[6] At the age of 18, Amati was kidnapped for ransom on 12 February 1978[3] by three gangsters in a group led by Jean Daniel Nieto.

As the Italian authorities had introduced a policy of freezing the assets belonging to the families of kidnapped people in an attempt to fight organised crime by preventing ransom-payments,[9] Amati's parents were able to pay the ransom by using box office receipts from the film Star Wars,[10] selling family jewellery and borrowing money from their servants' life savings.

[3][12][13] To improve her driving skills, Amati attended a motor racing school together with her friend, Elio de Angelis.

[14] In 1990, Amati was involved in a crash with British driver Phil Andrews, when they collided during a test session prior to the Brands Hatch race that year.

[14] Amati signed with the Brabham team in January 1992 to partner Eric van de Poele after the team was unable to sign Japanese F3000 driver Akihiko Nakaya, who was not granted a superlicence due to the FIA not recognising the Japanese F3000 series as a stepping stone in motor racing.

Amati was the first female driver to enter a Formula One race since Desiré Wilson in 1980 and the announcement earned a great degree of publicity for the then struggling Brabham team.

[16] At the Mexican Grand Prix, Amati failed to qualify again, setting a time more than 10 seconds slower than Mansell.

[16] Hill failed to qualify for the next five races until he successfully put the car on the grid for the 1992 British Grand Prix, although he lapped over eight seconds slower than pole sitter Mansell.

Amati competed in the 1998 Sebring 12 Hours in a BMW M3, driving alongside Craig Carter and Andy Petery but retired due to clutch trouble.

She also entered the 1000 km of Monza alongside Loic Depailler, Marco Lucchinelli, and Xavier Pompidou but they were unable to start.

Amati then finished 11th at Le Mans during a two-hour race alongside Guido Knycz and Giovanni Gulinelli.