Maserati celebrates first woman to race in F1 with FTributo Special Edition

Avid F1 fans reading this will know that the representation of women in the sport has been a talking point over the years with no woman racing in F1 since the 1970s.

Maserati is celebrating the very first woman to race in F1 - Maria Teresa de Filippis from Italy - with the new FTributo Special Edition for the Ghibli sedan and Levante SUV.

Maria Teresa de Filippis had a long association with Maserati with the Italian catching the eye of the carmaker after starting her motorsport career driving a Fiat 500 “Topolino” in the late 1940s and winning her first race.

Impressed by her driving, Maserati signed Maria to race in the famous Targa Florio and other car racing and hillclimb events. Before entering F1, Maria placed ninth overall and finished fourth in class behind the wheel of a Maserati A6GCS in Targa Floria.

Maria made her F1 debut at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix where she was behind the wheel of the 250F - a car that shared many similarities with 1957’s title winning Maserati driven by Juan Manuel Fangio. Maria Teresa was nicknamed as “the she-devil” during her time in racing.

Coming back to the special editions, the Levante and Ghibli FTributo Special Edition features Arancio Devil (orange) paint 21-inch Titano wheels with Grigio Opaco (a matt grayish color) coated wheels with blue brake calipers. 

If you want to look a bit subtle then the option of getting the special edition cars in Grigio Lamiera (gray) is also available. Cars bought with this color will swap blue for orange and come with gloss back wheels. 

The orange color scheme comes with orange full-grain leather inside while the gray scheme cars will have black full-grain leather. Both the leather come with cobalt blue and orange stitching. 

Maria racing in F1 will always be remembered as a significant event in F1 and her legacy has been reminiscent thanks to these special Maseratis.