She started displaying an interest in sport since her teenage years, being a keen horse rider and tennis player.

Despite some reservations from her intimate circle of friends and relatives (two of her brothers told her that she would not be able to go very fast, goading her and making a bet that she would be slow), at the age of 22, de Filippis began her racing career.

This result gave her the confidence to compete in the Italian sports car championship, where she finished second in the 1954 season.

Although Maserati was a successful Formula One chassis manufacturer in the 1950s, supplying several teams and winning numerous races (in 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio won the drivers' title in a Maserati 250F,[1] his fifth and final championship win),[7] by 1958 the team had officially withdrawn from the sport but many of the cars remained available to privateers.

[8] On 18 May 1958 de Filippis was given the opportunity to enter the Monaco Grand Prix, the second round of the 1958 Formula One season, in one of the 250Fs.

De Filippis qualified in 19th place, nearly 34 seconds off Tony Brooks' pole position time and only ahead of a mechanically-hindered Ken Kavanagh.

[3][13] On the occasion of the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix in August, de Filippis qualified in last place, more than 15 seconds slower than the car ahead of her.

Lombardi went on to become the first and as of 2024[update] only female driver to have finished a World Championship Formula One race in a point-scoring position.

Three other women have since then tried to enter a Formula One race, albeit unsuccessfully – Giovanna Amati, Divina Galica and Desiré Wilson.