Classic F1 Videos

Ascari is one of only two Italians to have won the F1 WDC. He drove for Ferrari since 1950, the year when the first F1 world championship was held and started his career with a win at the legendary Nürburgring.

In 1952 he completely dominated his rivals winning every race and nearly every fastest lap thus giving him the championship. The next year he also won with ease albeit with slightly fewer points. In 1954 he won the Mille Miglia, the legendary Italian cross-country race, the original race that had given him the taste for speed and desire to race in F1.

Sadly he died in 1955 while testing a sportscar at Monza. The first series of corners are still named after him to this day.

*** CLICK HERE for 2ND PART *** »

Elio de Angelis was an Italian driver who drove in F1 in the 80s. Some people call him the last gentleman racer, you can see this in the video below when he plays the piano at the German Grand Prix. How many drivers can do that today (I know James Toseland in Moto GP can)?

He drove mainly for the Lotus team and enjoyed minimal success scoring just 2 wins and 9 podium finishes in his career. After he moves to Brabham he was the unfortunate victim of an accident in testing in France. His was the last death in F1 in the 80s and it took another 14 years until fatalities returned to F1.

*** CLICK HERE for 2ND PART *** »

Mario Andretti is one of the most successful American racing drivers in the history of motorsport and one of a select few to have experienced success in his homeland and won an F1 world championship. During his career he won pretty much everything including F1, Indycars, sports cars and NASCAR.

He took pole position on his debut while driving for Colin Chapman at Lotus and drove for a number of teams part-time, winning his first grand prix when he debuted for Ferrari. When he returned to F1 to drive full-time in 1976, he renewed his relationship with Lotus and using his experience of setting up a car for oval circuits, he contributed greatly to developing the car and returning it to winning ways. In 1978 he clinched the drivers title.

*** CLICK HERE for 2ND PART *** »

Chris Amon was a popular but also very fast Kiwi driver who was so unlucky in his career that he never won a race, despite being highly rated by his peers.

He raced for a number of different teams including Ferrari and even his own team but was always dogged by mechanical problems. Despite this, he counts himself as lucky to have simply survived the era of F1 in the 60s and 70s when deaths were commonplace. He even quit F1 briefly after Niki Lauda’s famous life threatening crash at the Nurburgring.

Despite his bad luck, Amon was able to show his skills successfully in other motorsports and his list of accolades includes winning the 24 Hour Le Mans and the Daytona 24 Hours.

*** CLICK HERE for 2ND PART *** »

Jean Alesi first burst onto the scene in 1989 for the Tyrrell team but many people first took notice when he gave Ayrton Senna a run for his money at Phoenix, the opening GP of the 1990 season, despite being in a vastly underpowered car compared to Senna’s championship winning McLaren. He was even able to jostle and overtake for the lead despite this.

He was soon signed for the Ferrari team, as a French-Sicilian this was in line with Ferrari’s preferences for drivers of Italian heritage. However, Alesi was very good in his own right. Unfortunately, he drove for them just as they started their long slump from competitiveness partly due to the Ferrari V12 engine which was no match for the more competitive V10s.

Incredibly he only ever scored one victory whilst in his last year at Ferrari. As well as underperforming cars during his career he also suffered very bad luck. Alesi is regarded by many to have excellent pace and perhaps not the consistency to have won a championship but was nevertheless deserving of more race victories.

*** CLICK HERE for 2ND PART *** »