On reflection, however, he was probably looking after himself.. When Lella Lombardi climbed out of her Matra after the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, she didnt believe shed done anything unique. Not only was she a novice in Formula One, but her car also suffered a broken gearbox in the vital Final Qualifying Session. She wasnt there to make up the numbers. Most of the scheduled practice was boycotted by a majority of drivers, who were adamant that the circuit barriers as erected on the round-the-houses circuit were badly assembled. She made it a mere 23 laps until she was forced to retire. By the time she arrived at Monaco in early June she had scored half of the six victories that would help her become Italys Ford Escort Mexico Challenge champion. However, the onset of the Second World War led her to joining the RAF as a pilot something she had previously trained as. Lella Lombardi Where better to begin than with the most successful female F1 driver of all time: Lella Lombardi. Two years later she further proved her ability as she won four of the 10 Formula 850 races in a Biraghi, and went on to take the championship in 1971. [12] Lombardi is considered an F1 trailblazer, after which women increasingly joined Formula One in many capacities aside from driving. Soon she broke through worldwide, winning the Formula Ford Mexico series and made her Formula One debut in 1974. Her father found her passion for racing difficult to understand, but was secretly proud of her achievement when, in 1968, she finished runner-up to Franco Bernabei. She was not interested in music, reading, culture or anything else. Subscribe Shop Subscribe Articles F1 Articles F1 Opinion Mark Hughes History MotoGP Podcasts Competitions The Showroom Articles She continued to impress, and ran the series in 1974. Over her career, Lombardi started an impressive twelve F1 races, spanning the 1974-1976 seasons. In '74 the title was won by Bob Evans in a T332. Lombardi finished 31st. Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female who scored points in Formula One. The World Champion, Emerson Fittipaldi, had the courage of his convictions and did the bare legal minimum of practice, and refused to start the race at all. Lella Lombardi races, wins and teams | Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine Find out about British F1 driver, Lella Lombardi, their career, history and character information incl. In 1975, Lombardi joined the March team for a full seasonat that time alongside the macho Vittorio Brambilla (nicknamed the Monza Gorilla) and Hans-Joachim Stuck. The following year, Lella joined Christine Dacremont in a Lancia Stratos and finished second in their class. The final Grand Prixfor Lombardi was in Austria; a 12th place was her reward. And because its usually the woman of the house who makes the major interior design decisions, we decided to run an all-woman crew. Quietly impressive, it was much better than her Montjuch performance. Her racing career would flourish from there onwards. But its boss Charles James wanted to be involved lock, stock and barrel. The F1 cars of that time were no easy feat to manage worlds away from the control of today. Nationality I wish we could know what Lombardis career could have been had she been listened to in F1, if shed been more adamant at being the center of attention now and again. She was sure of her illness by 1985. Lombardi is commemorated by a sculpture in her birthplace, Frugarolo. She raced a Lola-Chevrolet and finished fourteenth, but wasnt qualified. She lived well and had little trouble getting sponsorship. But Lombardi was tenacious. This was back in 1936 and by 1939 shed competed in the Antwerp Grand Prix. She wasnt rich her father was a butcher and, with no sponsors to begin with, she slept in her truck to save money. Where better to begin than with the most successful female F1 driver of all time: Lella Lombardi. Lombardi was a versatile racer and tried her hand at numerous disciplines throughout her career. The male gaze has shaped motorsports, which is why those drivers that operate outside of its sight and yet succeed within it, are so remarkable. 1974 British Grand Prix [9] Lombardi also successfully performed at other races, including the German Grand Prix at the Nrburgring, where she finished seventh. races, teams and much more. Qualifying was more problematic, but by the end of the season she was only two tenths shy of Mallory Park pole-sitter Ashley; the gap had been 4.6 seconds back in March. She remembered how foreign people appreciated her but at the same time she wanted to be known in Italy despite the difficulties of being accepted in a very male world.. Lombardi returned to F1 in 1976 for the British Grand Prix but failed to qualify the aging RAM Racing Brabham BT44 she was piloting. Motor Sport correspondent Denis Jenkinson reckoned hers, A game try. Leena Gade is one of a growing number of female engineers in the sport, with multiple Le Mans victories to her credit while working for AudiSport. While apremature end to a life and career that had not reachedits full potential, Lella Lombardi nevertheless made her point; no one can take that away from her. In 1974, Lombardi was the first female racing driver to qualify and compete at the Race of Champions in Brands Hatch. Her success gave visibility to trans people and a narrative the public hadnt come into contact with that transitions werent smokescreens for the perceived undercurrent of male homosexuality. A successful placing in the 1965 Formula Monza, however, gave Lombardi away, when her parents read about her in the papers. