Brad Spurgeon for The New York TimesMaria Teresa de Filippis, the first female Formula One driver, with her husband, Theo Huschek, in the McLaren Mercedes hospitality center at the track in Monza, Italy.
Sebastian Vettel, in his Red Bull, earned his 10th pole position this year, and was half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes.
In addition to the qualifying times, several other interesting stories came out of the paddock in Monza, Italy, on Saturday.
Every country in which Formula One has a race attracts a certain number of local residents who are not seen at other races. Phil Hill would often come all the way from the United States to visit the race at Monza, where he won the world title – as I mention in today’s F1 preview. Monza also tends to attract Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president who occasionally visits other races.
But today sitting in the McLaren Mercedes hospitality unit with her husband was a very rare and unusual former Formula One driver, named Maria Teresa de Filippis. She was born in 1926, and she raced in Formula One and other series in the 1950s. Who said Danica Patrick or Katherine Legge were doing something new for women? In fact, de Filippis was the first of five women who would eventually race in Formula One. She took part in five events.
I spoke to de Filippis for a few minutes, with her husband, Theo Huschek, serving as translator. In fact, the problem was not really language – we could have spoken French – the problem was her hearing, and all the background sounds of music and voices and car engines.
De Filippis comes from a wealthy Italian family, and she and her brothers were given cars as soon as they could drive. She also loved horses and rode very well. One brother told her that she rode a horse like a car and should be racing a car. So she tried a hill climb, and immediately came in second – out of some 60 or so contestants. She tried another race a while after, and won it.
That was the beginning. She would eventually move on to Formula One, and she once took part in a qualifying session in which Bernie Ecclestone was also participating. Her first race was the Monaco Grand Prix, which she entered in a Maserati, but she failed to qualify. A month later she took part in the Belgian Grand Prix and finished 10th.
What does she think of today’s Formula One? Theo confided that she does not understand why it is called a “drivers’” world championship, given all the electronics in the cars. But then again, he said with a chuckle, she has trouble coming to grips with the electronics of a cellphone.
She said that she thought probably no women would really be up to racing in Formula One today, if for no other reason than they would not likely want to have necks twice the size of a normal one in order to cope with the car’s G-forces. Aesthetically speaking, it would be a problem, she said.
De Filippis, by the way, is a vice president of the Grand Prix Drivers Club, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.