On this week #2: Maria Teresa de Filippis
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.
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.
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.
