Alberto Ascari (13 July 1918 – 26 May 1955) was an Italian racing driver and twice Formula One World Champion.

Alberto Ascari

Ascari, April 1955
Born	13 July 1918 Milan, Italy
Died	26 May 1955 (aged 36) Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1950 – 1955
Teams	Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia
Entries	33 (32 starts)
Championships	2 (1952, 1953)
Wins	13
Podiums	17
Career points	107  9⁄14 (140  1⁄7)
Pole positions	14
Fastest laps	12
First entry	1950 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1951 German Grand Prix
Last win	1953 Swiss Grand Prix
Last entry	1955 Monaco Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1952–1953 Teams Scuderia Ferrari Best finish DNF (1952, 1953)

He was a multitalented racer who completed in motorcycle racing before switching to cars. Back to back World titles in 1952 and 1953 sandwiched an appearance in the Indianapolis 500 in 1952. Ascari also won the legendary Mille Miglia in 1954. When Alberto was a child, his father, Antonio, who was also a famous racing driver, died in an accident at the 1925 French Grand Prix. Alberto once admitted that he warned his children not to become extremely close to him because of the risk involved in his profession. So this proved when he was killed during a test session for Scuderia Ferrari at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. He was preparing for the Supercortemaggiore 1000 kilometre race that he was to have run with his protégé Eugenio Castellotti on the weekend that followed the accident.

The son of one of Italy's great pre-war drivers, Alberto Ascari went on to become one of Formula One racing's most dominant and best-loved champions. Noted for the careful precision and finely-judged accuracy that made him one of the safest drivers in a most dangerous era, he was also notoriously superstitious and took great pains to avoid tempting fate. But his unexplained fatal accident - at exactly the same age as his father’s, on the same day of the month and in eerily similar circumstances - remains one of Formula One racing’s great unsolved mysteries.

Early life

Born in Milan, Ascari was the son of Antonio Ascari, a talented Grand Prix motor racing star in the 1920s, racing Alfa Romeos. Just a fortnight before Alberto’s seventh birthday, Antonio was killed while leading the French Grand Prix in 1925 at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, but the younger Ascari had an interest in racing in spite of. Such was his passion to become a racing driver like his father, twice he ran away from school. He raced motorcycles in his earlier years. At the age of just 19, Ascari was signed to ride for the Bianchi team. It was after he entered the prestigious Mille Miglia in a Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, supplied by his father’s close friend, Enzo Ferrari, in 1940 that he eventually started racing on four wheels regularly. He also married a local girl the same year.

When Italy entered World War II, the family garage, now run by Alberto, was conscripted to service and maintain vehicles of the Italian military.it was during this period, he established a lucrative transport business, supplying fuel to army depots in North Africa. His partner in the enterprise was a fellow racing driver, Luigi Villoresi. The pair did survive being capsized in Tripoli harbour along with a shipment of lorries. As their business supported the Italian war effort, it made them exempt from being called up during the war.

Career

Following the end of World War II Alberto Ascari began racing in Grands Prix with Maserati 4CLT. His team-mate was Villoresi, who would become a mentor, team mate and friend to Ascari. The pair were successful on the circuits in the North of Italy. Soon he was bestowed with the nickname Ciccio, meaning “Tubby”. Formula One regulations were introduced by the FIA in 1946, with the aim of eventually replacing the pre-war Grand Prix structure. During the next four transitional years, Ascari was at the top of his game, winning numerous events around Europe. He won his first Grand Prix, the Gran Premio di San Remo in 1948 and took second place in the RAC International Grand Prix the same year, at Silverstone. Ascari won another race with the team the following year, Gran Premio del General Juan Perón de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. His biggest success came when he and Villoresi signed for Scuderia Ferrari. The team boss, Enzo Ferrari, had been a great friend and team mate to Antonio Ascari, and had taking a keen interest in Alberto’s successes. That year, 1949 with Ferrari team and won three more races that year.

