Noted for careful precision and finely-judged accuracy, Ascari was a multitalented racer who competed in motorcycle racing before switching to cars. He won consecutiveFormula One world titles in1952 and1953 forScuderia Ferrari, becoming the first Ferrari-powered World Champion andbreaking several records across both seasons. He remains the last Italian to win the World Drivers' Championship, as of 2024[update]. This was sandwiched by an appearance in the1952 Indianapolis 500, and winning the1954 Mille Miglia.
As of 2024, Ascari andMichael Schumacher are Ferrari's only back-to-back World Champions, and Ascari remains Ferrari's sole Italian champion. As the first driver to win multiple World Championship titles, he held the record for most World Championship titles from 1952 to 1954, becoming one of four drivers to have held the record for most World Championship titles.Juan Manuel Fangio held the record from1954 to2002 (jointly with Ascari in 1954) and Schumacher has held the record since2002, although Schumacher also shares that record withLewis Hamilton since2020.
Born inMilan, Alberto Ascari was the son ofAntonio Ascari, a talentedGrand Prix motor racing star in the 1920s, racingAlfa Romeos.[1] A fortnight before Ascari's seventh birthday, his father was killed while leading the1925 French Grand Prix at theAutodrome de Linas-Montlhéry;[2] the younger Ascari had an interest in racing in spite of this, and later came to dominate Grand Prix racing like no other before him.[3] Such was his passion to become a racing driver like his father that he ran away from school twice, and sold his school books to finance his racing.[4] Ascari raced motorcycles in his earlier years. At the age of 19 he was signed to ride for theBianchi team.[5] In 1940, after he entered the prestigiousMille Miglia in anAuto Avio Costruzioni 815 supplied by his father's close friendEnzo Ferrari, Ascari eventually started racing on four wheels regularly.[5] In an interview, he famously said: "I only obey one passion, racing. I wouldn't know how to live without it."[4]
In 1940, Ascari married a local girl. When Italy enteredWorld War II, the family garage, by now run by Ascari, was conscripted to service and maintain vehicles of the Italian military.[5] During this period, he and his partner fellow racing driverLuigi Villoresi established a lucrative transport business, supplying fuel to army depots in North Africa.[5][6] The pair survived a ship they were aboard carrying lorries capsizing in Tripoli harbour.[6] As their business supported the Italian war effort, it made them exempt from being called up for military service during the war.[6]
Following the end of World War II, Ascari began racing in Grands Prix with theMaserati 4CLT. His teammate was Villoresi, who became amentor and friend to Ascari.[2] The pair were successful on the circuits in Northern Italy. He was nicknamedCiccio, 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. The1948 San Remo Grand Prix was his first win.[7] He also took second place at the1948 British Grand Prix, which was organised by theRoyal Automobile Club and is generally considered the firstBritish Grand Prix, at theSilverstone Circuit.[7] WithMaserati he won thefirst 1949 Buenos Aires Grand Prix. His biggest success came when he and Villoresi signed forScuderia Ferrari. The team bossEnzo Ferrari had been a great friend and teammate to Ascari's father, and had taken a keen interest in his successes. In 1949, he won three more races, all with Ferrari.[8] Driving a Ferrari, he also won thethird 1949 Buenos Aires Grand Prix.[9]
The first Formula One World Championship season took place in1950. The Ferrari team made its World Championship debut at the1950 Monaco Grand Prix, the second race of the season, with Ascari, Villoresi, and the famous French driverRaymond Sommer on the team. At Monaco, Ascari became the youngest driver to score points and a podium position in Formula One at 31 years, 312 days, finishing second one lap behindJuan Manuel Fangio.[10] The team had a mixed year as the superchargedFerrari 125 F1 was too slow to challenge the dominantAlfa Romeo team, so Ferrari began working on an unblown 4.5-litre car. Much of the year was lost as the team's 2-litre Formula Two engine was progressively enlarged. When the full 4.5-litreFerrari 375 F1 arrived for the1950 Italian Grand Prix, the final round of the championship, Ascari gave Alfa Romeo their sternest challenge of the year before retiring; he then took over teammateDorino Serafini's car to finish second.[11] The new Ferrari then won the non-championship1950 Penya Rhin Grand Prix.[12]
Throughout1951, Ascari was a threat to the Alfa Romeo team, although initially he was undone by unreliability. After winning the1951 German Grand Prix atNürburgring,[13] he also won the1951 Italian Grand Prix,[14] and was only two points behind Fangio in the championship standings ahead of the climactic1951 Spanish Grand Prix, where Fangio won the race and his first title as the 33-years-old Ascari became the youngest runner-up. Although Ascari had takenpole position, a disastroustyre choice for the race saw the Ferraris unable to challenge Fangio; Ascari finished fourth.[15]
Ascari andLuigi Villoresi in action at the 1952 Italian Grand Prix
