Luigi
Fagioli

Luigi Fagioli was born in 1898 in Osimo, in Italy's Marche region. He started out in hillclimbs and sports car racing before moving into Grand Prix racing. In 1930 he was given the chance to drive for Maserati, and he won the Coppa Ciano. In 1931 he duelled with Louis Chiron at the Monaco Grand Prix, which Chiron won. A few weeks later Fagioli won the Monza Grand Prix ahead of Chiron, Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari. In 1932 he took the Rome Grand Prix for Maserati.

In 1933 he joined Scuderia Ferrari, who ran Alfa Romeos, and won the Coppa Acerbo, the Grand Prix du Comminges and the Italian Grand Prix. Nuvolari had been leading the Coppa Acerbo when a mechanical failure stopped him, and this earned Fagioli the nickname of the Abruzzi Robber. In 1934 he drove for Mercedes and won the Coppa Acerbo again. He won the Italian Grand Prix together with Rudolf Caracciola, and added a victory in the Spanish Grand Prix. In 1935 he won the Monaco Grand Prix, the AVUS race and the Penya Rhin Grand Prix, and finished runner-up in the European Championship. Later he left Mercedes and moved to Auto Union.

In 1950 Fagioli drove for Alfa Romeo in the first Formula One World Championship, in the 158/159 Alfetta. He reached the podium in five of his six races; only at Monaco did he retire, after a multi-car collision on the opening lap. He went into the final round as one of three drivers still in contention for the title and finished third in the standings behind Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio. In 1951 he started only the French Grand Prix. After a car swap ordered by the team, he won it jointly with Fangio and, at 53, became the oldest driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. It was his only start that season and his last in the World Championship. In total he made seven starts, with one win and six podiums.

In 1952 he drove sports cars for Lancia and finished third in the Mille Miglia. Later that year he crashed in practice for a sports car race at Monaco. He died on 20 June 1952 in Monte Carlo.

Source: Wikipedia, “Luigi Fagioli”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.