Motorsport Memorial -

Lella Lombardi

Complete name: Maria Grazia Lombardi

Birth date: 26.Mar.1941

Birth Place: Frugarolo (AL), Italy

Death date: 03.Mar.1992

Death Place: Milano, Italy

Nationality: Italy

Gender: female

Notes:

Lella Lombardi
1941 - 1992

Photo courtesy of Pino Mariella. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Maria Grazia Lombardi, Lella Lombardi as she was universally known, nicknamed by fans as "The Tigress of Alessandria", was born in the small village of Frugarolo, province of Alessandria in nort-western Italy. The youngest of four daughters of a butcher, her family did not even own a car. Lella got her fist taste of motor racing at a very tender age, when she was driven to hospital by her coach, running at high speed in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta after being slightly injured during a handball game. She became one of the five females who have started a Formula 1 Grand Prix and was the first and to date the only woman to score World Championship points, finishing sixth in the half-point 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, at the wheel of a March.

Lella Lombardi's Biography
by Nanni Dietrich

Lella Lombardi began her career in the mid 1960s, in local touring-car races and rallies, driving for the Scuderia Moroni of Lodi, province of Milan. With assistance from her partner Fiorenza, her sister and her brother-in-law, in 1968 she moved to circuit racing, competing in the Formula 875-Monza "Trofeo Cadetti" series, winning her third ever race.

The Formula 875-Monza was an Italian category of small single-seaters fitted with a Fiat 500 Giardiniera, 499 cm³ straight-2 engine, created in 1964 by Luigi Bertett, then the President of Automobile Club of Italy, along with Romolo Tavoni, former Scuderia Ferrari team manager and the engineers Aurelio Lampredi and Alberto Massimino. All the races of the Trofeo Cadetti (Cadets Trophy), which first edition was organised in 1965, were held on the 2.405-kilometer (1.495-mile) Junior circuit of Monza. Among the artisan car manufacturers, mostly from the Milan area, who built Formula 875-Monza cars were Santandrea, CRM, Thiele, Ambivero, MZ, Corsini, SAAV, Gibertini-Oleari, Vargiu, Lab, Melesi, Cavallini, Repetto and others. The name "875-Monza" indicated the maximum cost of the chassis (875,000 Italian-Lire, some 1,700$ at the time), in the early years of the series. The Formula 875-Monza has not to be confused with the Formula 850, a different single-seater national category, more performant and expensive, that was created in 1966. In recent years, the Trofeo Cadetti changed from Formula Monza to Fiat Panda 1000-powered Formula Panda in 1983, and to Formula Fire in 1988, using Fiat Fire 1000 engine. In 1995 it was named definitively as Formula Junior, with Fiat Punto 1200 engine. Since then, races were organized also in different Italian tracks.

Lella Lombardi progressed through the domestic junior formulae, acquitting herself well, and in 1970 she finished third in the Italian Formula Ford Championship. During that same season she competed in another small single-seaters category, the Trofeo Italiano Formula 850. She won the title at the wheel of a Biraghi-Fiat, scoring four victories at Monza against future Formula 1 drivers Alberto Colombo and Giorgio Francia. She made his Formula 3 debut and competed in Formula 3 for several seasons driving various cars, with some solid results in Italy and Europe, including the prestigious Monaco Formula 3 Grand Prix. She finished two times in 10th place in the Italian Formula 3 Championship, in 1972 driving a Lotus 69-Ford entered by Jolly Club, the former car of Maurizio Levi, and in 1973 in a Brabham BT41-Ford entered by the Scuderia Italia. She also won the first edition of the Italian Ford Escort Mexico Challenge, in 1973.

Lella Lombardi at the wheel of her Biraghi Formula 850 in the Sarezzo-Lumezzane hillclimb, in 1967.
Photo A. Vimercati - archivio A. Gnutti. Courtesy of Riedizione Sarezzo - Lumezzane. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved

In 1974 Lella Lombardi joined Jackie Epstein's ShellSport/Radio Luxembourg team and stepped up to the British Formula 5000 Championship, finishing a fine fifth in points in a Lola T330-Chevrolet. During the season her best opponents were Tony Trimmer, Bob Evans, Teddy Pilette and above all a fascinating Peter Gethin, who had a hard-won reputation as a womaniser, with which Lella often climbed the podium, kissing him several times. She also competed in Australia, driving a Matich in the local Formula 5000 series at Oran Park.

