(
July 13 ,
1918 –
May 26 ,
1955 ) was one of
Formula One 's first stars, the first great
Ferrari driver and one of only two
Italian World Champions in the history of the sport.
Born in
Milan, Italy , Ascari had racing in his blood, as his father
Antonio Ascari was a talented
Grand Prix Motor Racing star in the
1920s , racing
Alfa Romeo s. Antonio was killed while leading the
French Grand Prix in
1925 but the younger Ascari had an interest in racing in spite of it. He raced
Motorcycle s in his earlier years; it was after he entered the prestigious
Mille Miglia in a Ferrari sports car that he eventually started racing on four wheels regularly.
His racing career was interrupted by
World War II , after which he began racing in Grand Prix with
Maserati . His team-mate was
Luigi Villoresi , who would become a
Mentor and friend of Alberto's. He won his first Grand Prix race in
San Remo, Italy in
1948 and won another race with the team the following year. His biggest success came after he joined Villoresi on the Ferrari team; he won three more races that year with them.
The first official
Formula One season took place in
1950 , and the Ferrari team made its debut at
Monte Carlo with Ascari, Villoresi, and the popular French driver
Raymond Sommer on the team. Ascari finished 2nd in the race and later in the year shared a 2nd place at F1's first race in
Monza . He was only 5th in the championship standings however. He won his first F1 race the following season on the
Nurburgring circuit and added a win at
Monza , finishing runner up to
Juan Manuel Fangio .
With success in Europe,
Enzo Ferrari supplied a car for Alberto in the
Indianapolis 500 , at the time an F1 event, in
1952 . Ascari was the only European driver to race at Indy in its 11 years on the F1 schedule, but his day ended after 40 laps. That was the only time he didn't win an F1 race that season. Ascari's Ferrari dominated 1952, winning all six races in Europe that season and recording the fastest lap in each race. He nearly scored the maximum amount of points a driver could earn, but drivers were given points for fastest laps at the time, and he had to share a half point with another driver in one race.
He won three more consecutive races to start the
1953 season, giving him nine straight wins (not counting Indy) before his streak ended when he finished 4th in
France , although it was a close 4th as the race was highly competitive. He earned two more wins later in the year to give himself a second consecutive World Championship. Ascari did not continue his dominance in
1954 as he failed to finish a race in his four attempts at F1, although he made up for it by winning the
Mille Miglia .
His 1955 season started similarly, retiring twice more, the latter of which was a spectacular incident in
Monaco where he crashed into a harbour after missing a
Chicane . A week later, on
May 26 , he went to Monza to test a Ferrari sports car and crashed on one of the track's tight corners. He was killed in the accident, a death which is still somewhat mysterious. The corner where the accident happened now bears his name, the ''Variante Ascari''.
Alberto Ascari is interred next to his father in the
Cimitero Monumentale in Milan.
In
1992 , he was inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall Of Fame .
