The tragic F1 race where a female driver scored (half) a point

It is one of the great statistical oddities that the only female driver to score a point in a world championship grand prix, didn't. 

Of the 1,130 world championship grands prix to take place as of the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP, 781 drivers have started at least one of them. 354 of those have scored at least one point, with the last driver to add their name to the list being Isack Hadjar with his eighth-place finish in Japan. 

But 355 drivers have finished in the points positions in grands prix - with Lella Lombardi being the only female driver to ever do so. Unfortunately for the Italian, who started 12 races between 1974 and 1976, her only point scored was halved. 

Lombardi finished sixth in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix - held 50 years ago today on April 27th, in her March-Ford machine. 

Back in the 1970s, and up until the end of the 2002 season, only the top six finishers in a grand prix earned points, with P6 picking up one point. 

Therefore, Lombardi should have been awarded a full point for her finish at the track near Barcelona, but for a tragic reason, her point was halved.

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Held at Montjuic Park near Barcelona, the race was beset with problems throughout the week, with drivers boycotting practice thanks to the shoddy installation of the armco barriers. 

Mechanics and engineers went out onto the track to fasten the barriers together, but reigning world champion Emerson Fittipaldi was disgusted with what he saw. He did the minimum three laps in qualifying, coming in slowest of all and promptly went home.

Niki Lauda, the eventual 1975 world champion, was on pole with Lombardi 24th of 25 starters. 

By lap 25, Lauda was long since out after a first lap collision with fellow eventual champions Alan Jones (making his F1 debut), James Hunt, Mario Andretti, and Jody Scheckter also spectating following failures.

German driver Rolf Stommelen, driving for Graham Hill's eponymous team, found himself in the lead, but his rear-wing failed, pitching him across the barrier and into a spectator area, with five bystanders killed. 

The race continued for four laps, with McLaren's Jochen Mass being declared the winner after only 29 of the planned 75 laps had been run. 

Under the rules, this meant that as 60% of the scheduled distance had not been completed, half-points were awarded.

It meant that the one point Lombardi picked up for her sixth-place finish was halved. 

It was the first race in F1 world championship history where half-points were awarded. To date, 50 years on, only six such events have happened.

F1 never returned to Montjuic, the Spanish GP being moved to Jarama near Madrid for 1976, Jerez in 1986 and finally a return to Barcelona, with the Circuit de Catalunya in 1991. 

This season's race is planned to be the final Spanish GP at the venue, with the race set to move back to Madrid with a street circuit for 2026.

As for Lombardi, her next best finish in a grand prix was seventh later in 1975 in Germany, whilst she also competed in NASCAR, in the DTM and at Le Mans. She died in 1992.