For1952, the World Championship season switched to using the 2-litreFormula Two regulations, with Ascari driving theFerrari 500. He missed the1952 Swiss Grand Prix as he was qualifying for the1952 Indianapolis 500, at the time a World Championship event. He was the only European driver to race at Indy in its eleven years on the World Championship schedule; his race ended after 40 laps without having made much of an impression, as a result of a wheel collapse.[2][16] 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 thefastest lap in each race. He scored the maximum number of points a driver could earn, since only the best four of eight scores counted towards the World Championship.[5][17] Aged 34, Ascari became Formula One's new youngest champion until the 29-year-oldMike Hawthorn won it in1958; Hawthorn had been Ascari's teammate in 1951.[3] Meanwhile, Fangio had missed most of the season after a crash in the1952 Italian Grand Prix in June.[3][18]
Ascari won three more consecutive races to start the1953 season, giving him nine straight championship wins (not counting Indy) before his streak ended when he finished fourth at the1953 French Grand Prix, which proved to be highly competitive. He won twice more later in the year for a second consecutive World Championship,[17] becoming Formula One's first two-time champion.[2][3][5] Aged 35, he was also the youngest two-time champion and the youngest back-to-back champion, both records beaten by the 34-year-oldJack Brabham in1960, as the average age of a Formula One driver significantly decreased. The 1953 season is considered Ascari's career high point as he had faced the returning Fangio for the opening race of the season, the1953 Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires, attended by Fangio's home crowd. Additionally, it was widely expected that Ferrari was to be challenged by a resurgent Maserati, with Fangio at its helm. Instead, Ascari took pole position and achieved the first win of a season that set him on course for his second and last World Championship.[17]
Following a dispute over his salary, Ascari left Ferrari at the end of the season and switched toLancia for the1954 campaign.[2][3] As their car was not eventually ready for the final race of the season,Gianni Lancia allowed him to drive twice for Maserati, sharing the fastest lap at the1954 British Grand Prix,[19] and once for Ferrari. Ascari also won theMille Miglia that year,[3] driving a Lancia sportscar, surviving the dreadful weather and the failure of a throttle spring, which was temporarily replaced with a rubber band.[20] When theLancia D50 was ready, Ascari took pole position on its debut, the1954 Spanish Grand Prix, and led impressively early on and set fastest lap before retiring with a clutch problem,[21] meaning a full season of competing against Fangio's previously dominantMercedes was much anticipated.[2][3] Ascari's decision to move to Lancia is considered his career's low point. Despite promises of a new car and more money, this did not come until the season was nearly over, by which time Fangio was unreachable. While waiting for the Lancia car, Ascari had to take guest drives for Maserati and Ferrari, and he finished the season without completing any of the four Grands Prix he entered.[17]
Ascari's1955 season started promisingly, the Lancia taking victories at the non-championship races in Turin (Parco del Valentino) and at theNaples Grand Prix,[22] where the Lancias took on and beat the hitherto all-conquering Mercedes.[2] In a world championship event, the1955 Argentine Grand Prix, he retired.[23] During the1955 Monaco Grand Prix on 22 May, Ascari crashed into the harbour through hay bales and sandbags late in the race after missing achicane while leading, reportedly distracted by either the crowd's reaction toStirling Moss' retirement or the close attentions of the lappedCesare Perdisa behind. Whatever distracted him, he approached the chicane too quickly, and chose the only way out and took his D50 through the barriers into the sea, missing a substantial iron bollard by about 30 cm.[2][24] Although his car sank,[5] Ascari was pulled into a boat and escaped with only a broken nose.[2][5][24]
On 26 May 1955, Ascari went to theAutodromo Nazionale Monza to watch his friendEugenio Castellotti test aFerrari 750 Monza sports car. They were to co-drive the car in the1000 km Monza race, having been given special dispensation by Lancia. Ascari was not scheduled to drive that day, but decided to try a few laps. He set off in street clothes and wearing Castellotti's white helmet.[2][3][5] 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.[2][3][5] The crash occurred on theCurva del Vialone, one of the track's challenging high-speed corners. The corner where the accident happened was renamed in his honour, and was subsequently replaced with a chicane calledVariante Ascari.[25] The reasons and circumstances of the accident, including why Ascari, who was well known for his attention to safety, drove another driver's car, and without his own lucky blue helmet (he had left it at home, and apparently reasoned that, after his accident in Monaco four days earlier, getting back to race driving as soon as possible was the best way to recover), never came to light.[17]
