Her sex and sexuality were not topics of conversation in the paddock. We invite you to get behind the wheel with us, it's certain to be an interesting drive. Mike Beuttler was technically the first openly gay F1 driver ever. 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. Join Facebook to connect with Lella Lombardi and others you may know. And Lombardi did. Lombardis place in motorsport history is firmly fixed. However, the onset of the Second World War led her to joining the RAF as a pilot something she had previously trained as. Lombardis most successful season was 1979. In 1979, she won the 6 hours of Pergusa and the 6 hours of Vallelunga. She spoke okay English by then, plus Id worked with so many Italian drivers that I could almost speak the language.. She was regularly overshadowed by emergent team mate Vittorio Brambilla, never getting within two seconds of him in qualifying. Showing Editorial results for lella lombardi. But finally everyone bowed to the pressure of. The final Grand Prixfor Lombardi was in Austria; a 12th place was her reward. Queer drivers are a case in point. By creating your free Catawiki account, youll be able to bid on any of our 65,000 special objects up for auction every week. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi (26 March 1941 - 3 March 1992) was a racing driver from Italy. That's how much I love racing. Thats why we were strong. She was also a lesbian but Lombardis sexuality was never center stage. [9] Lombardi also successfully performed at other races, including the German Grand Prix at the Nrburgring, where she finished seventh. However, this race only lasted 23 laps until Lombardi was forced to retire with a fuel system problem. Unfortunately, she failed to qualify for the race. Find flight for cheapWith its premium plus plan, youll be able to browse flight deals going for up to 90% off in business, premium economy, and economy class. Beuttler was known for his canary-yellow racing look. She was retired after 20 laps. And she left as her legacy her own racing team, Lella Lombardi Autosport, the question of what might have been, and a shining example of how to live life on your own terms, with your whole being focused on your target and not what others think of you. She made it a mere 23 laps until she was forced to retire. Desire could have cut the F1 mustard in the right car, but I also thought Lella was better than fortune allowed her to look. Roberta Cowells motoring history is often eclipsed by her reputation as the first person to undergo gender reassignment surgery in Britain, in her case from male to female. PhotosCourtesy of and Copyright to Sutton Motorsport Images, Sign up for more restomod content to add horsepower to your inbox. [6]. Retirements in Belgium and Sweden were followed by a 14th place in Holland, 18th in France and another retirement in Great Britain. Lombardi later raced in sports cars. Date of birth. Initially we had wanted Inaltera as a sponsor, says team manager Vic Elford. Her next-best finish was a seventh place at the German Grand Prix. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi(26 March 1941 - 3 March 1992) was a racing driver from Italy. Race stopped after 29/75 Laps. 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. She finished, but she wasnt driving a particularly great car. There was no fairy-tale result in South Africa, however, as her car was retired with low fuel pressure. It was something of a publicity stunt. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi (26 March 1941 3 March 1992) was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. Progress would require a backwards step first. I don't know how you can positively spin that as earning it on merit. Lombardi raced a Lola-Chevrolet finishing unclassified in 14th. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1526810873155-0');}). As one might expect, Lombardi turned her hand to endurance racing in both sports and touring cars racing at Le Mans on four occasions, including her final appearance when she partnered with Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime Minister. 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. Quite what Lombardi made of all of this confusion and acrimony is anyone's guess, but it took a great deal of intestinal fortitude and determination to climb aboard and race to a sixth place and half a point and a place in history. Lombardi's career in the Grand Prix arena was done, but her career in motorsport was not. ), (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap). Theres a lot of glamour surrounding the first girl to do Motor well in Formula One, but in some Sports ways the whole business is overrated. Maria Grazia Lombardi was born in Piedmont, Italy, on March 26th 1941. Herd: Max [Mosley], a much better engineer than people might think, asked me if he could borrow Vittorio for a few laps. Even Jochen Mass, declared the precipitate winner after 29 laps, scrambled from his McLaren with a face like thunder and threatened violence to smug officials. Others obsessed about her gender and sexuality, but Lella couldnt care less about any of that. Lombardis first F1 attempt was at the British Grand Prix in 1974 driving a Brabham supported by the Italian Automobile Club. Lombardi's story has impacted generations of racers. There were 34 contestants for the 25 places on the grid, which made the prospect of the Italian getting into the race remote. She raced in Italian F3 for the next two years, finishing 10th in the championship both times and beating rated hotshoe Maurizio Flammini in a heat at Vallelunga. This was the race stopped prematurely at only 29 laps after Rolf Stommelens leading Hill had lost its rear