Formula One's First Female Driver

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Born in Naples in 1926, Maria Teresa de Filippis started racing Fiat 500s at 22.

De Filippis began her racing career and won her first race, a 10 km Hillclimb event between Salerno and Cava de’ Tirreni, driving a Fiat 500.

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From this first win, she developed the confidence to compete in the Italian sports car championship, where she finished second place overall after the 1954 campaign driving an OSCA.

Maserati saw something special in her ability and hired her as a works driver in 1955. Maserati wanted her for testing.

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De Filippis entered seven grands prix and qualified to compete in three of the five races that counted towards the title.

She made her Formula One driver debut on May 18, 1958, competing in one of the iconic F1 cars of all time, the Maserati 250F.

While her stint in F1 lasted only a couple of years, de Fillipis found success in various racing series. F1 historians view her as a pioneer in the sport.

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She retired as a driver in 1959 and started a family. De Fillipis emerged as the Vice President of the newly formed International Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers.

During her racing career, her biggest competition didn’t come from the greats like Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, or Juan Manuel Fangio but from the prejudice that women weren’t supposed to race.

At first, they thought I couldn’t compete, but then I went to Formula One. I was only prevented from racing at the French Grand Prix. The race director said: The only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser’s. Apart from that, I don’t think I encountered any prejudice - only surprise at my success. -Maria Teresa de Filippis

The determined de Filippis practiced on the narrow, twisty Italian roads along the Amalfi coast to develop her driving skills. She debuted in a Hillclimb event near Naples in Salerno-Cava dei Tirreni, driving a Fiat 500B to its full potential and promptly winning the race.

Over the year, she participated in many races, including significant events like the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia. She raced heavier cars with more significant engines, such as a Lancia Aprilia, a Fiat 1100 Sport, a Urania 750, a Giaur, an Osca 1100, and an Osca MT4.

In these years, motorsport was highly dangerous, and a woman behind the wheel was certainly frowned upon.

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In 1954, while driving in the Giro di Sardegna, she was well on her way to the Italian sports car championship title until she was blinded by straw thrown in the air by two cars she was following.

Maria lost control of her Maserati A6GCS and crashed out of the race. She lost all hearing in her left ear that day, along with her potential championship.

Maserati signed her as a works driver, where she tested Maserati’s high-performance cars – including Formula 1 material – while participating in some races.

In a 1955 event at Mugello, she slid off the road and crashed into a ravine. A tree prevented her from tumbling down, saving her life.

The following year, in a 1000-kilometer race in Buenos Aires, de Fillipis crashed hard while trying to avoid a slower participant. She was thrown out of the car, breaking her arm and losing her fourth place in the World Sports Car Championship. The seatbelt was still catching on in the 1950s.

Juan Manuel Fangio, who was like a father to her, gave advice. You go too fast, you take too many risks. It was similar to what her proud yet worried mother always told her: Go slow and win.

She entered the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix a month later, her first official championship event. Although her time in qualifying was good for the 23rd place, among 30 participants, it wasn’t good enough to race, as the Monte Carlo race only allowed 16 participants as per tradition.

Maria became the first woman to start and finish an official Grand Prix one month later when she ended the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix in tenth place.

A new low at the French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux followed this high. In a case of overt sexism, the race director refused Maria to enter the race, stating, The only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser’s.

Maria tried her best in the season’s final two races, the Portuguese and Italian Grand Prix. She qualified but retired with a failed Maserati engine. Going out at her home race in Italy was particularly discouraging. She was on her way to fourth place in a historic point-scoring finish.

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Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 season, and de Filippis was listed but not classified. Maria joined the Behra-Porsche team in 1959, headed by her good friend Jean Behra. She entered the opening round in Monaco but again failed to qualify for the small grid of sixteen cars in the principality in an underpowered Porsche.

For the rest of 1959, she participated in non-F1 events since the Behra-Porsche team ran mostly on Formula 2 specifications.

Her attitude towards the sport started to change. While she was never afraid of speed, Maria lost dear friends, including Mike Hawthorn, Alfonso de Portago, Luigi Musso, and Peter Collins.

When Jean Behra died during the F2 race at AVUS during the weekend of the German Grand Prix, she had seen enough. She walked away from racing that day, never to return.

Maria married in 1960 to start a family. Maria lived a long, prosperous life in 2016 at 89.

When Maria started racing, her parents thought it was only a phase since she never showed any interest in motor racing before betting with her brothers that she could be fast in a race car.

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Seeing her success and determination, they approved her new career – but not without telling her to proceed cautiously. Along with the perils racing offered to competitors, Maria had to fight off constant prejudices and mockeries.

Maria found herself driving legendary racetracks, wheel to wheel, with the world’s racing elite, in a Maserati 250F, no less. Formula One driver Maria Teresa de Fillipis proved to everyone involved that girls can indeed race.

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Douglas Pilarski is an award-winning writer & journalist based on the West Coast. He writes about luxury goods, exotic cars, horology, tech, food, lifestyle, equestrian and rodeo, magazine features, and millionaire travel. 

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