In 2001, the Swiss newspaperRinascita published the story of Angelo Consonni, who was seven years old at the time of Ascari's death and was with his grandfather near theCurva del Vialone. Consonni said he saw two workers intent on crossing the road to reach a shed when he heard a car approaching; if the first worker was quick, the second hesitated and stopped. Soon after, the young Consonni felt a silence and saw the Ferrari spin around and overturn.Luigi Villoresi maintained that Ascari would have been afraid of being afraid.[26] In 2014, the racing driverErnesto Brambilla declared that he had seen the accident, confirming that the car spun around and overturned, excluding the hypothesis that the accident was caused by a spectator who crossed the track.[27]
Ascari's funeral
Motor racing fans from all over mourned, as Ascari was buried next to the grave of his father in theCimitero Monumentale in Milan, to be forever remembered as one of the greatest racers of all time. More than a million people took to the streets in Milan for his funeral.[17] His distraught wife Mietta Ascari toldEnzo Ferrari that were it not for their children she would have taken her life.[5] Three days before he died, Ascari had told a friend: "I never want my children to become too fond of me because one day I might not come back and they will suffer less if I don't come back."[17] Upon Ascari's death, his friend and rivalJuan Manuel Fangio lamented: "I have lost my greatest opponent. Ascari was a driver of supreme skill and I felt my title last year lost some of its value because he was not there to fight me for it. A great man."[3][17] Fellow racing driverStirling Moss recalled Ascari as "wonderfully good... he was rather better than good, he was very good indeed. He may have been as fast as Fangio... but he had not got the polish that so distinguished Fangio."[17]Mike Hawthorn said that "Ascari was the fastest driver I ever saw. And when I say that, I include Fangio."[3]
Ascari's 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 (although 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.[3][17] He died aged 36 years and 10 months, exactly the same age as his father, who was also killed in an accident at Montlhery thirty years earlier.[28] Both Ascaris won 13 Grands Prix, drove car number 26, and were killed in similar circumstances.[3] His father's death helped fuel Ascari's deeply superstitious nature as he avoidedblack cats, was concerned about unlucky numbers, and did not allow anyone to touch the briefcase that contained his racing apparel, which included what he believed to be his lucky blue helmet and T-shirt, the goggles, and gloves.[17] Ascari had also promised himself, after his father's death, that he would never race on the 26th of any month, and that he would become the number one racing driver.[4] In 2015, Ascari was included in theWalk of Fame of Italian sport.[29] In 2016, unknown thieves stole the bronze busts, which were placed on the sides of the shrine, of Ascari and his father. Ascari's bust was the work of Michele Vedani, while that of his father was created by the sculptor Orazio Grossoni.[30][31]
Ascari was popular with fellow drivers and crowds because of his modesty and eagerness to praise the ability of his rivals; he is also considered one of the hardest drivers to pass. One criticism was the perceived lack of complete focus when he was chasing for the lead. For example,Enzo Ferrari said: "When he had to follow and pass an opponent, he evidently suffered, not from an inferiority complex, but from a nervousness that did not let him express his true class."[17] In the words ofBBC Sport's chief Formula One writerAndrew Benson, Ascari did not look "much like the modern idea of a Formula 1 driver. His double chin and slightly chubby frame brought to mind a Milanese baker more than the lean, pinched athletes of the modern age. Yet this was a man who, for a period, dominated grand prix racing like no other has before or since."[3] In his profile about Ascari, Benson further wrote that "Ascari was a ruthless winning machine. He was a phlegmatic character who approached his racing with an analytical style. With his pale blue shirt and matching helmet, Ascari cut a distinctive figure in the scarlet Ferraris of the early 1950s. He sat upright, hunched slightly forward, closer to the large steering wheel than many of his rivals, his elbows forming sharper angles."[3] About Ascari's driving style, Enzo Ferrari said: "Ascari had a precise and distinctive driving style, but he was a man who had to lead from the start. In that position he was hard to overtake, almost impossible to beat, in my estimation. Alberto was secure when he was playing the hare. That was when his style was at its most superb. In second place, or further back, he was less sure."[3]
A street in Rome, in theEsposizione Universale Roma area, is named in Ascari's honour. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, theAutodromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, and theCircuito del Jarama have chicanes or portions of their tracks named after Ascari. In 1972, one of the chicanes at the Monza Circuit was named in his honourVariante Ascari.[33]In 1992, he was inducted into theInternational Motorsports Hall of Fame.[34] The British sports car manufacturerAscari Cars, founded in 1994, is named in his honour.[35] Italian-born American racing legendMario Andretti counts Ascari as one of his racing heroes, having watched him at the Monza circuit in his youth.[36] Ascari was inducted into theFIA Hall of Fame in December 2017.[37] He appears in Mark Sullivan's novelBeneath a Scarlet Sky.[38]
