- Giovanna Amati
Former F1 driver
Name = Giovanna Amati
Nationality = flagicon|Italy Italian
Years = F1|1992
Team(s) =Brabham
Races = 3 (0 starts)
Championships = 0
Wins = 0
Podiums = 0
POints = 0 Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
First race =1992 South African Grand Prix
First win =
Last win =
Last race =1992 Brazilian Grand Prix Giovanna Amati (born
July 20 ,1962 inRome ) is a former professionalrace car driver fromItaly . She is best known as the last female driver to have entered the Formula One World Championship.Born to rich parents, Amati had a colourful childhood, including being kidnapped for ransom, and buying a
Honda motorcycle when she was 15, managing to hide it from her parents for two years. She began racing professionally in 1981, winning several times over the next four years inFormula Abarth before moving up to ItalianFormula Three in 1985-86, again scoring a few wins. By 1987 she had moved up toFormula 3000 , but by 1992 had recorded a best result of only 7th place in six seasons in both Europe and Japan.It was mainly for financial reasons (and something of a publicity stunt) that Amati landed the second seat at the dying
Brabham Formula One team for the 1992 Grand Prix season. With her mediocre results inFormula 3000 ,Brabham using a barely changed version of their 1991 car and Amati's only previousFormula One experience being a test in a Benetton (courtesy of her then-partnerFlavio Briatore ), it was perhaps unsurprising that in three attempts she failed to qualify. Following theBrazilian Grand Prix , she was dropped in favour ofDamon Hill as her backing had not materialised.Since then, Amati has carved out a respectable, if unspectacular, career in sportscars, placing 3rd overall in the
SportsRacing World Cup SR2 class championship in 1999. She has also moved into media, writing columns in Italy for motorsport publications and providing television commentary.Complete Formula One results
()
ee also
*
Maria Teresa de Filippis
*Lella Lombardi
*Divina Galica
*Desiré Wilson External links
* [http://f1rejects.com/drivers/amati/index.html Giovanna Amati Biography at F1 Rejects]
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