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An Article about Lella Lombardi - Nobody makes jokes about women drivers around Lella Lombardi

The sleek Lola T-332 racing car crossed the starting line at the river side, Calif, Grand Prix, hurtled ahead of three cars, and swooped back inside with split-second timings.

"You mean that's really a girl?" Muttered three times indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt, looking on in incredulously from the side liners.

For Lella Lombardi, the first woman in 17 years (and the second ever) to compete on high performance Formula One circut - the big leagues of professionals auto racing - the question is all but invetable. What in the world is a nice Italian girl like Lella doing in overalls and a crash helmet, risking her life at speeds close to 200 miles an hour?

"That's what mama keeps asking me," says the tomboyish 31-year-old Lella, "I guess she thinks I should be home with a good husband and a houseful of bambini."

It was obvious from the beginning, to Lella at least, that she was cut from different cloth compared to most girls. Born in the little Piedmontese village of Furgarolo, she was hooked on auto racing before she was out of diapers.

"The first I remember, I am perhaps 4 or 5 years old," she recalls, "I was making little cars from things I found in my mum's sewing box. When I was 8 I decided I shall be a racing driver. I didn't say anything but I made up my mind."

As a teenager Lella raced motorcycles with boys in her village. The boys were scandalized she beat them - their mothers that she was racing at all. Eventually the village priest came to call.

"He explained why I should be like a girl and what a girl must do," she remembers. "So I told him, 'yes father' but all the time I am thinking why am I not allowed to do as I want."

Nothing if not persistent, Lella saw her first race at 18. Five years later she brought a car of her own, secondhand, Formula Monza 500 that she tinkered with and drove in races herself. Last year, nearly after a decade of coming up through the ranks, she was approached by March Racing Ltd, of England which was looking for a driver for its two-man Grand Prix team.

"Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000 - I raced in them all," says Lella, "I win a lot in Italy - six times women's champion. So when March comes to ask me to try out for them, I say to myself, 'Why not?'"

March's decision to hire her was hardly made lightly. A single Grand Prix car costs $100,000 and putting it through a season of racing costs several hundred thousand dollars more.

"Putting a woman into a Grand Prix cockpit means shattering a lot of tradition," acknowledges March team manager, Max Mosley. "Of course, my wild told me, the only reason I was hesitating was because of Lella's sex, no doubt about her skill, in the end, I guess my wife was right."

Now prepping for this Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Lella is given little chance of winning a race this season (although she finished a respectable sixth in last week's accident-shorter Spanish Grand Prix) since March is designing its cars. Some drivers perhaps disturbed by Lella's invasion of their male peserve, doubt the chunky, 5"2, Lombardi has the stamina for long-distance racing. But March chief Roy Wardell, was watching her during a gruelling test of the company's racers, disagrees.

"Thrasing a car about it bloody hard work," he says, "most male drivers would have been bitching and complaining but she drove more than 300 miles flat out without a whimper." Her main fault, says Wardell, is a rookie's understandable caution. "Lella is still a bit afraid that if she spins out everyone will say, 'see a woman driver'" he says, "but her confidence is building. Pretty soon she'll be mixing it up with the best of them."

notes from nicole piastri's interview on red flags pod

oscar started playing monopoly and chess when he was 4-5 but he was too good at chess (relative to nicole) that she boycotted it

nicole opened her twitter account because oscar wasn't replying to her at boarding school and she needed a place to chastise him ("can you not answer... i KNOW you're on your phone") (it worked because he started replying to her there)

instead of unflappable she calls him "conservative"

even during christmas and birthdays he was never super excited, one time they went with a group of 5 mums and 5 kids to a hi-5 concert (popular australian kids' musical group) and while all the kids were "going nuts" oscar just sat there "focused the whole time" and didn't smile or move lmfao. they were like 3 years old

didn't know what she was doing with oscar as a baby because he was her first child and her mothers' group was her only reference and they went "isn't the best part of the day when you wake up and go to their crib and they smile at you?" and she was like ??? because oscar would wake up and just SCREAM every single day needing to be out of there immediately and she thought that was just normal... then she had the girls and went "ahhhh... so that's what they're talking about"

when he was younger than 2 he needed them to read car magazines to him and was already obsessed with all things automotive and while they were driving would just name off and point out car brands by their badges

for a long period of time he behaved like he was a car and would "spin" his wheels and pretend to accelerate and run like a car lol

did a big burnout the first time he was on a bike (it had training wheels but he still learned very early)

as a mum she wishes he'd chosen golf or tennis since it's much safer than f1 and sometimes people tell her that she technically had a say in that when he was a kid and she said "but i didn't! it was just in him!!!"

won an academic award when he was 13 and she was president of the parents' community so she presented it to him, normally these events are super formal and you simply shake hands but she gave him a big kiss and instead of acting embarrassed or spluttering he looked at the crowd, nodded silently, and walked off

came back for the summer a few years ago and they were biking on the beach together when she had to brake hard to avoid a kid and went over, when she recovered and got back on he went "are you all right?" very deadpan but after they got home they checked his heart rate monitor and saw that he was totally steady the whole time except for when she crashed and his heart rate went through the roof, told him "ah so you do have a heart... we just don't see it"

