Lella Lombardi

Who was Lella Lombardi?

Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi 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 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.