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Thats unusual for a racing driver. Lombardis most successful season was 1979. Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female who scored points in Formula One. Lombardi thus joined the ShellSPORT Luxembourg squad for the 74 Rothmans F5000 Championship and her Lola T330 wore 208 as a nod to the famous radio stations frequency. The subsequent 75 V6 model was less successful and so Lombardi, though she had managed an eighth place in the 1986 Spa 24 Hours co-driven by Drovandi and Roberto Castagna, switched to a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth for 1987. She has also driven the highest number on a Formula One car - #208, which was used on her debut at the 1974 British Grand Prix, but did not qualify. Rather than ask to be entirely funded in her efforts behind the wheel of the Brabham, she paid her way herself. (Shed already been farmed out to Williams at Watkins Glen the previous October, when her FW04 conked on the warm-up lap.) She finished 14th at the Brazilian Grand Prix but the team decided to replace her with Ronnie Peterson, who became available after breaking away from Lotus. In the 1975 event, she was once again able to qualify and compete with a March-Ford. Lombardi bought her first car in 1965, competing in Formula Monza. Wed been a disaster in terms of sponsorship since bursting into F1 in 1970, says Herd. As Angela Webb, one of the race promoters who knew Lella, says in a retrospective in Motorsport Magazine: She stayed in Italy and flew to each race, yet never asked for expenses. Frugarolo. We were too busy building production racing cars. Wed recognize Lella now like a typical modern racer: focused on nothing but driving, not speaking about her private life. Her team-mate was established series front-runner Ian Ashley: She was the first woman racing driver to seriously impress me. We were quite close on lap times, and what was nice with her is that she would hand the car back to me exactly as it was when I had handed it to her. Starting in karting and moving to Formula Monza and Formula Three, Lombardi advanced through racing until she reached Formula One. This perhaps shows us how much attention was paid to the lives of female racers at the time. 0 Lella Lombardi (and every other woman to ever compete in F1 for that matter) is shit and didn't deserve to score anything. In 1977, she competed in NASCAR at the Firecracker 400 that took place at Daytona. 3 March 1992(1992-03-03) (aged50)Milan, Italy She qualified 7 seconds off pole in P24 and got half a point because there were 18 DNFs, 5 people died and the race was abandoned. She is the only woman to win points in Formula One, winning half a point in the Spanish Grand Prix. First Race Its difficult to celebrate a points-scoring position in those circumstances. While failing to qualify, Pete Lyons, arguably the leading F1 journalist of that era, nevertheless described Lombardi'sintroduction to the world of Formula One like this: "Lella Lombardi drove her BT42 the same chassis with which Pace failed to qualify in France in a brisk enough, and clean enough, manner to impress people favourably.". Lombardi finished seventh in Augusts German GP, despite a puncture. Career The relationship between Lombardi and the team soured, ending her career with March. Her best results 4ths at Brands, Monza, Oulton Park and Mallory Park. Fastest Laps [2] Initially, Lombardi tried to qualify for Formula One with a privately entered Brabham supported by the Italian Automobile Club but failed to qualify. Queer drivers are a case in point. After a further two category victories in 1971, at Monza and Vallelunga, she returned to F3 in 1972 and, with her Lotus 69 running under the Jolly Club umbrella, finished 10th in the standings. Lombardi's next race, the Spanish Grand Prix, saw her make history. She won the 6 Hours of Pergusa and the 6 Hours of Vallelunga. Podium Percentage : 23.96%. She impressed him not only with her driving but also by her mechanical knowledge and feel. She had raced hard against some of the best drivers in the world, and she finished in sixth place. He was very ambitious and so we signed big names Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo to show that we meant business. The irony of Beuttlers racing record is that even though he achieved five top-10 finishes in the 28 races he took part in, he never managed to secure any points though todays regulations would have awarded him some. We miss her passion, determination and modesty., Lombardi checked into Milans San Camillo Clinic in February 1992 and died on March 3, days short of her 51st birthday. Finishing 14th at the season opener in Brazil, Lombardi then failed to qualify in Great Britain and Germany. Lombardi grew up in Italy and developed an interest in racing by driving a delivery van for her family. Lella Lombardi was born in 1941 in Frugarolo, a small village in Piedmont, the fourth daughter of a cured meat industrialist. [1] Her father was a butcher, who gave Lella her first job as a delivery driver for the family's shop. Three years later, she was the runner up in Italys Formula Three and in 1970 she raced in the Italian Formula 850 series and won the entire thing (racking up an impressive four wins in the competition). [7] In 1974, Lombardi was signed to drive the Shellsport-Luxembourg Lola in F5000 and finished fourth. The damaged monocoque was still in the workshop so we took it apart and discovered a crack in its cast-magnesium rear bulkhead. Tatiana Calderon follows in their wheeltracks this season. In situations where options are