Four Formula 1 drivers who came out as LGBTQ, from Ralf Schumacher to Mike Beuttler

Yesterday, Attitude headed to Formula 1 at Silverstone to watch Charles Leclerc and co burn serious rubber. While walking the paddock, we spotted current Attitude cover girl, Celebrity Traitors star and out-and-proud lesbian Cat Burns, who got us reflecting on the small handful of publicly LGBTQ drivers throughout F1 history.

(Not to mention outspoken straight LGBTQ allies like racing legend Lewis Hamilton.)

Here, we race down memory lane and give Ralf Schumacher, Mike Beuttler, Mário de Araújo Cabral, and Lella Lombardi their flowers.

Ralf Schumacher

The brother of fellow racing veteran Michael, Ralf Schumacher announced he was in a same-sex relationship with Étienne Bousquet-Cassagne in a July 2024 social media post.

“The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything,” he said on Instagram. Schumacher was previously married to Cora-Caroline Brinkman with whom he has a son, David.

Lewis Hamilton was among those to celebrate the news, telling the press at that summer’s Hungarian Grand Prix: “Him taking that step sends such a positive message and liberates others to be able to do the same. We need more and more people to do that.” Lando Norris has also been quoted as saying: “You just want people to live their life and be happy and not feel like they are going to get judged, so I’m very happy for him.”

Schumacher, who claimed six Grand Prix wins with Williams and Toyota, married Bousquet-Cassagne in a televised ceremony only last month, on 30 May.

Mike Beuttler

Another gay British racing driver was Mike Beuttler, who competed in F1 between 1971 and 1973, with 29 entries.

Beuttler is said to have been in the glass closet during the peak of his career, meaning he was out to those close to him but not out to the public. (Homosexuality was only partially decriminalised in the UK in 1967.)

“Mike gave it absolutely everything on track – he wasn’t a natural talent but he worked hard,” Beuttler’s friend Ian Phillips told BBC Sport in 2021.

“I knew he was gay, but it didn’t matter in my world,” the former motorsport journalist added.

After retiring in 1973, Beuttler relocated to the US and all by disappeared from public life. He died in Los Angeles 1988 at age 48 due to AIDS-related complications.

Lella Lombardi

Maria Grazia ‘Lella’ Lombardi was the second woman to compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, after fellow Italian driver Maria Teresa de Filippis, entering 17 races between 1974 and 1976. She remains the only woman to have scored points in the championship.

According to FormulaOneHistory.com, Lombardi secured half a point for her sixth-place finish at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix – a race that was cut short due to a tragic accident that left four dead.

Throughout her career, Lombardi participated in 17 Grand Prix events, starting in 12 of them, and to this day remains the woman with the most Grand Prix starts.

She died of breast cancer on 3 March 1992, at the age of 50, and was survived by partner Fiorenza.

Mário de Araújo Cabral

Known by the nickname ‘Nicha’, Mário de Araújo Cabral raced in Formula One – the first Portuguese driver to do so – between 1959 and early 1964. However, like Beuttler, he did not score any points.

According to The Guardian, Cabral came out as bisexual in 2009 at the age of 75. He died in 2020 at the Hospital de São José in Lisbon at age 86.

While at F1, Attitude visited the Amex Racing Club in the F1® Fan Zone, a two-storey experience featuring interactive games, giveaways and photo ops, with the ground floor open to all fans. Upstairs, Amex Cardmembers, plus a guest, can access the new American Express Recovery Room, with complimentary refreshments, beauty touch-ups at the Refresh Bar, more photo ops (such as the Helmet Wall) and samples from Hampstead Tea.