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| Alberto Ascari |
Alberto Ascari
Born: 13 July 1918, Milan, Italy
Died: 26 May 1955
Grand Prix Starts: 31
Grand Prix Victories: 13
Points Total: 140.64
World Champion: 1952,1953
Alberto Ascari and his father Antonio had careers which followed an eerily similar path. Ascari Snr. - one of the premier drivers of the post-WWI era - was killed at the age 36 while competing at the 1925 French GP. Thirty years later Alberto lost his life on the track at the age of 36...
Ascari began his racing career with motorbikes before moving to four wheels with Ferrari in 1940 in the famous Mille Miglia road race, but it was not until 1947 that he made his Grand Prix debut. Having moved to Maserati, he and team-mate and mentor Luigi Villoresi started from the back of the grid at the 1948 British GP as a result of arriving late. They carved their way through the field to finish first and second. Villoresi took top honours, but Ascari was recognised as a driver with enormous potential.
By the end of the following season, with wins at the Swiss and Italian GPs, Ascari was back with Ferrari. He finished fifth in the inaugural world championship of 1950. A year later he won in German and Italy, but it wasn't quite enough to take the title from Fangio and Alfa Romeo. In 1952 he won at Spa and the following five Grand Prix races, assuring him the world championship for that year. Ascari's victory at Spa in June 1953 completed a run of nine successive wins in a twelve-month period and he retained his title with a win at Bremgarten.
Ascari's move to Lancia in 1954 resulted in a disappointing Championship Series that year. In 1955 he walked away unscathed from a dramatic crash into the harbour at Monaco, only to be killed four days later while testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza. He remains the last Italian to win the world championship.