Giancarlo
Baghetti

Giancarlo Baghetti was born in Milan on 25 December 1934. He started out in production cars and moved up to Formula Junior in 1958. In 1961 the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA), an alliance of independent Italian team owners, chose him to drive a Ferrari 156 on loan from Ferrari. The car was meant to give promising Italian drivers experience in non-championship races, and Baghetti won the Syracuse and Naples Grands Prix in it.

He made his World Championship debut at the 1961 French Grand Prix in Reims and won, ahead of Dan Gurney's Porsche. That made it three wins from his first three Formula One races. It remained his only victory and his only podium finish. He retired from the British and Italian Grands Prix, setting the fastest lap at Monza, and finished the season ninth in the championship.

In 1962 he joined the works Ferrari team. He took fourth place in the Netherlands and fifth in Italy, and ended the year 11th overall. In 1963 he drove for ATS and failed to finish any of his five starts. In 1964 he raced a Scuderia Centro Sud BRM, with seventh place in Austria as his best result. After that he made just one start a year, each time at the Italian Grand Prix: for Brabham in 1965, in a Ferrari in 1966 and for Lotus in 1967. In total he started 21 races.

Outside Formula One, he won the 1000cc class of the European Touring Car Championship with Abarth in 1966. He later worked as a journalist and photographer in motorsport and fashion. Baghetti died on 27 November 1995.

Source: Wikipedia, “Giancarlo Baghetti”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.