 |
| Lella Lombardi, the only female to score points in F1 |
I recently read the news of the future of Women drivers in F1 and controversy surrounding it. Sir Stirling Moss was quite vocal about women being incapable to handle F1 mentally; though physically he said it didn’t matter. This didn’t go well with many and the F1 world was divided, with many voicing their opinions and few openly disagreeing (mainly Susie Wolff, the Williams test driver) with Moss. According to me - Women are ready to race for F1 teams; it is just a matter of teams having them. Only time will tell as to when.
It isn’t like there were no women F1 drivers before. There were
many who test drove but very few
women were part of the F1 business. Till date, there have been only five
women racers (when compared to thousands of male drivers) to have been part of
the Grand Prix circus; the last female took part in a race thirty three years
ago. Out of these five drivers, only one managed to score a point, well almost
a point (0.5 points to be precise). So clearly, statistics are not the medium
through which you can bias and deny opportunity to female drivers. F1 in its
current state is a lot safer and hence it eliminates the fear of life or one
can say, fear of flying if thing do go awry in a F1 car.
Lella Lombardi (one of the five female drivers) competed in
17 races and her moment of glory in F1 came amidst the chaos and death of few
spectators in a race which was stopped midway. The year was 1975 and all this
happened at the hilly circuit of Montjuïc, located in Barcelona. It hosted
Spanish Grand Prix briefly in late 60’s and early 70’s before facing the wrath
from the F1 drivers. In this edition of Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore, I
will be featuring the enigmatic street circuit at Montjuïc.
Spanish Grand Prix first became part of the F1 calendar in
the year 1951, when Pedralbes hosted the race. It hosted one more time in 1954
and was cancelled the next year as a consequence of the disaster that took
place at 24 hours of LeMans disaster in 1955. With authorities calling for regulations
governing spectator safety, the scheduled Spanish Grand Prix (like many others)
was cancelled and the pedestrian-lined street track at Pedralbes was then never
used again for motor racing.
It took some effort on the part of ‘Real Automóvil Club de
España’ (RACE) known as Royal Automobile Club of Spain in English to bid
for the races in Spain. There were two front runners, one from Madrid (Jarama) and
Barcelona (Montjuïc) respectively. After hosting a number of F2 and F3 races in
the 1960’s, Spain was ready for F1 action. In 1967, a non-championship race
took place at Jarama, which is situated north of Madrid. The race was won by
Jim Clark and the F1 fraternity was impressed and came to an agreement to have
the Spanish Grand Prix regularly. The two venues - Jarama and Montjuïc were in concord
to host the Spanish Grand Prix alternatively. Jarama would host the Spanish
Grand Prix in even-numbered years and Montjuïc in the odd-numbered years.
Montjuïc, also known as the ‘Jew Mountain’ in Catalan hosted its first F1 championship race in
1969. Located in the hills, the drivers had to drive their machines along the
slopes facing the city. It was challenging, it was tricky, but was exciting
too. It was the second race of the calendar and the Ford-powered engines of
Matra driven by (Sir) Jackie Stewart took the top step of the podium. Bruce
McLaren in his McLaren-Ford came second. The race marked the end of the high-wing
era. Also, this was the first race where the winner finished the race two laps
ahead of the runner-up. This feat was repeated just once since then (Australia
GP, 1995).
The Spanish Grand
Prix returned to Montjuïc in 1971, a race which saw the introduction of slick tyres
for the first time in F1 by Firestone, who had considerable experience in US
Open wheel racing series. Jackie Stewart was once again unstoppable; won the
race starting from fourth.
In 1973, Jackie Stewart could not complete the hatrick of
victories at Montjuïc. He retired early in the race due to brake problems.
Emerson Fittipaldi, the reigning World Champion at that time won the race in
his Lotus-Ford.
Two years later, the race at Montjuïc came to be known as
one of the horrific and controversial races in the annals of F1 was the last
this circuit hosted the Spanish Grand Prix. This is how the drama unfolded.
Before the race started, many drivers expressed their
displeasure over the barriers and how recklessly it was bolted. The situation
got so heated up that, many of the drivers went on strike and refused to get
their cars out for practice sessions, which forced the track workers to spend
overtime in fixing the barriers. The strike didn’t cool down; it required a
threat by the race organisers which prompted the drivers to call off the
strike. The threat was simple – If the race were to be cancelled, all the cars parked
in the circuit would have been seized as compensation.
The race finally did take place; few drivers took part
hesitantly while one refused to race. Emerson Fittipaldi, then the youngest
double World Champion protested the race and did not start this race. There was
a big accident and few of the cars at the front were taken out; Wilson
Fittipaldi and Arthuro Merzario withdrew from the race after lap one. By the
end of three laps, eight out of 26 cars were out of the race. By the end of 25
laps, the number swelled to 18. On lap 25, the tragedy struck as explained by a
report – “The rear wing on Rolf Stommelen's Hill-Ford broke,
sending him into the barrier. He bounced off it and back into the road, hitting
the barrier across the way, and flying over it.”
While trying to avoid Stommelen as he crossed the track, the
Brazilian driver Carlos Pace crashed. Five spectators were killed by
Stommelen's flying car with the driver suffering a broken leg, a broken wrist
and two cracked ribs. The race continued for four more laps before it was
stopped. Jochen Mass won the race and since, only 29 laps out of scheduled 75 were complete,
points were reduced to half. The Italian, Lella Lombardi who finished sixth became
the first and till date the only female to score points in F1.
After the tragedy of 1975, F1 never returned to Montjuïc and
was deserted completely. Jarama became the sole custodian of the Spanish Grand
Prix before the baton was passed on to Jerez, Circuit de Catalunya and Valencia.
With F1 being ruled out, Montjuïc was used extensively to
build an Olympic park for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Few parts of the race
circuit were included in the Olympic Park plan.
Montjuïc was in the headlines again in October 2007 when the
circuit was used for the Martini Legends, to honour the 75th anniversary of the
circuit.
With Circuit de Catalunya and the recently built street
circuit at Valencia being in the calendar (agreed to host Spanish Grand Prix
alternatively), it is unlikely Montjuïc will feature in the F1 calendar in the
near future. It hosted the Spanish Grand Prix four times and as they say; you
are only as good as your last race.
