So, I was just messing around the other day, looking at some old motorsport pictures online. You know, just browsing, killing time. I got into this rabbit hole about the early days of Formula 1, like back in the 50s. It’s pretty wild how different things were back then.
Anyway, while clicking through stuff, I kept seeing mentions of the big names, Fangio, Moss, Ascari, all those guys. But then this one name popped up that I didn’t recognize: Maria Teresa de Filippis. I thought, huh, that’s different. Sounded Italian, obviously. Got me curious, so I decided to spend a bit of time figuring out who she was. Kind of a mini-project for myself, you could say.
Digging into the Story
Turns out, my little digging session was pretty interesting. This wasn’t just some random name. She was actually the first woman ever to race in a Formula 1 World Championship event. Like, seriously, back in the 1950s! That blew me away a bit. It was a totally different world then, especially in something like F1.
So, I looked a bit more into her actual racing journey. Here’s kinda what I pieced together:
- She started racing cars because her brothers apparently bet her she couldn’t drive fast. Guess she showed them!
- She got into F1 around 1958. Drove a Maserati 250F first, if I remember right. That’s a classic car.
- She entered a few Grand Prix races. I think five in total over ’58 and ’59.
- Her first actual race entry was Monaco in 1958, but she didn’t qualify for that one. Tough track.
- She did qualify for the Belgian Grand Prix later that year and actually finished the race, I think in 10th place. That was her best F1 result.
- Later she also drove for the Behra-Porsche team for a bit.
It wasn’t easy, though. I read somewhere that the French Grand Prix race director once told her something like “the only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser’s.” Can you believe that? Shows you what she was up against.
She apparently stopped racing in F1 after her friend and team owner Jean Behra died in a crash in 1959. Seemed like that hit her hard, which is totally understandable.
My Takeaway
So yeah, that was my little dive into the story of Maria Teresa de Filippis. Just started from seeing a name and getting curious. It’s pretty cool finding out about these pioneers. Didn’t race for long in F1, but still, being the first woman to do it back then? That takes some serious guts. Just thought I’d share what I found during my little history hunt.
