Maria Teresa De Filippis First Female Driver In Formula One Is Dead

The first woman to compete in a world championship Formula One grand prix Maria Teresa de Filippis has died at the age of 89.

Italian De Filippis started three grand prix races in a privately-entered Maserati 250F, finishing a best place of 10th at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The Naples-born driver also tried to qualify for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, and again the following year in a Behra-Porsche, before leaving the sport following the death of team owner Jean Behra later in 1959 and retiring aged just 23. De Filippis was a founding member of the Maserati Club and also honorary president of the Club Internationale des Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix F1 for retired drivers.

Former F1 driver Alexander Wurz paid tribute to De Filippis, writing on Twitter: “We lost another pioneering member of the Motorsport world today, Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first woman to race in £F1. RIP”.