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Grand Prix's fastest lady?

Author

• Mattijs Diepraam

Date

• 8W May '98 issue, offers are kindly accepted to extend the length of this article!

Related articles

• Giovanna Amati - Motor racing's glamour girl, by Mattijs Diepraam/Rainer Nyberg
• Divina Galica - Female speed addict, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Lella Lombardi - Lady racer: the Lella Lombardi story, by Geza Sury
• Desiré Wilson - F1's only female winner, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Classic Red - The Maserati 250F series, by Don Capps

Who? Maria Teresa de Filippis What? Maserati 250F (self-entered) Where? Monza When? 1958 Italian GP

Why?

This was F1's first lady driver. As the majority of women who reached the top echelon of motorsport she was Italian - like Lombardi and Amati. In the early fifties Maria Teresa was very successful in national racing, first scoring some fine results for OSCA and then with her own Maserati. With the help of boy-friend Luigi Musso she entered four Grands Prix with this machine, her best result being a 10th at Spa, two laps down. She signed up with Jean Behra's Behra-Porsche team for 1959 but retired from the sport after Behra was killed at the dangerous Avus motorway track at Berlin.