The first Formula One World Championship season took place in 1950, and the Ferrari team made its World Championship debut at Monte Carlo with Ascari, Villoresi and the famous French driver Raymond Sommer on the team. The team had a mixed year - their supercharged Tipo 125 was too slow to challenge the dominant Alfa Romeo team so instead Ferrari began working on an unblown 4.5l car. Much of the year was lost as the team's 2-litre Formula Two engine was progressively enlarged, though when the full 4.5l Tipo 375 arrived for the Gran Premio d’Italia (the final round of the championship) Ascari gave Alfa Romeo their sternest challenge of the year before retiring; he then took over team mate Dorino Serafini's car to finish second. The new Ferrari then won the non-championship Gran Premio do Penya Rhin.

Throughout 1951, Ascari was a threat to the Alfa Romeo team though initially he was undone by reliability. However, after winning at the Nürburgring and Monza he was only two points behind Fangio in the championship standings ahead of the climactic Gran Premio de España. Ascari took pole position, but a disastrous tyre choice for the race saw the Ferraris unable to challenge, Ascari coming home 4th while Juan Manuel Fangio won the race and the title.

Ascari and Villoresi in action at the 1952 Gran Premio d’Italia

For 1952 the World Championship season switched to using the 2-litre Formula Two regulations, with Ascari driving Ferrari's Tipo 500 car. He missed the first race of the championship season as he was qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, at the time a World Championship event. He was the only European driver to race at Indy in its 11 years on the World Championship schedule, but his race ended after 40 laps without having made much of an impression, as a result of a wheel collapse. Returning to Europe he then won the remaining six rounds of the series to clinch the world title (also taking five non-championship wins) and recording the fastest lap in each race. He scored the maximum amount of points a driver could earn since only the best four of eight scores counted towards the World Championship. Fangio missed most of the season after a crash in the Gran Premio dell’Autodromo di Monzain June.

"When leading, he could not easily be overtaken – indeed it was virtually impossible to overtake him."

—Enzo Ferrari

He won three more consecutive races to start the 1953 season, giving him nine straight championship wins (not counting Indy) before his streak ended when he finished fourth in France, although it was a close fourth as the race was highly competitive. He earned two more wins later in the year to give himself a second consecutive World Championship.

Following a dispute over his salary, Ascari left Ferrari at the end of the season and switched to Lanciafor the 1954 campaign. However, as their car was not eventually ready for the final race of the season, Gianni Lancia allowed him to drive twice for Maserati (sharing fastest lap at the RAC British Grand Prix) and once for Ferrari. Ascari did at least get to win the Mille Miglia driving a Lancia sportscar survivor the dreadful weather, and a throttle spring failure which was temporarily replaced with a rubber band. When the Lancia D50 was ready, Ascari took pole position on its debut and led impressively early on (and set fastest lap) before retiring with a clutch problem, meaning a full season of competing against Fangio's previously dominant Mercedes was much anticipated.

Ascari in the Lancia D50 in 1954

His 1955 season started promisingly, the Lancia taking victories at the non-championship races in Turin and Naples, where the Lancias took on and beat the hitherto all-conquering Mercedes. though in world championship event, he retired in Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina.

22 May 1955, the Grand Prix Automobiles de Monaco, it was late in the race when he crashed into the harbour, through hay bales and sandbags after missing a chicane while leading, reportedly distracted by either the crowd's reaction to Stirling Moss' retirement or the close attentions of the lapped Cesare Perdisa behind. Whatever distracted him, he approached the chicane too fast, and chose the only way out and took his D50 clean through the barriers into the sea, narrowly missing a small barrel-sized iron bollard by about 30 cm. His car disappeared into the Mediterranean Sea and sank, marked only an oil slick and stream of bubbles and steam. It was an agonizing three seconds before Ascari’s pale blue helmet appeared bobbing on the surface. He was hauled into a boat before the frogmen could get to him. He escaped with a nothing worse than a broken nose, bruises and shock.