wing and crashed heavily, killing onlookers. She was a very good racer, it was very easy with her. Formula One World ChampionshipCareer Statistics Cowell continued driving after her transition, winning the 1957 Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb. Its difficult to celebrate a points-scoring position in those circumstances. You are currently using an outdated browser. She impressed him not only with her driving but also by her mechanical knowledge and feel. That didnt mean it was a wholly unsuccessful year. Her career is defined by a success halfway taken away from her, let down by lack of sponsors and unreliable cars. In 1976 Lombardi was confirmed at March alongside Brambilla and Stuck. World Titles She didnt care. She won the race again in 1981 with Giorgio Francia, with whom she had also won the Vallelunga Six Hours. Only half points were awarded that day because the race got cut short. Michele Mouton came within a whisker of becoming the World Rally Champion, Lilian Bryner has won the Spa 24 Hours, and Sabine Schmitz has twice triumphed at the Nrburgring 24. Painful. Later she would race in NASCAR, sharing a Chevrolet with Janet Guthrie in Daytonas Firecracker 400 in 1977 but being classified only 31st after transmission problems. Unfortunately, her iconic achievement has been curtailed by the . This was followed by the car being impounded at its next race in Germany, as the team had a dispute with a former driver. Lella Lombardi was born in 1941 in Frugarolo, a small village in Piedmont, the fourth daughter of a cured meat industrialist. Recognised by his signature yellow Brabham, Beuttler remained forever, a dash of colour in a grey field. Stamina was no problem, either, because you couldnt drive flat out back then and expect to last the distance.. Instead, it was her achievements that did the talking for her. There was a multiple crash at the first corner involving at least nine cars, and there were other incidents for some 35 minutes, until finally the leading car suffered a structural failure and went over the barrier killing four bystanders. She was sure of her illness by 1985. F1 Unlocked, LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the action from final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Feature Status asks Mark Hughes. I went with her from Snetterton to Norwich once: 30mph all the way. A successful placing in the 1965 Formula Monza, however, gave Lombardi away, when her parents read about her in the papers. If shed been a bit more glamorous perhaps more people would have noticed.. At the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, Lombardi scored half a point, making her the only woman to ever score any championship points in Formula 1. 0 The world in general, and motor racing in particular, was a less enlightened place in the mid-'70s than present day. In the pre-war days there were speedy heroines such as Elizabeth Junek, Kay Petre and Gwenda Hawkes, the latter duo starring on the daunting Brooklands concrete saucer. She was very professional and we enjoyed working with her. It was clear that the Tigress of Turin a geographically misleading nickname coined by a lazy press would not be disgraced should she be given an F1 opportunity. We discovered her story while investigating iconic women from history. She tried to blame her breast pain on a sailing injury, but her condition degenerated so rapidly that there was no way it could have been anything minor. Catawiki is continuously updating its technology. She was charming but stubborn and independent, and a tremendously careful road driver. Lella Lombardi Photo: Love Entertainment "That is a correct assessment, yes," she laughs. #Grand Prix: nr of GrandPrix in all seasons. During one of the most controversial weekends in F1 history, set amid a notoriously dangerous Barcelona street circuit . She won [from the third row, beating Jacques Laffite and Mike Wilds] and we became very friendly and kept in touch. The Nov. 15 event runs from 6:30-10 p.m. Lombardi made history at the 1975 . We would never fight. She remained an active racer until 1970 and her legacy lives on today. BBC News came to her first test with us at Goodwood and she wanted to know why. But she wanted me to be just as fast and was always giving me tips and help. Because it was a short race, Lombardi was only awarded a half of a point. Maria Grazia Lombardi aka Lella Lombardi (1941-1992) was a female racing driver from Italy who recorded 17 participations (12 starts) in the Formula One World Championship between 1974 and 1976, setting the record as a woman who raced the most in Formula 1. The F1 cars of that time were no easy feat to manage worlds away from the control of today. Italian racing driver (1941-1992) Lombardi at 1975 Dutch Grand Prix. Lombardis friends remember her fondly as someone humble who enjoyed her life but understood its difficulties. Lella was the perfect co-driver, says Beckers. She was a loner, really. Determined. She was a racing driver first and foremost. As a greater number of females participate in entry-level racing from a young age, we will eventually see another one meet and surpass the groundbreaking achievements of Lella Lombardi. It was in one of the formers nimble BMW-engined 2-litre prototypes that Lombardi became the first woman to win a round of an FIA-sanctioned world championship: the 1979 Enna Six Hours, co-driven by hillclimb specialist Enrico Grimaldi. He was very ambitious and so we signed big names Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo to show that we meant business. 