Maria Teresa de Filippis

De Filippis was born on 11 November 1926 in Marigliano, Italy. She was the youngest of five children of an Italian count, Serino Francesco De Filippis, and a Spanish noblewoman, Narcisa Anselmi Balaguer Roca de Togores y Ruco y Perpignan. Her father owned the 16th-century Palazzo Marigliano in Naples, where she grew up. She started displaying an interest in sport during her teenage years, being a keen horse rider and tennis player.

In the late 1940s, at the end of World War II, de Filippis developed an interest in motorsport. Despite some reservations from her friends and relatives—including two of her brothers who bet she would be slow—de Filippis began her racing career at the age of 22. She won her first race driving a Fiat 500 on a 10 km course between Salerno and Cava de' Tirreni. This result gave her the confidence to compete in the Italian sports car championship, where she finished second in the 1954 season. Seeing her potential, Maserati brought her in as a works driver.

In the following years, de Filippis took part in various motor racing events, including hillclimbing and endurance racing. She finished second in a sportscar race supporting the 1956 Naples Grand Prix, driving a Maserati 200S.

In 1958, de Filippis was given the chance to drive a Formula One car. Although Maserati had officially withdrawn from the sport by 1958, many of its 250F chassis remained available to privateers. On 18 May 1958, de Filippis entered the Monaco Grand Prix in a 250F. Of the 31 entrants, only half set a time fast enough to qualify; de Filippis missed out alongside fellow debutant Bernie Ecclestone. The two forged a friendship on the occasion and remained on good terms for years. De Filippis's time of 1:50.8 was 5.8 seconds behind the qualifying time of the fastest 16. During the season, Juan Manuel Fangio gave her advice, famously telling her in an interview she later recalled in 2006: "You go too fast, you take too many risks."

The 1958 Belgian Grand Prix allowed all drivers to compete without a qualifying cut-off. De Filippis qualified 19th, nearly 34 seconds off Mike Hawthorn's pole position time. Although she was lapped twice by race winner Tony Brooks, she finished in 10th and last place. This would be her only race finish.

At the French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux on 6 July 1958, de Filippis was prevented from competing. In a 2006 interview, she claimed the race director dismissed her by saying "the only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser's."

In August 1958, at the Portuguese Grand Prix, de Filippis qualified last and retired after six laps due to engine failure. On 7 September 1958, she started her home Grand Prix at Monza from last place. She completed 57 of the 70 laps before retiring with engine problems; as the 14th retirement out of 21 starters, she was classified eighth.

In 1959, de Filippis joined the Behra-Porsche RSK team. She entered the Monaco Grand Prix but failed to qualify, her time of 1:47.8 being three seconds off the lowest qualifying pace. This was her final attempt at Grand Prix qualification.

Following the death of Porsche team leader Jean Behra in a racing accident on 1 August 1959 at AVUS, de Filippis left the circuit and retired from professional racing.

Around 1960, de Filippis married Austrian chemist Theodor Huschek and started a family. She stayed away from motor racing until 1979, when she joined the International Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers, later becoming its Vice-President in 1997. She was also a founding member and chairperson of the Maserati Club in 2004. De Filippis died in January 2016 at the age of 89.

De Filippis was a pioneer in a sport traditionally dominated by men. No woman raced in Formula One again for 15 years until Lella Lombardi competed between 1974 and 1976. Lombardi remains the only female driver to have finished a World Championship race in a point-scoring position. Three other women—Giovanna Amati, Divina Galica, and Desiré Wilson—have since attempted to enter a Formula One race unsuccessfully. Historical accounts of her journey, such as those found on F1 Place and Legends of Automotive History, characterize her career as a groundbreaking entry for women into the pinnacle of motorsport.