By Hal Tretbar
Women in Auto Racing: Part 3
Here are the stories of Maria Teresa de Filippis, Lella Lombardi, and Divina Galica, the first three women to drive in Formula One Grand Prix events. Next month I will wrap up the series about pioneering lady race drivers with the stories of Desire Wilson, and Giovanna Amati in Formula One.
In 1950 the FIA began awarding points to winning Grand Prix drivers to determine the Champion. There have been only five women to have participated in these events. They all were outstanding in other racing categories but struggled in Formula One. Their Formula One teams often were underfunded and had mechanical issues. Only one scored and that was 1/2 a point.
Maria Teresa de Filippis (11 Nov. 1926-Jan. 2016) came from Italian nobility. Her brothers bet that she could not drive fast. She went on to finish second in the 1954 Italian sports car championship. She caught the attention of Maserati who put her on their driving team. Her Maserati 200S placed second in a sports car event before the 1956 Naples Grand Prix.
Maria Teresa de Filippis in her Maserati 200S
In 1958 de Fillipis became the first female to start a Grand Prix. She was on the grid for the race at Spa –Francorchamps where she finished 10th. In May she entered the Monaco Grand Prix with a Maserati 250F similar to the car that Juan Fangio drove to the World Championship the year before. She missed qualifying behind future world champions Mike Hawthorn, Jack Brabham, and Graham Hill
During the rest of 1958 she did not qualify for the Grand Prix of Belgium, Portugal, and Italy. She was not allowed to enter the French Grand Prix because the race director said, “The only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser.”
In 1959 de Fillipis joined the team of her good friend Jean Behra to drive the Formula Two Behra-Porsche. (See previous articles about Behra and modified Porsche RSKs). Again she failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix behind her teammate Wolfgang von Trips.
She was scheduled to drive in the German Grand Prix at the Avus Ring in Berlin. de Fillipis was devastated when her friend and mentor Jean Behra was killed in the sports car race the day before the Grand Prix. She then gave up her racing career to marry and have a family.
In 1979 she joined the International Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers and in 2004 was a Founding member of the Maserati Club.
Fifteen years after de Fillipis, fellow Italian Lella Lombardi competed in Formula One between 1974 and 1976. Maria Grazia “Lelle” Lombardi was born March 25, 1941 and died of cancer at age 50. She worked as a gofer for a sports car driver who advanced her to co-driver. Soon she was driving single seaters. In 1973 she won the Ford Mexico Championship. She competed in the British 5000 series but failed to qualify for the 1974 British Grand Prix in an old Brabham.
In 1975 she gained sponsorship from Count Vittorio Zanon to drive a March for the season. She became the first woman since de Fillipis to qualify for a Grand Prix when she made the grid in South Africa.
Later in the season she drove a March 751 to 6thplace in the Spanish Grand Prix. The race was stopped on the 26thlap because of accidents and she was awarded only ½ a point. Then she placed 7thin the 1975 German Grand Prix.
1976 was a disappointing season. She had one race with the Williams Team and then an unsuccessful partnership with Ram Racing driving a Brabham. After driving in the 1977 NASCAR Daytona 400 she raced only sports cars. During her two years in Formula One she entered 17 races . With a ½ point for 6thplace, she is the only F1 driver to have that career total.
Divina Mary Galica was born August 13, 1944 in Great Britain. She was a Olympic skier. She participated in the1954 games at Innsbruck, and was team captain at Grenoble in 1968 and Saporro in 1972. Her need for speed led her to motorsports. She started racing karts before moving on to Formula Two and Formula One.
Galica only entered three F1 Championship events. She failed to qualify for the 1976 British Grand Prix driving a poorly set up Surtees TS16 numbered 13. In 1978 she also didn’t qualify for F1 races in Argentina and Brazil while driving for the underfunded Hesketh team. Her biggest successes came in sports cars and trucks.
She now resides in the United States. Because of her outstanding performance in sports cars she was hired to become an instructor for the Skip Barber Racing Schools, rising to become senior vice president.
Sources:
http://www.formula1dictionary.net/women_in_f1.html