Lella Lombardi

Lella Lombardi
Born (1941-03-26)26 March 1941
Frugarolo, Piedmont, Italy
Died 3 March 1992(1992-03-03) (aged 50)
Milan, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Italy Italian
Active years 1974–1976
Teams March, RAM, Williams
Entries 17 (12 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 0.5
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 1974 British Grand Prix
Last entry 1976 Austrian Grand Prix

Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi (26 March 1941 – 3 March 1992) was a racing driver from Italy.

Born in Frugarolo, Piedmont, she participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 20 July 1974. She is the only female Formula One driver in history to have a top six finish in a World Championship race, at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.[1] Half points were awarded for this race due to a shortened race distance, hence Lombardi received half a point instead of the usual one point. As well as being the sole female driver to score points in Formula One, she is one of the two who managed to qualify at least for a Formula One race (the other being compatriot Maria Teresa de Filippis) and the only driver with that career total.[2]

Career

Lella Lombardi driving a March 751 Formula One car in practice for the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix
Lombardi at the 1975 Race of Champions driving a March 751

After performing well in Formula Three and Formula 5000 in the early 1970s, Lombardi entered Formula One in 1974 with an old privately entered Brabham. In 1975 she joined March and raced the full season. She then had a one-off drive for Williams before a short-lived and unsuccessful partnership with RAM Racing.

Lombardi had also started in NASCAR driving in the Firecracker 400 NASCAR race at the Daytona International Speedway in 1977. There were two other female drivers in the field: American Janet Guthrie and Belgian Christine Beckers.[3]

Lombardi later raced in sports cars with some success. Her best season was in 1979 when she won the 6 hours of Pergusa and the 6 hours of Vallelunga. She competed four times at the 24 hours of Le Mans, her best result being in 1976 when she finished 9th in a Porsche Carrera. Lombardi retired from racing in 1988. She died of cancer in Milan in 1992, aged 50.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1974 Allied Polymer Group Brabham BT42 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR
DNQ		 GER AUT CAN ITA USA NC 0
1975 March Engineering March 741 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA
Ret		 21st 0.5
Lavazza March March 751 ESP
6		 MON
DNQ		 BEL
Ret		 SWE
Ret		 NED
14		 FRA
18		 GBR
Ret		 GER
7		 AUT
17		 ITA
Ret
Frank Williams Racing Cars Williams FW04 USA
DNS
1976 Lavazza March March 761 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 BRA
14		 RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA NC 0
RAM Racing with Lavazza Brabham BT44B GBR
DNQ		 GER
DNQ		 AUT
12		 NED ITA CAN USA JPN

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3
1974 ShellSPORT Luxembourg Lola T330 Chevrolet V8 PRE ROC
NC		 INT
13
1975 Lavazza March March 751 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC
Ret		 INT
12		 SUI

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mariantoni, Luca. "Accadde oggi – 27 Aprile 1975". La Gazzetta dello Sport. RCS. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  2. ↑ Haymarker, forix. "Reference". W8 - Who?. Geza Sury. http://www.forix.com/8w/lombardi.html
  3. ↑ NASCAR Winston Cup Profile. http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/llombard00/cup/index.html

External links

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