Lombardi, Lella (1942) Internationally famous Italian racing-car driver, known as "the Tigress of Turin," who was the first woman to compete in the U.S. Grand Prix. That includes both domestic and international flights. Lombardi's place in motorsport history is firmly fixed. #Grand Prix: nr of GrandPrix in all seasons. But finally everyone bowed to the pressure of. She also enjoyed success in the European Touring Car Championship in 1982, when a series of class victories helped Alfa Romeo to the title. Instead, it was her achievements that did the talking for her. Thats something I dont have any problems sharing with my male colleagues. Finishing 14th at the season opener in Brazil, Lombardi then failed to qualify in Great Britain and Germany. Behind the wheel, female drivers compete at the highest levels. There were two other female drivers in the field: American Janet Guthrie and Belgian Christine Beckers. The race only continued for four more laps before it was stopped. The rest of the season played out and finished with Lombardi not being able to start the U.S.Grand Prix due to ignition failure on her way to the grid. 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. At the start of 1975,Lombardi was back on top. She learned how to drive behind the wheel of the delivery van for her familys butcher shop. READ MORE: 10 F1 cars we wish were as quick as they looked, She crashed in Monaco and didnt qualify, finished seventh in Germany, 14th in Holland, 17th in Austria and 18th in France, and non-started a Williams FW04 in America. Lomardi had a successful junior career in the lead up to her time in F1. The next race, the German Grand Prix, was held at Nrburgring on the 14.189-mile Nordschleife not for the faint of heart. A successful placing in the 1965 Formula Monza, however, gave Lombardi away, when her parents read about her in the papers. She had an image to keep: Im tough so dont mess with me. She was a loner, really. Lella Lombardis racing career has influenced the perceptions of subsequent generations of females in racing. It was easily one of the most consistently successful eras of her career. He did a few laps and said, Its neutral. She wasnt rich and, with no sponsors to begin with, she slept in her truck to save money. Newcomer Lella Lombardi, at just 5ft 2in, had wisely kept her head down unlike her hairy-chested March team-mate. However, she was prevented from starting due to an ignition problem. A start in the 1976 Brazil Grand Prix with a 14th place finish would be the end of Lombardi's career with the March team; she was then replaced by the great Ronnie Peterson. We miss her passion, determination and modesty.. In 1989 she founded her own racing team, Lombardi Autosport.[11]. The relationship between Lombardi and the team soured, ending her career with March. Her experience has shaped the involvement of women in racing and how people perceive females in the racing industry. 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 But Lombardi was tenacious. Lella only complained about the inequality of Formula 1 because nobody had listened to her about changes for the car. She qualified. 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. ), (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap), (key) (note: results shown in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap), (key) (Bold Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Only half points were awarded that day because the race got cut short. More statistics by age for Lella Lombardi Career chart profile Seasons: nr of season from first GP until the last. BBC News came to her first test with us at Goodwood and she wanted to know why. She was really nice, and a good partner to share a car with, something I was not used to. 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. 2023 by Bump & Beyond. She finished, but she wasnt driving a particularly great car. Lombardi was the first woman to qualify and compete in the Race of Champions in Brands Hatch and raced in sports cars. Painful. Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. She was charming but stubborn and independent, and a tremendously careful road driver. Lombardi died of breast cancer three weeks before her 51st birthday. That led to a test in one of Jackie Epsteins ShellSPORT F5000 Lola T330s. Delightful. Born If shed been a bit more glamorous perhaps more people would have noticed.. [14] Chadwick argues that for women entering Formula One in 2022, financial support is a greater obstacle than gender. 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. (Shed already been farmed out to Williams at Watkins Glen the previous October, when her FW04 conked on the warm-up lap.) PhotosCourtesy of and Copyright to Sutton Motorsport Images, Sign up for more restomod content to add horsepower to your inbox. Sadly, after a breast injury in 1985 she started to suffer from the cancer that finally claimed her on March 3, 1992 in Milans San Camillo Clinic, days short of her 51st birthday. She was charming but stubborn and independent, and a tremendously careful road driver. Into 1974 Epstein signed Lella Lombardi, she had come through Italian racing and European F3 and immediately impressed with her handling of HU18. 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. 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. 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 was survived by her partner, Fiorenza. She was very professional and we enjoyed working with her. 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. At the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Lombardi had a one-off drive for Williams. Lella Lombardi is one of only two women to start a world championship race in the history of F1 Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi, the only female driver to finish in a points position in a Formula One world championship motor race, was born on this day in 1941 in Frugarolo, near Alessandria in Piedmont. Proudly created withWix.com. Formula One World ChampionshipCareer Statistics 2023 by Bump & Beyond. Catawiki is continuously updating its technology. Lombardi enjoyed a successful association with Osella. 1974 British Grand Prix The early days of her love affair with motorsports saw her sneak into Brooklands racing circuit wearing mechanics overalls, offering to help any mechanic or driver who would accept it. Because it was a short race, Lombardi was only awarded a half of a point. Status The likes of Tony Brise, Brian Henton, Alan Jones, Larry Perkins and Danny Sullivan didnt even make Monacos final. She won [from the third row, beating Jacques Laffite and Mike Wilds] and we became very friendly and kept in touch. ), (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap). No entourage. 26 March 1941. 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 worked hard to get what she wanted. 0.5 She won the race again in 1981 with Giorgio Francia, with whom she had also won the Vallelunga Six Hours. Poles The damaged monocoque was still in the workshop so we took it apart and discovered a crack in its cast-magnesium rear bulkhead. 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. 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. Progress would require a backwards step first. [2] Initially, Lombardi tried to qualify for Formula One with a privately entered Brabham supported by the Italian Automobile Club but failed to qualify. Lombardi later raced in sports cars. [6]. 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. Synopsis. I am the president of a LLC who is looking to invest cash/assets in the self storage . That year, she won both the 6 Hours of Pergusa and the 6 Hours of Vallelungaevents she was competing in as part of both the World Sportscar Championship and the Italian Sportscar Championship. Nel 1988 Lella si ritirata e ha aperto la scuderia Lombardi Autosport, dove diventata team manager. She was also a lesbian but Lombardis sexuality was never center stage. She always worked hard, was easy on the car and understood how to get what she wanted from it. Join Facebook to connect with Lella Lombardi and others you may know. She was taking home swaths of victories in the lower tiers of racing, ready to make a name for herself. [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. She was also the only woman to score a point (in a fact half . Lella Lombardi will be remembered for her achievements in motorsport, her Formula 1 record and being one of only three openly LGBTQ+ F1 drivers. Race stopped after 29/75 Laps. Elford: When asked in a press conference how she was coping with such a hefty car, she replied, I dont have to carry it, I just have to drive it.. Lombardi's next race, the Spanish Grand Prix, saw her make history. La Lombardi non aveva ancora compiuto 51 anni ed stata sepolta nel cimitero di Frugarolo, nell'alessandrino, suo paese natale. That didnt mean it was a wholly unsuccessful year. 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. Poor Lella, shed had bad traction all along. Italian racing driver (1941-1992) Lombardi at 1975 Dutch Grand Prix. From that peak it was back down to earth with a bump; Lombardi failed to qualify next in Monaco. 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. Racing was her passion, and she was focused on it wholly. She endeared herself to the media when she was asked how it felt to handle such big cars and replied: I dont have to carry it, I just have to drive it., WATCH: 10 iconic Williams moments as the team reach 750 GPs at Monaco. Initially we had wanted Inaltera as a sponsor, says team manager Vic Elford. Italics Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Her F1 debut came in the tragic Spanish Grand Prix of 1975, where a car lost control and killed four spectators. She was passionate about racing. Its hard to be competitive when you dont have the equipment to do so. On reflection, however, he was probably looking after himself..