023 years | International Women's Day |
| F1 Academy launch year | 2023 year | International Women's Day |
| Source: Formula1.com | ||
F1 ACADEMY's fourth season in 2026 places it in a similar timeframe to W Series, which ran only four seasons before ending in 2023 despite Jamie Chadwick winning every title. Iron Dames, structured as a multi-role project rather than a single-seater series, has continued past its 2018 founding without the funding collapse that ended W Series. The contrast suggests that programs built into an existing racing structure, the way series standings coverage tracks established championships, may outlast standalone women's series. Readers following circuit-level development can compare this pipeline approach to entry-level pathways covered in off-road racing categories and motorcycle racing classes.
2When Did a Woman First Compete in a Formula 1 Championship Race?
Maria Teresa de Filippis, born in 1926, made her competitive debut in a 1948 hill-climb and became the first woman to enter an F1 championship race in 1958, qualifying 19th and finishing 10th at the Belgian Grand Prix in a Maserati 250F. She died at 89.
| METRIC | VALUE | SOURCE |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Teresa de Filippis birth year | 1926 year | Formula1.com |
| de Filippis competitive debut | 1948 year | Formula1.com |
| de Filippis Belgian GP qualifying/finish position | 19th qualifying, 10th finish position | Formula1.com |
| de Filippis death age | 89 years | Formula1.com |
| Source: Formula1.com | ||
De Filippis's ten-year gap between her 1948 debut and her 1958 Belgian Grand Prix entry shows how long a path from local racing to top-tier competition could take before dedicated development programs existed. Her Maserati 250F result of 19th on the grid and 10th at the finish remains a reference point cited by Formula1.com nearly seventy years later. That timeline contrasts with current pipelines such as F1 ACADEMY, where drivers move through structured seasons rather than isolated regional events, similar to how historic entries are documented in lap-time retrospectives and historic grand prix rivalries.
3Which Grassroots Programs Help Women Enter Racing Below Top-Tier Level?
Lynn Schultz Kehoe founded Shift Up Now in 2014 after her husband Burt Kehoe died at 67 in 2010, later racing in NASA's Spec BMW E30 class herself. The group helped Sarah Montgomery secure funding for a full 2019 Mazda MX-5 Cup season, where she became the first woman to podium in that series.
| METRIC | VALUE | SOURCE |
|---|---|---|
| Burt Kehoe death age | 67 years | Grassroots Motorsports |
| Shift Up Now founding year | 2014 year | Grassroots Motorsports |
| Sarah Montgomery season funded | 2019 year | Grassroots Motorsports |
| Motorsport UK grassroots article publish date | 2025-08-28 date | Motorsport UK |
| Source: Grassroots Motorsports | ||
Shift Up Now's model — connecting individual drivers like Sarah Montgomery with teams and sponsorship money rather than running its own championship — differs from series-based approaches such as F1 ACADEMY or the former W Series. Montgomery's 2019 Mazda MX-5 Cup podium followed Kehoe's own path through NASA club racing, showing how grassroots organizing can move a driver from regional events to a recognized series result within a few seasons. Motorsport UK's coverage of grassroots access, published August 28, 2025, points to similar club-level entry points documented elsewhere on this site in features like club racing weekend coverage and touring car trophy events.
4What Sponsorship Model Works for Grassroots Women's Racing?
Racing Mentor's July 21, 2025 analysis cites Xero's sponsorship of England's Lionesses football team as a working template for motorsport, because the campaign funded the full sport structure, from elite athletes to grassroots clubs, rather than placing a logo on a car or jersey.
| METRIC | VALUE | SOURCE |
|---|---|---|
| Racing Mentor article publish date | 2025-07-21 date | Racing Mentor |
| Source: Racing Mentor | ||
The Xero-Lionesses template, cited by Racing Mentor, differs from single-logo sponsorship deals common in racing because it ties funding to both elite competition and local club infrastructure at the same time. Applied to motorsport, that structure would mean a sponsor backing a program like Iron Dames or Shift Up Now alongside grassroots events rather than sponsoring one driver in isolation. Coverage of team-level sponsorship arrangements in features such as team sponsorship arrangements and driver-team partnership profiles shows how funding structure affects a driver's season-to-season stability, a pattern the Xero model addresses directly for women's grassroots racing.