Death

Just four days later, on 26 May, he went to Monza to watch his friend Eugenio Castellotti test a Ferrari 750 Monza sports car, which they were to co-race in the Supercortemaggiore 1000 km race (having been given special dispensation by Lancia). Ascari was not supposed to drive that day but decided to try a few laps. In his jacket and tie, shirt sleeves, ordinary trousers and Castellotti's white helmet he set off. As he emerged from a fast curve on the third lap the car inexplicably skidded, turned on its nose and somersaulted twice. Thrown out onto the track, Ascari suffered multiple injuries and died a few minutes later. The crash occurred on the Curva del Vialone, one of the track's challenging high-speed corners. The corner where the accident happened, renamed in his honour, has been subsequently replaced with a chicane, now called Variante Ascari.

There were several similarities between the deaths of Alberto and his father. Alberto Ascari died on 26 May 1955, at the age of 36. Antonio Ascari was also 36 when he died, on 26 July 1925 (Alberto was only four days older). Both were killed four days after surviving serious accidents and on the 26th day of the month. Both had crashed fatally at the exit of fast left-hand corners and both left behind a wife and two children. Also, both had won 13 championship Grands Prix. Another curiosity related to Alberto's death is that the only other driver to crash into the harbour at Monaco in the circuit's history, Paul Hawkins, also died on 26 May. Hawkins crashed into the harbour 10 years after Ascari, before dying when his Lola crashed into a tree at a Tourist Trophy race at Oulton Park in 1969.

Motor racing fans from all over mourned as Alberto Ascari was laid to rest next to the grave of his father in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, to be forever remembered as one of the greatest racers of all time. His distraught wife Mietta Ascari told Enzo Ferrari that "were it not for their children she would gladly have joined her beloved Alberto in heaven". His death is often considered to be a contributing factor to the withdrawal of Lancia from motor racing in 1955, just three days after his funeral (though the company was also in considerable financial trouble, needing a government subsidy to survive), handing his team, drivers, cars and spare parts over to Enzo Ferrari.

Legacy

A street in Rome (in the EUR region) named in his honour, while both the Autodromo Nazionale Monza and Autodromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez have chicanes named after him. In 1992, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. The British supercar manufacturer Ascari Cars is named in his honour.

Italian-born American racing legend Mario Andretti counts Ascari as one of his racing heroes, having watched him at the Monza circuit in his youth.

Racing record

Career highlights

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Indicates shared drive with Dorino Serafini

† Indicates shared drive with José Froilán González

‡ Indicates shared drive with Luigi Villoresi

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key)

* Indicates shared drive with Luigi Villoresi

† Indicates shared drive with André Simon

** Indicates shared drive with Sergio Sighinolfi

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1952	Scuderia Ferrari	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 250 S Berlinetta Vignale	S3.0		DNF Clutch
1953	Scuderia Ferrari	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 340 MM Pininfarina Berlinetta	S5.0	229	DNF Clutch

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1954	Scuderia Lancia Co.	Luigi Villoresi	Lancia D24	S5.0	87	DNF Brakes

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1953	Scuderia Ferrari	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 375 MM Pininfarina Berlinetta	S	216	DNF Clutch

Complete Mille Miglia results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Pos.	Class Pos.
1940	Alberto Ascari	Giovanni Minozzi	Auto Avio Costruzioni 815	1.5	DNF
1948	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Guerino Bertocchi	Maserati A6GCS	S2./+2.0	DNF
1950	Scuderia Ferrari	Senesio Nicolini	Ferrari 275 S Barchetta Touring	S+2.0	DNF Accident
1951	Scuderia Ferrari	Senesio Nicolini	Ferrari 340 America Barchetta Touring	S/GT+2.0	DNF Accident
1954	Scuderia Lancia		Lancia D24	S+2.0	1st	1st

Complete Carrera Panamericana results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Pos.	Class Pos.
1951	Centro Deportivo Italian	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale	IC	2nd	2nd
1952	Industrias 1-2-3	Giuseppe Scotuzzi	Ferrari 340 Mexico Vignale Spyder	S	DNF Accident

Complete 12 Hours of Casablanca results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Pos.	Class Pos.
1953	Scuderia Ferrari	Casimiro de Oliviera	Ferrari 375 MM	S+2.0	DNS Accident in practice
	Scuderia Ferrari	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 500 Mondial	S2.0	2nd	1st

Indianapolis 500 results

Formula One records

Ascari holds the following Formula One records: