Maria Teresa de Filippis (1926-2016)

Maria Teresa de Filippis (1926-2016)

Last week the racing world lost a true pioneer.  Maria Teresa de Filippis died at the age of 89 on January 8th.  She was the first woman to race in F1 making three Grand Prix Starts for Maserati in 1958.  Only one other woman has ever started an F1 race, the late Lella Lombardi started in 12 Grand Prix's between 1974 and 1976.

After the racing death of friend and fellow racer Jean Behra, Maria would hang up her racing helmet at 33 years old.