Complete Data Reference
Sortable table of all verified data points. Click any column header to sort.
| Metric | Value | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 ACADEMY season count | 4th season | Formula1.com | 2026 |
| Maria Teresa de Filippis birth year | 1926 year | Formula1.com | 2026 |
| de Filippis competitive debut | 1948 year | Formula1.com | 2026 |
| de Filippis Belgian GP qualifying/finish position | 19th qualifying, 10th finish position | Formula1.com | 2026 |
| de Filippis death age | 89 years | Formula1.com | 2026 |
| Burt Kehoe death age | 67 years | Grassroots Motorsports | 2022 |
| Shift Up Now founding year | 2014 year | Grassroots Motorsports | 2022 |
| Sarah Montgomery season funded | 2019 year | Grassroots Motorsports | 2022 |
| Iron Dames founding year | 2018 year | International Women's Day | 2025 |
| W Series operating years | 2019-2023 years | International Women's Day | 2025 |
| F1 Academy launch year | 2023 year | International Women's Day | 2025 |
| Racing Mentor article publish date | 2025-07-21 date | Racing Mentor | 2025 |
| Motorsport UK grassroots article publish date | 2025-08-28 date | Motorsport UK | 2025 |
Methodology
This fact sheet draws on four public sources covering Formula 1 history, grassroots organizations, and a sponsorship case study from outside motorsport. Centralized participation data for women in local club and amateur racing is not maintained by any single body, so exact percentages of female participants at the grassroots level could not be verified and are not presented here. Figures on regional series outside the US and Europe were also limited in the sources reviewed.
- Sources consulted: 10
- Sources cited: 4
- Data range: Historical facts span 1926 to 2026; cited source publications range from 2022 to 2026
- Freshness: 8 current-year, 3 last-year, 5 older
- Update schedule: Quarterly
Frequently Asked Questions
What is F1 ACADEMY and why does it matter for grassroots racing?
F1 ACADEMY enters its fourth season in 2026, a multi-year effort to build a pipeline of female racing talent starting well below single-seater level. By running consecutive seasons rather than a one-off event, the series gives young drivers repeated chances to gain race craft, sponsorship exposure, and results that can carry them into higher categories. [Formula1.com]
Who was the first woman to compete in a Formula 1 championship race?
Maria Teresa de Filippis made history in 1958, qualifying 19th and finishing 10th at the Belgian Grand Prix in a Maserati 250F. Born in 1926, she had already raced a decade earlier, finishing second in a local hill-climb behind the wheel of a Fiat Topolino in 1948, before reaching Formula 1's top level. [Formula1.com]
Has any woman scored a point in Formula 1?
Yes. Lella Lombardi remains the only woman to score a point in Formula 1, a result that still stands as the sport's reference point for women's on-track achievement at the highest level. No other female driver has matched that outcome since, which explains why her name still comes up whenever the topic of women in Formula 1 arises. [Formula1.com]
What grassroots organizations help women enter racing?
Shift Up Now, founded in 2014 by Lynn Schultz Kehoe, connects women with teams, funding, and seat time in grassroots classes such as NASA's Spec BMW E30. One member it supported, Sarah Montgomery, became the first woman to podium in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series after the group helped her put together a full 2019 season. [Grassroots Motorsports]
What was the W Series and why did it end?
W Series ran from 2019 to 2023 as a free-to-enter, all-female single-seater championship, with Jamie Chadwick winning every edition before it folded. Its run showed that a standalone women's series can produce strong on-track results while still facing the funding and structural problems that ultimately led to its closure. [International Women's Day]
What is Iron Dames and who founded it?
Iron Dames was founded in 2018 by Deborah Mayer, who also serves as president of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. The project backs women across every part of the sport, covering drivers, mechanics, engineers, and team managers alike, building depth in roles that rarely get attention in coverage of women's racing progress. [International Women's Day]
How can sponsors support women in grassroots racing effectively?
Racing Mentor points to Xero's sponsorship of England's Lionesses football team as a working template, because the campaign backed the full sport structure, from elite athletes down to grassroots clubs, rather than simple logo placement. Applied to racing, that model suggests sponsors get more return by funding driver pipelines and local clubs together, not one alone. [Racing Mentor]
Sources & References
- Formula1.com. "From On-Track History Makers To Strategy Masterminds: 10 Trailblazing Women." https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/from-on-track-history-makers-to-strategy-masterminds-10-trailblazing-women.2rNNnDhfEeu8sQ4Dsy7owL. Accessed 2026-08-05.
- Grassroots Motorsports. "Advocating for Female Athletes in Motorsports." https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/advocating-female-athletes-motorsports/. Accessed 2026-08-05.
- International Women's Day. "Let's Accelerate Action in Motorsports for Women and Girls." https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/20852/Let-s-AccelerateAction-in-motorsports-for-women-and-girls. Accessed 2026-08-05.
- Racing Mentor. "Grassroots Racing Sponsorship Inspiration from the Lionesses." https://www.racingmentor.com/blog/grassroots-racing-sponsorship-inspiration-from-the-lionesses. Accessed 2026-08-05.
Last updated: August 4, 2026