slim, you have to take every opportunity that comes your way. Its perfect. Fresh from bridging the Indy 500s gender gap, and contesting the Winston Cup on a shoestring, Guthrie was dismayed by the Europeans red-carpet welcome. She was really nice, and a good partner to share a car with, something I was not used to. Later that same year, partnered by Giorgio Francia, she won the Vallelunga Six Hours; they would win the 1981 Mugello Six Hours, too. Thats why we were strong. That she was a woman was an irrelevancy to Lella. Her next two entries at Le Mans were not quite as great. Or become a seller if you've got a car to sell. She and Fiorenza were a beautiful couple, reserved; the spotlight was never on them. Discover moreclassic cars| classic motorcycles and scooters, The story of the woman who invented the road trip, Attic stories: engines and ingenuity with Paola Lagnena, The customisable Mini Coopers that everyone wanted. She did what many failed F1 drivers did and still do: She took to sports cars, a discipline shed dabbled in in 1975 with her first Le Mans entry, an Alpine shared with Marie-Claude Beaumont. Sincethe 20th century, women have risen from being second-class citizens in previous eras, to now running countries, corporations and, in truth, men. Lella Lombardi Driver Information Born 26 March 1941 Frugarolo, Italy Died 3 March 1992 (aged 50) Milan, Italy Nationality ITA Formula One World Championship Career Statistics Status Deceased World Titles 0 Races 18 (12 starts) Poles 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Fastest Laps 0 Points 0.5 First Race 1974 British Grand Prix Last Race 1976 Austrian Grand Prix The race suffered a major tragedy when the rear wing on Rolf Stommelen's Embassy Hill broke, sending him into the barrier. The race only continued for four more laps before it was stopped. Robin Herd freely admitted in an interview we did in 2009 that he and Max Mosley had had her over in 1975, and said that he was most impressed with her performance finishing seventh at the Nurburgring in a race of attrition as she was battling with a puncture. [2] At the opening race of the campaign in South Africa, Lombardi became the first woman, since Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958, to successfully qualify for a Grand Prix. Her next-best finish was a seventh place at the German Grand Prix. That led to a test in one of Jackie Epsteins ShellSPORT F5000 Lola T330s. Sometimes Lella told us that she could have been rich and famous if she had stayed in America, but her feeling for Italy triumphed, says Giusy Remondi of Lella Lombardi Autosport. #Grand Prix: nr of GrandPrix in all seasons. Jackie Epstein was running a Formula 5000 team out of Brands and we persuaded him to give Lella a try that winter. Lombardis place in motorsport history is firmly fixed. Lella Lombardi is still the only woman ever to score F1 championship points. She was survived by her partner, Fiorenza. She spoke okay English by then, plus Id worked with so many Italian drivers that I could almost speak the language.. In fact she had already come close to making her GP debut. She was much more concerned by the settings than I was, great with the mechanics and very speedy. She would just say to me, Marie, I have to do Formula 1., READ MORE: 5 reasons F1 fans are still in awe of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve. I always regard the F5000 race she did with a Matich A50 at Sandown Park later in 1974 as a better indicator of her grit and potential. At the start of 1975,Lombardi was back on top. Just her racing. Im just as competitive as any male in my mind. Unfortunately, she failed to qualify for the race. 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. She gave them a good going over before finishing third, only two seconds behind Bartlett and sharing fastest lap with Stewart. Born The Indy 500's gender segregation had just been nullified, which meant NASCAR had to step up to the plate. Deceased With the exception of Monaco, she qualified to start all of the remaining races. 115 Lella Lombardi Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 115 lella lombardi stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. It was easily one of the most consistently successful eras of her career. Lombardi practiced her skills behind an F1 car in several non-championship events. Brambilla, perhaps never really pushing that car whenever he was asked to try it, never mentioned the handling problem, but Ronnie Peterson quickly noted it in 1976. (Shed knocked off a year or two to avoid another prejudice. She wasnt interested in fashion and usually wore trousers if she was in civvies. I love motor racing and thats all I want to do. Well, I dont agree at all. Create your free account today and explore our weekly auctions curated by our team of experts. Lella Lombardi was also one of the first female racers in a same-sex relationship. The next race, the German Grand Prix, was held at Nrburgring on the 14.189-mile Nordschleife not for the faint of heart. It was something of a publicity stunt. After driving the delivery van for her familys butchers shop, she raced karts briefly, before saving everything she could to buy her first car, which she drove in Formula Monza in 1965. She was a loner, really. This, and other good results, attracted attention, with whichLombardi obtained backing to try and run in the 1974 British Grand Prix. HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from the first practice session of the new F1 season in Bahrain, WATCH: Ride onboard as Alonso sets the fastest lap in Friday practice in Bahrain, Hulkenberg points out area where Haas 'have a lot of work to do' despite taking P5 in FP2, 2003-2023 Formula One World Championship Limited. We discovered her story while investigating iconic women from history. 