Michele
Alboreto

Michele Alboreto was born in Milan on 23 December 1956. His motorsport career began in 1976 in Formula Monza, in a car he had built with a group of friends. In 1978 he moved up to Formula Italia, where he started winning races, and in 1980 he took the European Formula Three title. In 1981 he drove for Minardi in Formula Two and scored the team's only victory in that category. From 1980 he also took part in World Championship for Makes rounds for Lancia.

He made his Formula One debut at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix, driving for Tyrrell. In 1982 he took his first podium at Imola and won his first Grand Prix in the season finale in Las Vegas, ending the year eighth in the championship. A win in Detroit followed in 1983, and he finished twelfth overall. He then joined Ferrari.

He drove for the Scuderia from 1984 to 1988. In his first season he won at Zolder, becoming the first Italian to win a Grand Prix for Ferrari since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966, and he finished fourth in the championship. In 1985 he won in Canada and Germany, led the standings for a time and ended the year as runner-up, 20 points behind Alain Prost. He retired from several of the final races with mechanical failures. He then finished ninth in 1986, seventh in 1987 and fifth in 1988. At the 1988 Italian Grand Prix he was second behind Gerhard Berger, which was Ferrari's only win of that season. He left the team at the end of 1988.

In 1989 he drove for Tyrrell again at first and finished third in Mexico. From the German Grand Prix he raced for Larrousse and ended the year eleventh in the championship. He drove for Arrows in 1990, Footwork in 1991 and 1992, Scuderia Italia with Lola chassis in 1993 and Minardi in 1994, where sixth place in Monaco was his only points finish. He ended his Formula One career after 1994 with 194 starts, five wins, 23 podiums and two pole positions.

After Formula One he raced in the DTM for Alfa Romeo. In 1996 he entered the newly formed Indy Racing League, including the Indianapolis 500, where gearbox trouble forced him out. In 1997 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Joest team in a Porsche, sharing the car with Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen. In 2001 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Audi. A month later, on 25 April 2001, he was killed in an accident while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring. On the 20th anniversary of his death in 2021, it was announced that the Parabolica, the final corner of the Monza circuit, would be renamed the Curva Alboreto during that year's Italian Grand Prix weekend.

Source: Wikipedia, “Michele Alboreto”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.