Lella Lombardi

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. 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.

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.

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 breast cancer in Milan in 1992, aged 50.

Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)

Formula One non-championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

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