2023 by Bump & Beyond. They were better than her only championship event that year, just only just. She would often speak of sacrifices. We miss her passion, determination and modesty.. The boys ganged up and got horribly rough on the track filthy tricks, kart-style but she could look after herself. Many male drivers at the time couldnt bear to lose to Lombardi, a woman, and would do everything in their power, including tampering with her car, to keep her from succeeding. Search instead in Creative? Bar a disappointing appearance at a Mallory Park round of the 1979 Aurora AFX F1 Championship in Zanons FW06, it would be sports cars, GTs and saloons from here on. After her Formula 1 career, Lombardi had success in sports car racing. She raced regularly for March in F1 in 1975 with backing from Count Googie Zanon, retiring an old 741 with fuel system problems on her debut in South Africa, when she became the only woman after de Filippis to qualify for an official GP (ahead of Wilson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill), then scored that half point in only her second outing, the controversial Spanish race. Amazingly, Lombardi also raced in NASCAR driving in the Firecracker 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in 1977. With its premium plus plan, youll be able to browse flight deals going for up to 90% off in business, premium economy, and economy class. Lombardis friends remember her fondly as someone humble who enjoyed her life but understood its difficulties. Determined. She moved on to Formula Three in 1968. We know who could win the F1 championship in 2023, but who will have the car to maximise their talent? Explore our range of classic cars and spark your own racing career. She called out the hostile climate towards women after the Grand Prix, which was a first for the sport. 0.5 Lella Lombardi remains the only woman on F1's score sheet, but her passion brought impressive racing achievements elsewhere, too Montjuich 1975: Lella Lombardi hustles her March to sixth place and the only GP point for a woman albeit halved by the shortened race DPPI Author Paul Fearnley 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PhotosCourtesy of and Copyright to Sutton Motorsport Images, Sign up for more restomod content to add horsepower to your inbox. The fact that Cowell had all the traditional trappings of male heterosexuality but was a trans woman helped combat predominant stigmas around trans people, gay men and motoring too. This approach works for an endless parade of nobody male drivers, and it got Lella close enough to just grasp at history, at least for a moment, before it all started to slip away from her. Thats something I dont have any problems sharing with my male colleagues. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi(26 March 1941 - 3 March 1992) was a racing driver from Italy. Still, shes always going to be known in history as one of the few women to take part in Formula Oneone of five women to enter a race, one of two women to start a race, and the only one who has ever scored points. On her deathbed she asked us to continue the team to preserve what she had achieved. Delightful. She scraped together enough money to go racing and competed in any car she could get her hands on. The following year, Lombardi would compete again this time driving a March-Ford but was unfortunately forced to retire after twenty laps. For Lombardi to gain the respect of such men as the legendary Arturo Merzario (seen above with teammateVittorio Brambilla) was a clear indication of herabilities and bravery. Her F1 debut came in the tragic Spanish Grand Prix of 1975, where a car lost control and killed four spectators. Montjuich 1975: Lella Lombardi hustles her March to sixth place and the only GP point for a woman albeit halved by the shortened race. Thankfully, things began to change, helped by these motoring queer pioneers. She was the first woman since Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958 to qualify in a championship F1 event. Petersons return from Lotus after the Brazilian GP also signalled the end of Lombardis time with March. The thing I like is the feeling when you pass the checkered flag first. Synopsis. She did her own thing. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. No trouble. La Lombardi non aveva ancora compiuto 51 anni ed stata sepolta nel cimitero di Frugarolo, nell'alessandrino, suo paese natale. She was in an unreliable car whose problems were only intensified by the fact that the mechanics didnt take Lombardi seriously when she reported complaints to do with the handling. Mike Beuttler was technically the first openly gay F1 driver ever. Progress would require a backwards step first. She had an image to keep: Im tough so dont mess with me. She was a loner, really. She is the only woman to date in Formula One history to score points when she finished 6th at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and picked up half a point. From that peak it was back down to earth with a bump; Lombardi failed to qualify next in Monaco. We knew what shed done beforehand and clearly she was very capable.. [14] This need for financial support is combated by the rise of the W-series, which started in October 2018. She didnt give many interviews, reveal too much, or even dress in the traditionally feminine way that might draw her more attentionits almost impossible to find many quotes from her.