She was charming but stubborn and independent. She was passionate about racing, she was not interested in music, fashion, reading or anything else, just racing. And that she was a woman was an irrelevancy for Lella, her sex and sexuality were not important in the paddock, she was judged purely as a racing driver. 1974 marked her first Formula 1 appearance, when she was supposed to make her Grand Prix debut at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in July, at the wheel of a year-old Brabham BT42-Ford sponsored by the Allied Polymer Group and run by Hexagon Racing, with a sponsorship by Radio Luxembourg. Lella's car wore the very rare high #208 starting number, as a nod to the famous radio station's frequency FM208! At the end of qualifying session Lella Lombardi who was within 1.1 seconds of team mate John Watson's sister car before a broken driveshaft denied her a final run, was in 29th place, out of the 25 starters. Despite having lapped as quickly as Tom Belsø, and faster than Vern Schuppan, Howden Ganley, Mike Wilds to name just a few, she had to watch the race from the pit wall.

This was her single Formula 1 outing in the year. For 1975 things changed. During the winter Lella met the Italian nobleman Count Vittorio "Gughi" Zanon, a philantropic enthusiast, famous mecenate who supported the careers of several drivers, including Ronnie Peterson, Michele Alboreto and others. Count Zanon took her into the works March Formula 1 team, alongside Vittorio Brambilla. In South Africa, third round of the season, Lella Lombardi became the first woman to qualify for a Grand Prix, 17 years after Maria Teresa De Filippis. Driving an orange painted Beta sponsored ex-Brambilla March 741-Ford, she started from the back of the grid, in 26th place, beside the South-African Guy Tunmer’s Lotus 72, but in front of the likes of 27th fastest Wilson Fittipaldi’s Copersucar, and 28th placed Graham Hill's Embassy-Lola. Came race day, and she was forced into a withdraw on 23rd lap, when the fuel system of her March broke, being her team mate Brambilla already out of the race since 16th lap, with an overheating problem.

In the subsequent race, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuïc Park, she drove a brand new white and red painted March 751–Ford, sponsored by the Italian Lavazza coffee company, which was associated with Count Zanon. Lella lined up 24th on the penultimate row of the grid, ahead of Arturo Merzario’s Williams and Emerson Fittipaldi, who had abandoned the event during practice, due to the safety problems of the track. Suddenly on 26th lap, due to a rear wing failure the Embassy-Lola T370 – Ford driven by Rolf Stommelen, current leader of the race, went airborne and crashed into the armco. The out of control car was pitched over the barriers, ending into a crowd and killing four spectators. The race was stopped on the 29th lap, Jochen Mass who was in the lead in a McLaren M23-Ford was declared the winner, from Jacky Ickx and Carlos Reutemann. Lella Lombardi was classified sixth, albeit two laps down. But since less than 66% of the race had been run, the drivers were awarded half points. So she got half a point for her efforts. That was the very first time in Formula 1 history that a female driver scored points.

Lella Lombardi driving her March 751–Ford Cosworth, during the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, 22 July 1975.
Photo courtesy by Roger Gerhold. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Later in 1975 Lella Lombardi finished seventh, despite a puncture, in the German Grand Prix on the punishing Nürburgring Nordschleife, a half minute behind the winner Carlos Reutemann in a Brabham BT44B-Ford. According to March co-founder and designer Robin Herd, this was her career's best drive. At the end of the year, before the United States Grand Prix, Lella left team March and switched to Frank Williams Racing, driving a Williams FW03–Ford at Watkins Glen. She set the 24th and slowest time in qualifying, but ignition problems during the warm-up lap forced her to abandon the event before the start of the race. In a hurry she vainly tried to race the other Williams FW03 of her jockey-size team mate Jacques Laffite, who was taken to hospital due to eye infection but, although she was a small woman, she was unable to drive being too tall to fit in the cockpit.

In the first race of the following season at Interlagos, Brazil, on 25 January 1976 Lella was once again at the wheel of a works March 761–Ford, finishing in 14th place. But after the Brazilian Grand Prix the team replaced her with Ronnie Peterson, who came from Team Lotus. Later in the year the Swede won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza at the wheel of the March. Lella briefly tried a year-old Brabham BT44B–Ford entered by Team RAM in the British and German Grands Prix, battling in practice with Divina Galica in her private Surtees TS19–Ford, and finally was able to make the field in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring, eventually finishing a distant 12th.

Bar a disappointing appearance at a Mallory Park round of the 1979 Britain's Aurora AFX F1 Championship, driving Count Zanon's ex-Alan Jones Williams FW07-Ford, her Formula 1 career was finished. But her motorsport life was not over. Lella Lombardi went on in sportscar and touring-car racing and even had a one-off drive in a NASCAR event, taking part in the Daytona'a Firecracker 400 in 1977, along with Belgium's Christine Beckers and the home star Janet Guthrie.

She enjoyed considerable success in the World Sportscar Championship. In 1975 Lella shared a 2-litre Alpine Renault A441-Renault with the Frenchwoman Marie-Claude Charmasson who raced under the nom de course of "Beaumont", for the Equipe Elf Switzerland. The glamorous pair scored an impressive fourth place overall in the 1000 Km of Monza and a sixth place at the Mugello. Lella's debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was pretty unlucky; she was about three seconds faster than "Beaumont" on the Sarthe lap, so the team let Lella drive numerous consecutive laps before being replaced by her team mate. Unfortunately, they retired at the end of the eighth hour of race, due to fuel feed pump trouble.