"there's no sibling that can piss him off?" "well he's a boy with three girls so he just doesn't go there because he's never going to win"

met lily in person for the first time when he came home for the melbourne grand prix (was still alpine reserve), at midnight oscar was like "hey mum you know the dts film crew are coming tomorrow morning right?" and she was like WHAT... and he was like yeah it'll be chill they just want to film us having breakfast like a normal family or whatever and she was like Mate you haven't lived here for 5 years now do you know what breakfast looks like. it looks like your sisters storming downstairs and grabbing an inappropriate breakfast and storming out the door giving me the finger!!! and then the next morning lily comes down and nicole is like "oh is oscar up?" and lily is like no... i think he's still in bed... (many such cases) and then mae refused to be in it so she got dressed and ran off to school 2 hours early to escape them. and then the mclaren fiasco happened and the whole thing got cut out of dts anyway

when she said "oh my god you met matt damon!" he was just like (shrugs) "yeah... yeah..."

they communicate by facetiming and he's Always lying in bed. one time he was leaning back on an ornate tapestry and she asked what hotel he was staying at and he was like oh i'm at the royal palace i'm like a guest of the crown prince. she freaked out and was like "oh my god!!! get your head off the tapestry!!!" and he just looked back like ? no it's fine it looks pretty old lol

called her to tell her that he signed his f1 contract and when he said mclaren she Realized and was like oh no i love daniel!! and he straight up deadpanned "yeah everyone loves daniel. that's going to be a problem..." and said verbatim "of all the f1 drivers ever daniel is the worst one to be replacing"

one time in f4 chris couldn't go to a race and billy monger had just had his crash so she flew to the uk for the weekend to support him and when she was driving him back to boarding school she was happy because she had 2 hours to spend with him and she wasn't sure when she'd see him again but instead he slept the whole way through and the moment they got back to school he went "ahhhh... home sweet home" and she wanted to slap him lmfao

first day of primary school when he was 5 years old he said he didn't need her to walk him to school and she was like "well i actually do mate" so he forced her to walk behind him the whole way and the moment they got there he turned to her and went "all right i'm here you can go now" 😭

the chinese & italian & yugoslavian is on chris's side of the family while nicole's is scottish & irish ("that's where the pasty skin comes from")

red flags pod sent her a shirt with oscar's face composed of His Tweet and she showed it to him and he immediately said he wanted it

he gave her a small warning before he posted the tweet but it was just like "mum so this is going to happen just don't worry about it. it's all under control. it'll be fine" and was very calm the whole time

"we just had to trust that his personality would come through at some point, because the way he came across was not at all what he's like. people will work out who the real you is so just continue to do what you do" 🥺

all of the kids were obsessed with Cars (2006)

likes his mum's golden syrup dumplings and grandmother's rumballs

AT THE SINGAPORE GP IN 2023 HATTIE DISAPPEARED FOR HOURS TO GO SEE A K-POP CONCERT 😭😭😭😭 i think it was p1h lmfao (nicole was asked for her favorite group and went "i have no idea. five boys") ((it's txt)) meanwhile oscar is only into house music and she thinks everything he plays is the same song

did pilates when he went home but never with her and thinks it's a lot harder than it looks

takes him minimum 24 hours to respond to anything she sends

she had an exact conversation with oscar where she asked who he wanted to be teammates with and he said "well if i go up against lando i don't even have to get close the first year because everyone knows how good he is" 😭

oscar you are so you 🧡

Vingegaard - Pogacar: a rivalry in numbers (updated).

118 race days together: 92 times Tadej finished ahead; 24 times Jonas finished ahead; 1 DNF for each one.

They raced in 4 GT together (Tdf '21, '22, '23 and '24). Tadej finished ahead two times, Jonas two times. They raced 4 one week races together. Tadej finished ahead 3 times, Jonas one.

Difference in time between them in the four TdF editions they compete together: 1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:25.

Difference in time between them in the seven ITT in TdF they compete together: 1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 00:06.

12 TdF Stages in which they finished first and second:

Stage 17 Tour de France '21, Sant-Lary-Soulan - Col du Portet (1st Tadej, 2ndJonas, 00:03). // Stage 18 Tour de France '21, Luz Ardiden (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:02) // Stage 7 Tour de France '22, La Super Planche des Belles Filles (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, same time) // Stage 17 Tour de France '22, Peyragudes (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, same time) // Stage 18 Tour de France '22, Hautacam (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 01:04) // Stage 6 Tour de France '23, Cauterets - Cambasque (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:24) // Stage 16 Tour de France '23, Combloux (ITT) (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 01:38) // Stage 11 Tour de France '24, Le Lioran (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, same time) // Stage 14 Tour de France '24, Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:39) // Stage 15 Tour de France '24, Plateau de Beille (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:08) // Stage 20 Tour de France '24, Col de la Couillole (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:07) // Stage 21 Tour de France '24, Nice (ITT) (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:03).

