Precisely 50 years in the past in the present day, a chaotic Spanish Grand Prix got here to an finish after simply 29 laps following a lethal crash. Half factors had been awarded to the highest six finishers, which included Italian racer Lella Lombardi.
The second marked the primary, and solely, time {that a} lady racing in System 1 completed in points-paying positions in a grand prix, and followers have been asking when one other lady may race, not to mention rating factors, within the championship ever since.
Lombardi was the primary particular person in her household to get a drivers license, and shortly discovered that her ardour for driving quick and racing outweighed most of her different worldly pursuits. As such, she raced karts briefly and purchased her first automobile to compete in System Monza in 1965.
Over time, Lombardi climbed the ranks of System 850, during which she gained 10 races and was topped champion; System 3, the place she completed third total; then she entered System 5000 in 1974.
Lella Lombardi sits on her March 751 Ford
Picture by: Motorsport Photographs
The next yr, Lombardi grew to become simply the second lady to qualify for a System 1 race on the South African Grand Prix, however was pressured to retire after the gas system in her March 741-Ford failed.
In Lombardi’s second race, the Spanish Grand Prix, she certified twenty fourth out of 26 drivers, however chaos within the opening levels of the race paved the best way for her rise by way of the ranks. 4 drivers had been out by the top of the primary lap, and an extra 4 had retired by the top of lap 10.
In whole, 17 drivers retired from the race, which was dropped at an early finish when Rolf Stommelen crashed off the observe in a lethal incident that killed 4 folks. Simply 29 out of 75 laps had been accomplished in Spain, which meant that half factors the place awarded for the grand prix and Jochen Mass picked up 4.5 factors for his one and solely win, and Lombardi claimed half a degree for ending sixth.
Lella Lombardi, Lavazza March 751 Ford, leads Bob Evans, Stanley BRM P201
Picture by: LAT Photographic
The half level stays the one rating a girl has ever picked up in a System 1 race, whereas male drivers have earned hundreds of championship factors within the years since. In reality, Lombardi stays one among solely two girls to race in a System 1 grand prix, together with Maria Theresa de Filippis. Need Wilson and Giovanna Amati subsequently didn’t qualify for occasions within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
The query of when one other lady will race in F1 is a scorching subject, with W Sequence champion Jamie Chadwick just lately telling Motorsport.com that groups up and down the F1 grid are “secretly determined to discover a future feminine celebrity.”
Chadwick herself holds a improvement position with the Williams F1 group, and she or he had her first outing in F1 equipment through the 2023 Goodwood Pageant of Velocity. Williams isn’t the one aspect investing in feminine expertise although, as all 10 F1 groups now again squads within the F1 Academy feeder sequence.
The all-women racing sequence is in its third season and has former Williams improvement driver Susie Wolff on the helm. The Scottish ex-racer, who drove in apply periods for Williams in F1, says F1 Academy is all about “altering the notion of the game” and nurturing new expertise rising by way of the ranks.
It seems to be working, as 2024 champion Abbi Pulling is now making ready to compete in a full season within the GB3 Championship. F1 Academy’s first champion, Marta Garcia, has since examined System E equipment and made her GT racing debut with Iron Dames final yr.
Add to this the truth that Haas has the primary feminine race engineer in F1 historical past in Laura Mueller, and former world champion Sebastian Vettel is backing one other scheme to extend assist for younger girls drivers; it’s now absolutely a case of “when” one other lady races in F1, as a substitute of “if”.
To learn extra concerning the trailblazing lifetime of Maria Lombardi and her profession in motorsport, head over to Autosport Plus to search out out why she was far more than F1’s half-point heroine.
On this article
Owen Bellwood
System 1
Lella Lombardi
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