On this week #2: Maria Teresa de Filippis
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On 9th January 2016, Maria Teresa de Filippis passed away in Bergamo. Born in Naples on 11th November 1926, Maria Teresa was the first woman to compete in a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix. In 1958, after failing to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix, she secured a spot on the grid two races later at the Belgian Grand Prix. Behind the wheel of a Maserati 250F from Scuderia Centro Sud and equipped with Pirelli tires, De Filippis finished in tenth place, two laps behind the winner, Englishman Tony Brooks in a Vanwall.
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The Italian driver also qualified for the races in Oporto and Monza but did not finish either of them, plagued by technical issues with her single-seater.
Her best career result came in the Syracuse Grand Prix, one of the most significant non-championship Formula 1 events in the '50s and '60s. In the 1958 edition, she finished in fifth place after starting from the eighth position on the grid. This remains the highest placement by a woman in a race of the top automotive category. De Filippis also competed in other categories, achieving an impressive ninth place in the 1955 Targa Florio, partnered with Luigi Bellucci, driving a Maserati A6GCS.
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Only one other woman, also Italian, managed to compete in a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix: Lella Lombardi. She qualified for 12 Grand Prix races between 1975 and 1976, with her best result being a sixth-place finish (earning her half a championship point) in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.