Formula 1 season in 1975 is widely remembered for the domination of Niki Lauda and Ferrari. He won together in five races as Austria cruised to his first World Championship title with a comfortable margin. However, that season, half a century ago, also included notable results that have not been consistent since.
The woman was Italian racer Lera Lombardi. The butcher’s daughter, Lombardi, took the first step towards her era-style career choices at the time as a delivery driver for her family’s business. After catching a race bug in the cart, Lombardi went on to Formula 3 and the European F5000 in 1968, then tried to advance to Formula 1 with a personal entered Brabham. Although she was not qualified, her efforts earned her sponsorship and the chance to participate in engineering in March towards the ’75 season. In the third race of the year in South Africa, Lombardi became the first woman to qualify for the Grand Prix since Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958, but she retired early after a fuel system breakdown at Ford in March.
Next was the Spanish Grand Prix, which was then held at the Montjuis Street Circuit. The accident-scattered race was tragically shattered by the tragedy as Rolf Stommelen crashed the deaths of one spectator, a firefighter and two journalists, shortened to 29 out of the 75 laps scheduled for the race, and only half the points were awarded. After moving up to sixth in a chaotic race from the 24th starting position, Lombardi won half the points and her position in the history book as F1 awarded points to the top six finishers.
While it would prove Lombardi’s best career F1 results, she slightly missed the point that finished seventh in the German Grand Prix later that season. She returned the following March, but lost her seat to Ronnie Peterson mid-season, and after a brief stint with Ram Race, the Italian opted to advance to another form of race. She tried out the NASCAR in 1977 and focused on sports cars after racing the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Lombardi achieved her greatest success and was able to share the victory in a six-hour race at Pagusa and Valerunga in 1979.
After retiring from driving, Lombardi formed the Lombardi Autosport Race Team, which served as team manager. Although she passed away in 1992 at the age of 50 after succumbing to breast cancer, her legacy remains inspiration, striving to improve the opportunities for women to join Lombardi in the Grand Prix record book in the All Women’s F1 Academy Support Series in Formula 1 Race.