Which Formula 1 driver became the first woman to start a World Championship Grand Prix, racing in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix?

Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to start a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix at the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix.

The Italian driver competed at Spa-Francorchamps in a Maserati 250F and finished tenth. Although she had already entered an earlier championship event, the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix was her first start in a race that counted toward the modern World Championship record.

De Filippis entered five World Championship Grands Prix during 1958. Her best result was tenth, and she did not score championship points. Her career was brief, but she opened a path later followed by other women, including Lella Lombardi, who remains the only woman to score points in a Formula 1 World Championship race.

Her achievement is sometimes mixed up with Lombardi’s 1975 half-point result or with the first woman to qualify for a Grand Prix. De Filippis’s specific distinction is being the first woman to start a World Championship Grand Prix.