Alberto Ascari

Alberto Ascari (13 July 1918 - 26 May 1955): Italian racing driver from Milan who won two consecutive Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles in 1952 and 1953 with Scuderia Ferrari, becoming the first driver to win multiple World Championship titles and establishing Ferrari as a dominant force in Formula One. He competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1955, winning 13 Grands Prix and achieving 17 podiums across six seasons. Born into motorsport royalty, Ascari was the son of Antonio Ascari, a talented Grand Prix motor racing star in the 1920s racing Alfa Romeos who was killed in an accident at the 1925 French Grand Prix when Alberto was only seven years old. This tragedy profoundly affected young Alberto, who initially avoided racing despite his heritage.

He started his racing career on two wheels at age 19 riding for the Bianchi motorcycle team before his first four-wheel foray came in the 1940 Mille Miglia where Enzo Ferrari gave him a ride in a Tipo 815 Spyder. World War II interrupted his racing ambitions, but he returned to racing after the war. In 1949 Ascari became teammates with Luigi Villoresi in Enzo Ferrari's team, where his dominance would make him Formula 1 racing's first back-to-back champion. His 1952 season was extraordinary—driving the Ferrari 500, he won six of the seven championship races and dominated to such an extent that he clinched the title with two races remaining.

In 1953 he again overpowered the opposition, winning five times and cruising to a second successive driving title. As of 2025, Ascari and Michael Schumacher remain Ferrari's only back-to-back World Champions, and Ascari remains Ferrari's sole Italian World Champion. Noted for careful precision and finely-judged accuracy, Ascari's driving style drew praise from Enzo Ferrari who 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 second place, or further back, he was less sure.' Ascari also achieved notable success in other forms of racing, winning the 1954 Mille Miglia and competing successfully at Indianapolis. During the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix on 22 May, Ascari crashed into the harbour through hay bales and sandbags late in the race after missing a chicane while leading. Although his car sank, Ascari was pulled into a boat and escaped with only a broken nose.

Four days later on 26 May, he unexpectedly appeared at Monza to watch Eugenio Castellotti testing a Ferrari sports car. Ascari surprised everyone by announcing he wanted to do a few laps to make sure he had not lost his nerve. He was wearing a jacket and tie and had left his lucky blue helmet at home, so he borrowed Castellotti's white helmet. On the third lap the Ferrari crashed inexplicably at the Curva del Vialone and Alberto Ascari was killed at age 36.

The circumstances of his death echo his father's—both Ascaris died at age 36, four days after surviving serious accidents, and both won exactly 13 championship races. In 1955, Variante Ascari, one of the chicanes at the Monza Circuit, was named in his honour. Ascari's legacy as Ferrari's first World Champion and one of the sport's early legends endures, representing an era when bravery and precision were paramount.