In 34 entries and 32 race starts, Ascari had 13 wins, 17 podiums, 14 pole positions, and 12 fastest laps, and won two World Championships, making him the first double World Champion and the first back-to-back winner;[39] it was not untilMichael Schumacher's fourth World Championship (the second with Ferrari) in2001, the only other to do so, that a Ferrari driver won back-to-back titles.[40] His rivalry withJuan Manuel Fangio was one of the greatest in Formula One; from 31 starts each, they combined for 27 wins, 30 pole positions, and 27 fastest laps, some of which were shared with others. Either Ascari or Fangio held the lead for at least one lap, often times it was both leading races and for more than a lap, in all except for two of the 37 Grands Prix (from the1950 British Grand Prix to the1955 Monaco Grand Prix). In total, they led 66.6% of 2,508 laps.Stirling Moss believed Fangio to be better but that Ascari was very close, while Denis Jenkinson ofMotor Sport thought Ascari was better. Ascari was also called the prototypeJim Clark,[41] as well as the last Italian Grand Prix star, being Ferrari's sole Italian World Champion and Italy's sole back-to-back champion. Ascari's rivals thought him faster than Fangio.[42] With a win ratio of more than 40%, Ascari was second only to Fangio at the time.[3] With Ferrari, for which he drove from 1949 to 1953, he had 13 wins in 27 races, a ratio of 48%, the highest win ratio for a Ferrari driver.[29]
Despite his short career, having fewer Grand Prix starts than any other World Champion,[17] Ascari is generally considered among the greatest Formula One drivers. In 2009, anAutosport survey taken by 217 Formula One drivers saw Ascari voted as the 16th-greatest Formula One driver of all time.[43] In 2012, theBBC listed Ascari as the 9th-greatest Formula One driver.[3] In 2020, Carteret Analytics used quantitative analysis methods to rank Formula One drivers. According to this ranking, Ascari is Formula One's fourth-best driver of all time.[44] Similar objectivemathematical models,[45][46] such as Eichenberger and Stadelmann (2009, 12th when the 40 races started criteria is dropped), original F1metrics (2014, 9th),[47]FiveThirtyEight (2018, 19th), and updated F1metrics (2019, 5th), consistently put Ascari among the top 20 greatest Formula One drivers ever.[48][49][50] Although Fangio did not take part in the 1952 season, Ascari's performance during that season is considered one of the best single-year performance of all time; he overwhelmingly beat several strong Ferrari teammates, includingGiuseppe Farina, whom he beat 53.5 to 27 in total points. Based on a 2019 adjusted scoring-rate calculation, 1952 had the all-time largest margin between first and second in the championship standings, with 8.90 points per race for Ascari and 4.36 points per race forMike Hawthorn.[50]
Into the 21st century, Ascari continues to hold several Formula One records,[29] some of which have since been equalled by fellow World Champions, such as Clark,Nigel Mansell,Sebastian Vettel, andLewis Hamilton. During his career, Ascari had sevenhat-tricks (pole positions, fastest lap, and race win) and fiveGrand Chelems (1952 French Grand Prix,1952 German Grand Prix,1952 Dutch Grand Prix,1953 Argentine Grand Prix, and1953 British Grand Prix); as of July 2023, only 26 drivers had secured a Grand Chelem, of which there had been 66 in total. Ascari is one of three drivers (Clark and Vettel) to have achieved this feat, meaning taking pole, fastest lap, race win, and leading every lap, in consecutive races.[51] Ascari holds the records of most consecutive hat-tricks (4), most consecutive Grand Chelems (2, jointly held with Clark and Vettel), highest number of Grand Chelems in a season (3, jointly held with Clark, Mansell, and Hamilton), most consecutive fastest laps (7), most consecutive laps in the lead (304), most consecutive distance led (2,075 km), highest percentage of fastest laps in a season (75%), and highest percentage of possible championship points in a season (100%, jointly held with Clark). A 51-year record for most consecutive wins (7), which was held by Ascari,[b] was first equalled by Schumacher in2004, then broken by Vettel (9) in2013, and broken again (10) byMax Verstappen in2023.[52] He also held the record for the highest percentage of wins in a season (75) until 2023, when Verstappen broke Ascari's 71-year record.[53][54]
^abUp until1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (seelist of points scoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.[123]
^Some sources include the subsequentDutch andBelgian Grands Prix and discount the intervening1953 Indianapolis 500 on the basis that very few of the European drivers competed in theIndianapolis 500 when it was part of the Drivers' Championship, and thus extend Ascari's sequence to 9 wins.[17][50][52]
