A decade ago today, Maria Teresa de Filippis, the inaugural female driver in Formula 1, passed away.
During the late 1950s, De Filippis participated in five Grand Prix events, competing in three and achieving a tenth-place result at Spa-Francorchamps, though her impact extended beyond these statistics.
Hailing from the vicinity of Naples, Italy, born in 1926 to the affluent Conte de Filippis, she triumphed in the Salerno-Cava dei Tirreni race in a Fiat 500 during her initial competition in the late 1940s, having been provoked by her elder siblings.
While her brother Luigi, who had aspirations of racing in the 1950 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, did not succeed in joining the nascent drivers’ world championship, Maria Teresa steadily advanced in her career; her mother and father offered no resistance to her pursuits.
She shared with Motor Sport magazine in 2012, “My father certainly supported me; he motivated me to excel in any path I selected.” She added, “My mother also didn’t disapprove significantly, primarily because I was victorious. That pleased her, naturally.”
Despite this, De Filippis confronted gender discrimination, although she mentioned to The Guardian in 2006 that she experienced bias on only a single instance: “The sole time I was prohibited from competing was at the French Grand Prix. The director of the race remarked: ‘A woman’s only appropriate helmet is the one found at a hair salon.'”
Maria Teresa de Filippis, Maserati 250F
Photo by: LAT Photographic
“Other than that,” she stated, “I don’t recall facing any bias—merely astonishment at my achievements.” While the understanding of bias has changed over the years, De Filippis informed Motor Sport that “when interactions with male drivers grew excessively challenging or crude, I would simply tease them, mock them playfully, and they would depart.”
In 1954, De Filippis secured the second position in the Italian Sportscar Championship; by 1956, she demonstrated remarkable skill, advancing effortlessly from the rear of the starting line to finish runner-up in a sportscar event held in her native Naples, leading to her entry into Formula 1 in 1958, where she piloted a Maserati 250F—the very type Juan Manuel Fangio utilized to claim the world championship in 1957.
De Filippis harbored a reluctance to receive directives from men, which influenced her choices. She recounted to Motor Sport, “That’s why I joined Maserati, and why I consistently avoided Ferrari.” She continued, “Why would I desire to be at Ferrari? Simply because I’m Italian? Absolutely not. During that period, I wasn’t inclined to be dictated to by Mr. Ferrari. I conversed with him and conveyed my disinterest in driving for his squad. Back then, a single utterance from him would make everyone obey instantly. That approach simply wasn’t compatible with me.”
“Moreover,” she added, “I sensed an absence of genuine ethos or profound substance within their operations. At Maserati, the atmosphere was more akin to a family enterprise, populated by more authentic individuals, making communication simpler. Furthermore, the ability to bring my personal vehicle to the team was a significant factor for me.”
Maria Teresa de Filippis, Maserati 250F
Photo by: LAT Photographic
The start of De Filippis’s world championship career occurred simultaneously with Fangio’s departure from the sport, and the celebrated Argentine imparted a wealth of counsel to her. She recalled to The Guardian, “He frequently cautioned: ‘You drive too quickly, you assume excessive dangers.’ You see, I had no fear of speed, which isn’t always advantageous. He was concerned I might suffer a mishap.” Remarkably, she never retired from an F1 race due to a crash, including the non-championship competitions she entered.
She elaborated to Motor Sport, “I experienced no unease; I felt no apprehension.” She continued, “These Formula 1 competitors, figures like Fangio, Ascari, Villoresi, were my idols, and they treated me kindly. I never encountered issues with the prominent drivers; it was only the less established ones who disliked being surpassed by me.”
“I held Fangio in high regard, both as an individual and a racer, owing to his unassuming nature and his relentless effort in attaining his considerable accomplishments. He earned everything he achieved. During races, I affectionately referred to him as my ‘racing father’ due to his exceptional kindness and ordinary treatment of me, for which I esteemed him. He possessed a refined character.”
De Filippis’s tenure at the pinnacle of motor racing proved brief; her retirement ensued after Jean Behra’s deadly crash on August 1, 1959, at Berlin’s notoriously fast and dangerous AVUS circuit.
“An excessive number of comrades had perished,” she divulged to The Guardian. “There was a continuous string of fatalities—Luigi Musso, Peter Collins, Alfonso de Portago, Mike Hawthorn. Subsequently, Jean Behra lost his life in Berlin. For me, that particular incident was the most heartbreaking, as it occurred during a race I was scheduled to participate in.”
Maria Teresa de Filippis, Maserati 250F
Photo by: LAT Photographic
De Filippis subsequently established a family, and despite abstaining from motor racing for twenty years, she became a member of the international club for retired F1 drivers in 1978, ascending to the role of vice-president by 1997.
Nevertheless, in the sixty-seven years following her withdrawal from the sport, merely four other women participated in world championship Grand Prix races, with only one—her compatriot Lella Lombardi—managing to reach the starting grid, doing so in 1975 and 1976.
