Women at the Wheel - Part 4: Covered and Open Wheels

To understand how much the world has changed, in 1958, when the Director of the Posillipo Formula 1 Grand Prix, meeting the drivers preparing for practice, came across a graceful, petite young woman sitting in a Formula 1 Maserati, wearing a helmet and driving gloves, he said to her, without embarrassment, "What are you doing here? Your place is in the kitchen!" She remained impassive and demonstrated, behind the wheel, that she deservedly belonged there, even though the large wooden steering wheels of the time and the lack of power steering weren't exactly designed for a woman's arms. Maria Teresa De Filippis quickly became well-known and appreciated, both in single-seaters and in the magnificent Maserati Sport in jump and endurance races like the Targa Florio. Her career, unfortunately, ended abruptly: the famous driver Jean Behra had hired her for his team for the 1959 season, where she made her debut at the Monaco GP, unsuccessfully. She was unable to compete in the next race; Behra died in a race at the Avus circuit, and she, out of grief, retired from racing. Maserati made her its ambassador, beloved and esteemed.