Felice Bonetto | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | (1903-06-09)9 June 1903 |
| Died | 21 November 1953(1953-11-21) (aged 50) Silao,Guanajuato, Mexico |
| Cause of death | Injuries sustained at the 1953 Carrera Panamericana |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1950–1953 |
| Teams | Milano,Alfa Romeo,Maserati |
| Entries | 16 (15 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Careerpoints | 17.5 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1950 Swiss Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1953 Italian Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1952–1953 |
| Teams | Rosier,Lancia |
| Best finish | 8th(1952) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Felice Bonetto (9 June 1903 – 21 November 1953) was an Italianracing driver, who competed inFormula One at 16Grands Prix from1950 to1953. Nicknamed "il Pirata",[a] Bonetto won theTarga Florio in1952 withLancia.
Born and raised inManerbio, Bonetto began his career inmotorcycle road racing before switching toGrand Prix motor racing in 1931. He enjoyed a brief Formula One career, racing Italian cars withMilano,Alfa Romeo andMaserati, achieving two podium finishes at the1951 Italian and1953 Dutch Grands Prix, the former he shared withGiuseppe Farina and the latter withJosé Froilán González. His greatest successes were insportscar racing, winning theTarga Florio in 1952, but his career was cut short when he fatally collided with a lamp post whilst leading the1953 Carrera Panamericana.
Bonetto was born in Manerbio, which in the province of Brescia, the home of theMille Miglia. Despite that, he began to race, very young, on motor bikes. The switch to four wheels came very late to modern standards; he, in fact, already 28 when he participated in the Bobbio-Penice, with aBugatti. Despite having to make do with cars that not always competitive, but the results were not lacking. In 1933, Bonetto was third in the infamous Gran Premio di Monza with anAlfa Romeo 8C 2600. The race will always be remembered as theBlack Day of Monza, when three of Europe's greatest racing drivers crashed fatally within a few hours of each other:Giuseppe Campari,Mario-Umberto Borzacchini andCount Stanisław Czaykowski. He also finished second in the Coppa Principessa di Piemonte. A year later he came twelfth in theMille Miglia, but he obtained his greatest success afterWorld War II. After theWorld War II abruptly ended his career, as well as that of his colleagues of the time. Bonetto resumed his racing in 1946 with the smallCisitalia, before moving into Formula One.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Although Bonetto had raced Formula One cars before, he made his World Championship F1 debut in the1950 Swiss Grand Prix. He was five days short of his 47th birthday. He entered his ownMaserati 4CLT in several Grands Prix, under theScuderia Milano banner, and drove a worksAlfa Romeo SpA in 1951, as their number three driver. He shared a third, withGiuseppe Farina in theGran Premio d'Italia. A move to sports cars followed, but he returned to Formula One at the end of 1952 and had a good season in theOfficine Alfieri Maserati in 1953, with a visit to the podium, when he again shared a third-place finish in theGrote Prijs van Nederland. This time partnered byJosé Froilán González. Away from the World Championship, Bonetto did have some success; he was second in the 1949 in theGran Premio di Napoli in a Ferrari.[4][5][7][8][9]
More than F1, however, Bonetto had greater success in sports cars. He won the 1947 Circuito de Firenze driving aDelage 3000. In 1949 he was second in the Mille Miglia, behindClemente Biondetti, both drove aFerrari 166 MM Touring forScuderia Ferrari, and in 1950 he won the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb in anOsca and the Gran Premio di Oporto in his own Alfa Romeo. The following season, he drove for Alfa Romeo's new 1900TI model to class victory in the Giro di Sicilia. Then for 1952, he moved toScuderia Lancia, and at the wheel of aLancia Aurelia B20, he finished second on the Giro di Sicilia. He followed this with a sixth place in the Preis von Bremgarten and an eighth in theles 24 Heures du Mans, and finally a great win in theTarga Florio. He continued with the Scuderia Lancia outfit for 1953; claiming third in theMille Miglia, second in the Gran Premio di Monza, victory in theGrande Premio do Jubileu at theCircuito de Monsanto and he became part of the squadron deployed to theCarrera Panamericana: his teammates for the race wereJuan Manuel Fangio,Piero Taruffi,Giovanni Bracco andEugenio Castellotti.[3][4][5][10]