Stages in which they finished first and second (one week tours):

Stage 5 UAE Tour '21, Jebel Jais (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 00:03) // Stage 4 Tirreno - Adriatico '22, Bellante (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:02) // Stage 6 Tirreno - Adriatico '22, Carpegna (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:23) // Stage 8 Paris - Nice '23, Nice (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:33).

Most difference between them in a Tdf stage:

Stage 17 Tour de France '23, Courchevel: 05:45 ahead Tadej.

Stage 8 Tour de France '21, Le-Grand-Bornand: 03:25 ahead Jonas.

Stage 11 Tour de France '22, Col du Granon: 02:51 ahead Tadej.

Stage 15 Tour de France '24, Isola 2000: 01:42 ahead Jonas.

Climbing records (source climbing-records.com & @ammattypyöräily):

By Tadej: Planche des Belles Filles '20 (16:10), Puy de Dôme '23 (35:11), Col du Grand-Colombier '23 (44:32), Poggio '24 (09:26), Vallter 2000 '24 (31:28), Port Ainé '24 (46:10), Monte Grappa '24 (51:48), Galiber (from Lautaret) '24 (20:48), Pas de Peyrol '24 (07:22), Pla d'Adet '24 (25:08), Plateau de Beille '24 (39:58), Isola 2000 '24 (38:14), Col de la Couillole '24 (39:17).

By Jonas: Marie-Blanque '23 (20:58), Tourmalet '23 (from Luz-Saint-Sauveur) (50:54), Col de Pertus '24 (12:02).

Both: Cote de la Croix Neuve - Mende '22 (09:03), Tourmalet (from Campan) '23 (45:35), Les Bettex-Saint-Gervais '23 (18:25), Platzerwasel '23 (with Gall) (22:03), San Luca '24 (05:29).

images: Mont Ventoux '21, Galibier '22, Joux Plane '23, Plateau de Beille '21.

THE STEED

ANQUETIL, ALONE

Anquetil Alone by Paul Fournel // A group in the 1957 Tour de France passes through the Pyrenees, Jacques Anquetil in yellow. // Rouleur journal The case for Jacques Anquetil // A young Anquetil wins the 1953 GP Des Nations // High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr. // Anquetil climbs the Tourmalet during the 1957 Tour de France // Anquetil poses with his bike ahead of the 1959 Giro d'Italia // Anquetil racing in 1960 or 61 // Eurosport Re-Cycle the 1963 Vuelta // Individual time trial at the 1964 Tour de France // Richard Willams Review of 'Anquetil Alone' // Catullus 85 // L'Equipe playing card, 1960 // Commemorative stamp, 1969 // Tour de France 1961 magazine // Commemorative stamp, 1972 // Anquetil prepares his bike for a track event in London, 1964

Extract from an Autosprint article in which Pietro, Didier's chief mechanic, is interviewed.

"Despite what someone might believe, after Gilles' death Didier Pironi was never the same. Someone might think that the frenchman was now cinically calm and happy, since he had gotten rid of his sworn enemy, and could now win the world championship easily. But no. No, no, no! He didn't talk to me, but I was still his chief mechanic and I could see and understand things better than anyone. After Zolder's disgrace, Didier was never the same. He suffered, he was depressed, and I'm sure of what I am saying, he was deeply saddened with how things had ended with Gilles, in such a terrible and definitive way. Yeah, I think Didier was feeling guilty, because he behaved in a very strange, peculiar, excessive way, as if he wanted to think about something else, as if he wanted to drown his troubles, forget about all the horror that had happened. No one knows that Zandvoort 1982 is a victory without smiles. Didier wins, but does not smile, does not laugh, because something inside him has broken, maybe forever. He had a new mistress, it was like he didn't want to think, he didn’t even seem enthusiastic about the championship victory that was coming. Yes, the Holland GP is a good thing... but only for you. For those who secretly see what's happening in Ferrari, it shows a specific state of mind of Didier: cold, sad, melancholic. So I think these things should be known now, because they will end in a dramatic epilogue at Hockenheim, which is an event that is like a child of Zandvoort. The day of the crash in Germany, Didier arrives at the circuit half an hour late. Something serious, unacceptable. He has a long, scruffy beard, a distant look. He comes in company of two girls with whom no one thinks he had been discussing the weather forecasts with... so, Forghieri understandably is upset with him. It rains, it's not even worth going on track, but the situation is such that Mauro wants Didier to wake up and go back on track, because it seems that his mind is somewhere else. The rest is history."

Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Grand Prix post-race conference, 1990.

His eyelashes🥺

this one’s very long my bad

tadej pogacar and jonas vingegaard // some nights by fun.

GPDA Meeting, 1969 South African GP