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. Subscribe Shop Subscribe Articles F1 Articles F1 Opinion Mark Hughes History MotoGP Podcasts Competitions The Showroom Articles 2023 by Bump & Beyond. She was, however, ahead of fellow non-qualifiers Vern Schuppan, Howden Ganley, Mike Wilds and Leo Kinnunen. 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. La Lombardi non aveva ancora compiuto 51 anni ed stata sepolta nel cimitero di Frugarolo, nell'alessandrino, suo paese natale. Lombardi was the first woman to qualify and compete in the Race of Champions in Brands Hatch and raced in sports cars. Vittorio Brambilla was one of only two to set a time on Friday afternoon. She was third behind Keith Holland and champion-elect Bob Evans when a race at Snetterton was temporarily halted after six laps because of rain, then finished fifth after a collision with Holland while fighting for the lead on the restart. Wins She continued in sports cars until the beginning of the 80s, when she swapped over to the much less-publicized touring car racing. I first met her that year when she and Fiorenza asked my husband Bruno to help create a team, says Remondi. Enjoying his most competitive spell of F1, and with time against him at 37, the oldest man in the field can perhaps be excused his lack of concern for a friend and future co-driver. That led to a test in one of Jackie Epsteins ShellSPORT F5000 Lola T330s. We were too busy building production racing cars. 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. That certainly got their attention. Formula 1 Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. The success of becoming the first women to score points in F1 was sadly rather overshadowed due to the death of five spectators during the race. 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. 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. 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. Med Cadillac (General Motors) som partner synes teamet at have konomien p plads, og en ny, moderne fabrik med Formel 1-poteantiale og -teknik er under opfrelse i Indianapolis. 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. This piece offers a snapshot into some of Lombardis most impressive racing achievements. [12] According to The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World, because of Lella Lombardi, there are more women involved in other aspects of Formula One, especially "traditionally female" jobs such as modeling. As one might expect, Lombardi turned her hand to endurance racing in both sports and touring cars racing at Le Mans on four occasions, including her final appearance when she partnered with Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime Minister. But even today we associate motorsports with something overly fraternal. She raced a Lola-Chevrolet and finished fourteenth, but wasnt qualified. Check here for latest versions. The next race, the German Grand Prix, was held at Nrburgring on the 14.189-mile Nordschleife not for the faint of heart. Perhaps its the legacy of cars being thought of as symbolic of straight men or the continual presence of concepts like the Grid Girls in F1, a tradition which was only recently discontinued. 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. Some of this was cultural, while the rest was sheer bravado in a sport that still regularly claimed the lives of those who competed. She very tenacious, she from an early age she was attracted to four wheels and motors, preferring scale models to dolls. She gave them a good going over before finishing third, only two seconds behind Bartlett and sharing fastest lap with Stewart. She also competed four times at the 24 hours of Le Mans, where she finished 20th in 1976 in a Lancia Stratos Turbo. It wasnt a publicity stunt. Amazingly, Lombardi also raced in NASCAR driving in the Firecracker 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in 1977. After she had finished 12th in the prestigious Monaco F3 support race, an impressed John Webb of Brands Hatch fame put her in his Celebrity Escort Mexico series, where she beat Jacques Laffite and Mike Wilds. Cowell had a family, she was a war veteran and an avid motoring enthusiast and racer. Montjuich 1975: Lella Lombardi hustles her March to sixth place and the only GP point for a woman albeit halved by the shortened race. She scraped together enough money to go racing and competed in any car she could get her hands on. [3] Lella Lombardi was also one of the first female racers in a same-sex relationship. 26 March 1941(1941-03-26)Frugarolo, Italy 1975 would prove to be an eventful season for the March Team, as Lombardi scored a Championship point in the Spanish Grand Prix. She was just the second female driver to ever race in the Formula One World Championship, preceded only by Maria-Teresa de Filippis' pioneering race career in 1958 and '59. In her autobiography, Cowell describes motor racing as the be-all and nearly the end-all of my existence. Quietly impressive, it was much better than her Montjuch performance. 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. She raced with the talented racer/journalist Marie-Claude Beaumont in 1975 in an Alpine A441 under the far-sighted Francois Guiters Ecurie Elf Ladies Team, and later won the 1979 Enna Six Hours with Enrico Grimaldi (becoming the first woman to win an FIA Championship event). Lombardi was within 1.1 seconds of John Watsons sister car by Thursdays end and had improved by three tenths when a broken driveshaft denied her a final Friday push. Explore our range of classic cars and spark your own racing career. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. She'd signed a deal, backed by personal sponsor Lavazza, the leading Italian coffee provider double espressos for everyone! She was much more concerned by the settings than I was, great with the mechanics and very speedy. [15] The W-series is a womens racing championship, which eliminates financial barriers, and gives equal opportunity to female racers. The first race that season was in South Africa, and Lombardi made it in. But I dont think he ever did a flying lap in that car. She was the first woman since Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958 to qualify in a championship F1 event. Im not terribly conscious of there being a difference between male and female in this sort of thing. "My directing partner Vincent Tran and I first became aware of Lella Lombardi in 2018. 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. Only a last minute threat by the race organisers to have the entirety of the Formula One equipment impounded by the police induced the drivers to practise in the last session. She quickly discovered a love for the cars but had to hide this from her parents at a time when female drivers were looked down upon. Janet Guthrie, Sarah Fisher, Lyn St James, Danica Patrick and Simona de Silvestro all raced in IndyCars, Danica winning a race at Motegi, and Simona showing a racers courage after a fiery inversion at Indianapolis. Two of his fellows, his brother Wilson and Arturo Merzario, retired after completingone token lap. 0 [2] Initially, Lombardi tried to qualify for Formula One with a privately entered Brabham supported by the Italian Automobile Club but failed to qualify. At the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Lombardi had a one-off drive for Williams. Complete European F5000 Championship results, Complete Formula One World Championship results, Complete Shellsport International Series results, Complete British Formula One Championship results, Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results, "Information about Lella Lombardi from historicracing.com", "Trailblazing racer Lella Lombardi remembered, 30 years on from her death", "Pitstop pioneers: the queer drivers who changed motorsports", "Trailblazing racer Lella Lombardi remembered, 30 years on from her death | Formula 1", "Lombardi, Lella (1942) | Encyclopedia.com", "Pioniere. Highlights include: being crowned the Italian Formula Three runner up in 1968 and winning the Italian Formula 850 Series in 1970. In 1971, Lomardi added the Formula Ford Mexico championship title to her collection. This was despite the fact that she maintained a great relationship with team owner Robin Herd, who spoke only praise of Lombardi: She wasnt a publicity seeker. 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 Lombardi made history for two reasons at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix - she was the first woman to score points in a Grand Prix, and the first driver to score a career total of 0.5 points, after the accident of Rolf Stommelen which stopped the Grand Prix before half-distance, remaining the only person to achieve either of these. She had the strength of a man but a womans sensibility: she was kind and transmitted serenity. Tatiana Calderon follows in their wheeltracks this season. Not only was she a novice in Formula One, but her car also suffered a broken gearbox in the vital Final Qualifying Session. We miss her passion, determination and modesty.. These were supposedly real mans cars with their big 5.0-litre V8 motors, but she handled them adroitly. So we were perfectly happy to have Lella. I feel sorry for her and wonder about it even now.. Lombardi then switched to racing an Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship from 1982 until the end of her career in '87. Lombardi died of breast cancer three weeks before her 51st birthday. It was in one of their BMW-powered 2-litre prototypes that she became the first woman to win a round of an FIA-sanctioned World Championship, the 1979 Enna-Pergusa Six Hours, with hill-climb specialist Enrico Grimaldi as her co-driver. Last Race Wed recognize Lella now like a typical modern racer: focused on nothing but driving, not speaking about her private life. Nel 1988 Lella si ritirata e ha aperto la scuderia Lombardi Autosport, dove diventata team manager. In 1977, she competed in NASCAR at the Firecracker 400 that took place at Daytona. * Most laps led. Thereafter she turned her attention to the European Touring Car Championship and played an important role in Alfas quartet of titles from 1982 by notching numerous class wins in its Group A GTV6 alongside a gamut of co-drivers: Anna Cambiaghi, Antonio Palma, Giancarlo Naddeo, Francia and Rinaldo Drovandi. Yes, I would like to receive communications including news, special offers. Lella Lombardi is a name firmly etched into the motorsport history books. Thankfully, things began to change, helped by these motoring queer pioneers. At the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975, former butcher's delivery driver and ex Formula 3 Championship runner up, Lella Lombardi, became the first, and still only, female driver to win F1 World Championship points. Lella only complained about the inequality of Formula 1 because nobody had listened to her about changes for the car. In fact she had already come close to making her GP debut. (Shed knocked off a year or two to avoid another prejudice. 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. The race only continued for four more laps before it was stopped. At the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, Lombardi scored half a point, making her the only woman to ever score any championship points in Formula 1. . Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female who scored points in Formula One. This was despite the fact that she maintained a great relationship with team owner Robin Herd, who spoke only.