TheCarrera Panamericana, a notoriously dangerous and difficult public road rally in Mexico that took place over 6 days from one end of the North American country to the other, covering a distance of 2,000 miles (3,200 km). It was the last round of the 1953 World Sportscar Championship, and the race started on 19 November 1953, fromTuxtla Gutiérrez; Bonetto won the first stage, in front of his teammates Taruffi, Fangio and Castellotti. Taruffi would win the next two stages, although Bonetto remained in control. The third day of competition, Bonetto and Taruffi were close and continued to duel with each other; the second stage of the day, however, Taruffi went off the road in the foggy area before the small town of Silao, about 25 miles fromLeón, damaging the steering of his Lancia. In the same locality, Bonetto crashed his Lancia against the balcony of a house, ending up against a pole. Bonetto hit his head on the balcony at speed and was killed instantly. Prior to the event, Bonetto with Taruffi and other Italian drivers reportedly marked dangerous corners along the route with blue signs. His accident happened at one of those locations – despite this care in marking the corners, Felice would take a 60 mph corner at 125 mph.[3][4]After Bonetto's death, team ownerGianni Lancia wanted to withdraw his cars from the race, but the surviving drivers decided to keep on racing in honour of their teammate. Fangio, Taruffi and Castellotti led to the finish giving Lancia first three places, but it was a success that was not rejoiced, as besides Bonetto the race also claimed the lives of fellow Italian drivers,Antonio Stagnoli andGiuseppe Scotuzzi, as well as six spectators. Bonetto is buried in theCimitero Italiano section of thePanteón Civil de Dolores, México City.[3][4]
The contribution of the Bonetto family to the automotive world did not end with the death of Bonetto. The nephew, Rodolfo Bonetto, was a leading figure in the field of Italian architecture and industrial design. Rodolfo's son, Marco, continued in this field as chairman of Bonetto Design. As for Felice's own son, Roberto Bonetto has dedicated his career to journalism, to become deputy editor ofQuattroruote.[3][11]
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Scuderia Milano | Maserati4CLT/50 | MaseratiStraight-4 | GBR DNA | MON | 500 | SUI 5 | BEL | FRA Ret | 19th | 2 | |||
| Milano Speluzzi | ITA DNS | |||||||||||||
| 1951 | Alfa Romeo SpA | Alfa Romeo159A | Alfa RomeoStraight-8 | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR 4 | GER Ret | ITA 3 | 8th | 7 | ||
| Alfa Romeo159M | ESP 5 | |||||||||||||
| 1952 | Officine Alfieri Maserati | MaseratiA6GCM | MaseratiStraight-6 | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER DSQ | NED | ITA 5 | 16th | 2 | |
| 1953 | Officine Alfieri Maserati | MaseratiA6GCM | MaseratiStraight-6 | ARG Ret | 500 | NED 3‡ | BEL | FRA Ret | GBR 6 | GER 4 | SUI 4† | ITA Ret | 9th | 6.5 |
‡Shared drive with José Froilán González
†Shared drive with Juan Manuel Fangio
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 |  Louis Rosier | Louis Rosier | Talbot-Lago T26C | S5.0 | 92 | DNF Oil tank | |
| 1953 | Scuderia Lancia | Enrico Anselmi | Lancia Aurelia B20 | S2.0 | 247 | 8th | 2nd |
| 1953 | Scuderia Lancia | Gino Valenzano | Lancia D20 | S8.0 | 66 | DNF (Starter) | |
Source:[37] | |||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers/Navigator | Car | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | A. Negri | Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 | S3.0 | 12th | 8th | |
| 1948 | Milto Maritano | Cisitalia 202 SMM | S1.1 | DNF | ||
| 1949 | Scuderia Ferrari | Carpani | Ferrari 166 MM | S+1.1 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 1950 | Felice Bonetto | G. Casnaghi | Alfa Romeo 412 Spider Touring | S+2.0 | DNF | |
| 1951 | Felice Bonetto | G. Casnaghi | Alfa Romeo 412 Spider Vignale | S/GT+2.0 | 6th | 3rd |
| 1952 | Felice Bonetto | Gian Paolo Voplini | Lancia Aurelia B20 | GT2.0 | DNF | |
| 1953 | Scuderia Lancia | U. Peruzzi | Lancia D20 Pinin Farina | S+2.0 | 3rd | |
Source:[37] | ||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers/Navigator | Car | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Automobile Club d'Italia | Bruno Bonini | Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 | 8th | n/a | |
| 1951 | | Gian Paolo Volpini | Lancia Aurelia B20 | DNF | n/a | |
| 1952 | Felice Bonetto | Lancia Aurelia B20 | S | DNF (Accident) | ||
| 1953 | Scuderia Lancia | Lancia D24 | S+1.6 | DNF (Fatal accident – Bonetto) | ||
Source:[37] | ||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Targa Florio 1952 | Succeeded by |