A story made of passion, talent and perseverance. Even against prejudices that in her time wanted to prevent her from being able to express her nature for speed
The first woman to qualify for a Formula 1 Grand Prix. He was fast, fearless and very often gave his colleagues a hard time, even putting them behind very often. In an era when it was already difficult to have a car in the family, considered a luxury item, it was even more rare to see a woman behind the wheel taking part in car competitions.
The origins
Born in Naples in 1926, the youngest of the 5 children of Count Franz, from an early age she took part in some car races on the road with her father, who in addition to being the owner of the company that distributed electricity for irrigation to the whole Campania also had a great passion for cars. Maria Teresa’s career, on the other hand, began in her early twenties when attending the Tour of Sicily from 1948 with a Fiat 1100 S, paired with his brother Antonio. Unfortunately a mechanical failure prevented her from finishing the race when she was in the very first positions. He then went back to the Salerno – Quarry, a 10 km race in which he triumphed with a Fiat 500 “Topolino”. In the touring class of car racing, he did a real internship and then moved on to the Sport class, where other great performances and triumphs followed.
The Motor Valley
A passionate about racing and motors could not fail to land at the court of the Motor Valley. De Filippis between 1953 and 1954 ran in the Italian Sport Championship Class 1100 with the Huesca, a Bolognese car manufacturer from San Lazzaro di Savena, founded by Ettore, Ernesto and Bindo Maserati after having sold the Casa Del Tridente to the Orsi brothers. With the Osca he won 8 races out of 22 with four second places and two thirds reaching the end of the 1954 championship third in the general classification. After two seasons with the car of the Bolognese company, she felt ready for large displacements and for this reason the car driven in 1955 was a Maserati A6 GCS. A real racing car that allowed her to win Catania – Etna, a very tough and highly trying competition. Maria Teresa was ready for the big leap into Formula 1.
Formula 1
The debut came in 1958 when De Filippis bought the Maserati 250F with which Juan Manuel Fangio had won the world championship the year before. In fact, at the end of the previous season the Motor Valley brand, born in Bologna and then moved to Modena, decided to withdraw from the Formula 1 Championship and only provide assistance to individuals who bought their vehicles to compete. In fact, Maria Teresa did not miss the opportunity. As a private he made his debut at the Monaco Grand Prix. However he failed to qualify for the race. Which instead happened in Belgian Grand Prix where he started nineteenth and finished the race as tenth achieving his best placement. Excluded from the French Grand Prix because according to the race director “the only helmet a woman should wear is that of the hairdresser”. Victim of the prejudices that were sovereign in a purely male-dominated environment, she did not give up and qualified for both the Portuguese Grand Prix and the Monza Grand Prix, in which however she will be betrayed by the engine that in Italy will not allow her to reach the eighth position a few laps from the end of the race. In 1959 he took part again in the Monaco Grand Prix with the Behra-Porsche of his friend Jean Behra. It will be due of the fatal accident the French, in Germany, is the cause that will lead Maria Teresa De Filippis to retire from the racing world and to affirm that she would no longer drive a single-seater in her life. Only about twenty years later she returned to the car, joining the club of former Formula 1 drivers and always remaining tied to the House of the Trident who had believed in her so much.
Maria Teresa De Filippis aboard the Maserati 250F (Copyright: Medium)
“Pilot”
A driver who knew how to go fast, but always with her head on her shoulders. She pushed without ever exaggerating and this made her make a difference in every competition faced. He was also very skilled in the wet as well as having a deep-rooted knowledge of cars also in their mechanics. His nickname was “Pilot” because of her stature as a petite woman and because very often she managed to embarrass her opponents with her guidance. A woman who scored the history of motorsport, which fought against the prejudices of an era and a society in which women were not yet fully involved, except to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers. He struggled to carry his values forward, even when she refused to participate in competitions organized only for women and when at competitions she was annoyed that they would eventually reserve her a prize for beauty or sympathy. Her actions were a milestone in the development of the female figure in society, also allowing her to become a symbol in the history of motor racing.
Maria Teresa De Filippis, the first woman to race in Formula 1 (Copyright: YouTube – bestdestination)
.
