Maria Teresa de Filippis
| Born |
11 November 1926 Naples, Italy |
|---|---|
| Died | 8 January 2016 (aged 89) Scanzorosciate, Italy |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |
 Italian |
| Active years | 1958–1959 |
| Teams |
Behra-Porsche Non-works Maserati |
| Entries | 5 (3 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1958 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1959 Monaco Grand Prix |
Maria Teresa de Filippis (11 November 1926 – 8 January 2016) was an Italian racing driver, and the first woman to race in Formula One. She participated in five World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1958, but scored no championship points. Though largely unsuccessful in her Formula One racing career, she won races in other series and is remembered as a pioneer in the sport.
De Filippis was born on 11 November 1926 in Naples, Italy. She was a keen horse rider in her teenage years.
At the age of 22, de Filippis began her racing career. Two of her brothers told her that she would not be able to go very fast, goading her and making a bet that she would be slow. She won her first race, driving a Fiat 500 on a 10 km drive between Salerno and Cava de' Tirreni. She went on to drive in the Italian sports car championship, finishing second in the 1954 season. Seeing her potential, Maserati brought her in as the works driver.
De Filippis took part in various motor racing events, including hillclimbing and endurance racing, before being given the chance to drive in Formula One. She finished second in a sportscar race supporting the 1956 Naples Grand Prix, driving a Maserati 200S.
Maserati was a successful Formula One chassis manufacturer in the 1950s, supplying several teams and winning numerous races. In 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio won the drivers' title in a Maserati 250F, his fifth and final championship win. The team officially withdrew from the sport at the end of the year but many of the cars remained, being driven by privateers. On 18 May 1958 de Filippis was given the opportunity to enter the Monaco Grand Prix, the second round of the 1958 Formula One season, in one of the 250Fs. Of the 31 entrants only half set a time good enough to qualify, with de Filippis missing out alongside fellow debutant and future Formula One Management and Formula One Administration president Bernie Ecclestone. De Filippis' time of 1'50.8 was 5.8 seconds behind the qualifying time of the fastest 16 which included future world champions Mike Hawthorn, Jack Brabham, and Graham Hill in his first race. Fangio gave de Filippis plenty of advice during the season. In a 2006 interview she recalled that Fangio told her, "You go too fast, you take too many risks."
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