Lombardi was born on 26 March 1941 in Frugarolo, Piedmont, Italy, the youngest of three children. Her father was a butcher, and Lombardi began her working life as a delivery driver for the family business. Initially hesitant about her passion for racing, her father embraced it after she finished as runner-up in a 1968 race.
Lombardi began racing in Formula Monza after purchasing her first car in 1965. She progressed to Formula Three in 1968, and in 1970, she won the Italian Formula 850 series. In 1974, Lombardi finished fourth in Formula 5000 while driving for Shellsport-Luxembourg Lola.
In 1974, Lombardi attempted to qualify for Formula One with a privately entered Brabham, supported by the Automobile Club d'Italia and sponsored by Radio Luxembourg, leading to her adoption of the racing number 208. A sponsorship from Count Vittorio Zanon and his Lavazza Coffee Company enabled her to secure a full season with the March engineering team in 1975, alongside Vittorio Brambilla and Hans-Joachim Stuck.
At the opening race of the 1975 season in South Africa, Lombardi became the first woman since Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958 to qualify for a Grand Prix. During the Spanish Grand Prix that year, Lombardi scored half a championship point. The race was halted after 23 laps due to a serious accident involving Rolf Stommelen and Carlos Pace, resulting in the deaths of four spectators. Because the race did not reach three-fifths of the scheduled distance, points were halved. Lombardi finished sixth. She also achieved a seventh-place finish at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. She had a one-off drive for Williams at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, but an ignition problem prevented her from starting.
In 1976, Lombardi continued with March Engineering, alongside Brambilla and Stuck, finishing 14th at the Brazilian Grand Prix. She was subsequently replaced by Ronnie Peterson and briefly drove for RAM Racing, achieving a best result of 12th at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix was marked by tragedy, with a major accident involving Rolf Stommelen and Carlos Pace, resulting in the deaths of four spectators. The race was stopped, and Lombardi was awarded half a point for her sixth-place finish.
Lombardi also competed in sports car racing, winning the 6 Hours of Pergusa and the 6 Hours of Vallelunga in 1979, and the 6 Hours of Mugello in 1981. She participated four times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 20th overall and second in the GTP class in 1976. She also raced in NASCAR, finishing 31st in the 1977 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, alongside Janet Guthrie and Christine Beckers.
In 1974, Lombardi became the first woman to qualify and compete in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, finishing 14th in a Lola-Chevrolet Grand Touring Prototype. She qualified again in 1975, but retired after 20 laps.
Lombardi retired from racing in 1988 and founded her own racing team, Lombardi Autosport, in 1989.
Journalist Phil Pash reported that Lombardi succeeded in a masculine sport because of her ‘competitive spirit.’ Lombardi was one of the first female racers openly in a same-sex relationship. She died of breast cancer in Milan on 3 March 1992, at the age of 50, and was buried in Frugarolo. She was survived by her partner, Fiorenza. A sculpture commemorates Lombardi in her birthplace, Frugarolo.
Lombardi’s racing career has influenced the perceptions of subsequent generations of women in racing, and she is credited with making Formula One more accessible to women. She is considered a Formula One trailblazer, and alongside Maria Teresa de Filippis, is one of only two women to have started a World Championship Grand Prix race, with Lombardi the only one to have achieved a point-scoring finish. The long-form study of women’s involvement in motorsport belongs to scholars of motorsport history rather than this article’s corpus.
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