In 1976 Lella Lombardi drove an Osella PA4–BMW with the Italian veteran Danilo Tesini and also a Porsche 934 for team Egon Evertz K.G., scoring an impressive fifth place overall, first of the GT class, in the 6 Hours of Silverstone, with German team mate Heinz Martin. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this time with Christine Dacremont of France as co-driver, Lella finished second of class, 20th place overall, in a 2.4-litre Lancia Stratos Turbo. In 1977 her sportscar season was diversified; in the Group 5 Silhouette Championship she drove a Porsche Carrera RSR with the Swedish Kenneth Leim, their best result being a fourth place in the 6 Hours of Vallelunga. And in the Group 6 Sportscar Championship she obtained a fine podium in the 250 Km of Imola, third place overall, sharing a works Osella PA5–BMW with Giovanni Anzeloni.

Earlier in 1977 she was hired to join team Inaltéra by Vic Elford who at the time acted as team manager. Team owner Charles James, a very ambitious French wallpaper manufacturer from Lyon, entered the 1977 World Sportscar Championship with two Ford Cosworth DFV-powered cars built by Jean Rondeau. He enrolled big names such as Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jean Ragnotti and Henri Pescarolo in one of the cars and decided to run an all-woman crew in the other. In the 24 Hours of Daytona, Lella Lombardi teamed up with Christine Beckers in a works Inaltera Rondeau LM77-Ford. The pair qualified fourth, but on race day the car crashed out after 78 laps, when a slower Porsche GT suffered a blow-out as her partner Beckers drew alongside. The two girls finished 11th overall at Le Mans, Lella Lombardi's best ever result in the 24-hour classic, despite a long delay because of an electrical glitch.

A quiet year followed in 1978, Lella Lombardi driving a Fiat 128 Coupé entered by Jolly Club in the European Touring Car Championship. She achieved three class victories, with team mate Carlo Giani, at Brands Hatch, Salzburgring and Estoril. In 1979 Lella acquired a 2-litre Osella PA7–BMW sportscar which was to bring some of her career greatest successes. In the 1000 Km of Mugello she obtained a fourth place, paired with Giorgio Francia; at Pergusa for the Coppa Florio she did even better, becoming the first woman to win outright a World Sportscar Championship event, sharing the Osella with the Sicilian hillclimb specialist Prince Enrico Grimaldi, Lella recording fastest lap in the process. Later in the year she also won at Vallelunga, once again teamed with Giorgio Francia, four laps ahead of their nearest rivals, Pasquale Barberio-Gerardo Vatielli-Enzo Coloni in another Osella sportscar.

In 1980 Lella went on with the Osella works team in the World Sportscar Championship, driving alongside team mates Marco Rocca and Vittorio Brambilla. The 1981 season saw Lella and Giorgio Francia win together the 6 Hours of Mugello in the Osella PA9-BMW, then obtaining two fine second places at Monza and Pergusa.

Thereafter "The Tigress of Alessandria" turned her attention once again to touring-car racing, driving in 1981 a gorgeous pink painted Chevrolet Camaro, entered by Team Luigi Cimarosti of Belgium, with Anna Cambiaghi as team mate. In 1982 she moved to the Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6, driving for the make until 1986, earning many good class finishes and titles, alongside co-drivers Giancarlo Naddeo, Giorgio Francia, Antonio Palma and others. In the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 1986 she finished second of class, eighth place overall, sharing an AlfaRomeo 75 V6 with Rinaldo Drovandi and Roberto Castagna.

She continued to compete into the late 1980s when she was eventually diagnosed as having breast cancer and forced to quit racing. When unable to race herself, she founded with Bruno Remondi her own "Lella Lombardi Motorsport", a touring-car team. They first tested the new Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth.

Lella Lombardi passed away on Tuesday, 03 March 1992 at San Camillo clinic in Milan, Italy, only 50 years of age. "I am not a feminist - she said - only a free and independent woman."

She is commemorated by a bust in her birthplace Frugarolo, province of Alessandria, Italy. And a street in the city of Wien, Austria, is named "Lella Lombardi Gasse".

Career Summary:

Sources:

q21QAsMagazine Autosprint, issue 10 March 1992.
Magazine MotorSport, issue of April 2015.
Website World Sports Racing Prototypes, by Martin Krejčí, page http://wsrp.ic.cz/ .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page by Darren Galpin, "The Formula One Archives", page http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/title.html .
Website Le Mans & Formula 2 Register by Stefan Örnerdal, page http://www.formula2.net/ .
Website Lella Lombardi, page https://lellalombardi.it/biografia/ .