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Profile
DOB: November 11,1926
Birthplace: Naples, Italy
Maria Teresa de Filippis (born 11 November 1926)
is a former Italian racing driver noted as being
the first woman to race in Formula One. She
participated in five World Championship Grands
Prix, debuting on 18 May 1958, but scored no
championship points. Though largely unsuccessful in
her Formula One racing career, she won races in
other series and is remembered as a pioneer in the
sport.
At the age of 22, de Filippis began her racing
career. Two of her brothers told her that she would
not be able to go very fast, goading her and making
a bet that she would be slow. She won her first
race, driving a Fiat 500 on a 10 km drive between
Salerno and Cava de' Tirreni. She went on to drive
in the Italian sports car championship, finishing
second in the 1954 season. Seeing her potential,
Maserati brought her in as the works driver.
De Filippis took part in various motor racing
events, including hillclimbing and endurance
racing, before being given the chance to drive in
Formula One.
Formula One career
Maserati 250Fs in 1957
Maserati were a successful Formula One chassis
manufacturer in the 1950s, supplying several teams
and winning numerous races. In 1957 Juan Manuel
Fangio won the drivers title in a Maserati
250F,[his fifth and final championship win. The
team officially withdrew from the sport at the end
of the year but many of the cars remained, being
driven by privateers. On 18 May 1958 de Filippis
was given the opportunity to enter the Monaco Grand
Prix, the second round of the 1958 Formula One
season, in one of the 250Fs. Of the 31 entrants
only half set a time good enough to qualify, with
de Filippis missing out alongside fellow debutant
and future Formula One Management and Formula One
Administration president Bernie Ecclestone. De
Filippis' time of 1'50.8 was 5.8 seconds behind the
qualifying time of the fastest 16 which included
future world champions Mike Hawthorn, Jack Brabham,
and Graham Hill in his first race. Fangio gave de
Filippis plenty of advice during the season. In a
2006 interview she recalled that Fangio told her
"You go too fast, you take too many risks".
The 1958 Belgian Grand Prix allowed all drivers
to compete with no cut-off for a qualifying time.
De Filippis qualified in last place, nearly 44
seconds off Tony Brooks' pole position time.
Although she was lapped twice in the 24 lap race
she managed to finish, albeit in 10th and last
place after nine other cars failed to finish. This
would prove to be her only race finish.
At the following race, the French Grand Prix at
Reims-Gueux on 6 July 1958, de Fillipis was unable
to compete. She claimed in her 2006 interview that
the French race director said "The only helmet a
woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser's"
and that he prevented her from taking part.
De Filippis had a poor result at the 1958
Portuguese Grand Prix in August. She qualified in
last place, more than 15 seconds slower than the
car ahead of her, and only lasted six laps before
her engine failed. On 7 September 1958, she started
her home Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale
Monza from last place. She completed 57 of the 70
laps before having to retire with engine problems.
As the 14th and final retirement out of 21, she
could be classified as finishing eighth.
De Filippis joined the Behra-Porsche RSK team
for 1959 but again failed to qualify at the Monaco
Grand Prix. Her time of 1'47.8 was only 3 seconds
off the lowest qualifying pace and a further 1
second behind team mate Wolfgang von Trips. It was
her final attempt at Grand Prix qualification,
though she was still active in motor racing
Racing retirement
1958 was a tragic year in Formula One with the
death of several drivers. Porsche team leader Jean
Behra died in a racing accident on 1 August 1959
while driving in the sports car support race for
the 1959 German Grand Prix at AVUS. De Filippis was
supposed to drive at that event and was devastated
by deaths of several friends during her time in the
sport and especially that of Behra. She left the
circuit and turned her back on motor racing for 20
years.
De Filippis married in 1960 and started a
family. She kept away from all forms of motor
racing until 1979 when she joined the International
Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers, going on to
take the role of Vice-President in 1997. She was
also a founding member of the Maserati Club in 2004
and would go on to become its chairman.[
Legacy
De Filippis was a pioneer in motor racing, a
sport dominated by men, and no woman would race in
Formula One for a further 15 years. Fellow Italian
Lella Lombardi competed between 1974 and 1976 and
remains the only female to have finished a Formula
One race in a point-scoring position. Three other
women competed in the sport, most recently Giovanna
Amati in 1992.[13]
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