Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first woman to compete in a world championship grand prix, has died at the age of 89.
The Italian driver started three races in 1958, finishing tenth on her debut for Maserati at the Belgian Grand Prix. She also had two unsuccessful attempts to qualify for a race, including the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix for the Behra-Porsche team.
She walked away from motor racing later that year, however, following team owner Jean Behra's death at a support race. She would remain the only woman to appear in a grand prix until Lella Lombardi in 1974. De Filippis and Lombardi remain the only two female drivers to have successfully qualified for a Formula One race.
In an interview with The Observer in 2006, De Filippis would say the only prejudice she ever experienced was in France.
"The race director said 'the only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser's' -- that was the only time I was prevented from racing," she said. "Apart from that I don't think I encountered any prejudice - only surprise at my success."