The shocking $5m kidnapping story of F1’s last female driver

Start of 2021 Portuguese GP — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 History

The shocking $5m kidnapping story of F1’s last female driver

Giovanna Amati's kidnapping was a big news story before she even raced in F1

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Monday 27 April 2026 21:00

Being the most recent woman to compete in Formula 1 is a remarkable distinction — but for Giovanna Amati, it’s only part of a far more extraordinary life story.

While that achievement alone would define many racing careers, Amati’s background includes events that go far beyond the typical path to the F1 grid.

Years before her time in motorsport, she was the victim of a kidnapping in 1978, when she was taken by a group of criminals and held for ransom — a dramatic episode that remains one of the most shocking stories connected to any F1 driver.

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Amati was held in a wooden cage for more than ten weeks by the group, led by Jean Daniel Nieto, with a ransom demand of 800 million lira (around $5m today, adjusted for conversion and inflation) being sent to her father Giovanni Amati, who owned a chain of theatres.

Star Wars receipts helped free Amati from kidnappers

There were some newspaper reports at the time about Amati's kidnappers and her 'relationship' with Nieto, who was caught and sentenced to 18 years in prison (before escaping in 1989 and spending more than 20 years on the run before being recaptured in 2010).

"All the stories that you have read in the newspaper were wrong, completely wrong," she said in later years. "When I went out I just wanted to come back to my family and to get all the group arrested. These are stories that the media put out."

Amati's brief but historic F1 career

After her ordeal was over, Amati continued working toward her dream of becoming a racing driver – working her way up to Formula 3000 (effectively F2) by 1987. She failed to qualify 17 times in 31 entries, but nevertheless got a nob from Brabham for their second F1 seat in 1991 after Akihiko Nakaya failed to obtain a superlicense.

When she got the call, she was concerned that she wouldn't be able to pull together the funding necessary to run, especially on relatively short notice.

However, in possibly the most '1990s Italy' result possible...her deceased father had been friends with the man who was at that time the country's Prime Minister, the allegedly mafia-linked Giulio Andreotti, who greased the wheels for her to enter the first three races of the '91 season.

"My father was no longer alive but at that time one of his friends had become prime minister of Italy [Giulio Andreotti]," Amati told the BBC.

"He gave me an appointment at 5:45am. I couldn't sleep all night, thinking about what I was going to say. I was desperate. It was the only chance I had and he helped me. At the last minute, I could meet the budget."

She failed to qualify for those three races, running three or four seconds off the pace of team-mate Eric van de Poele – who himself only qualified for one race all year before his mid-season departure. After the third of those failures, Amati was sacked and replaced by future world champion Damon Hill.