It was May 22, 1955,
and the European and Monaco Grand Prix was reaching its most exciting moment. Alberto
Ascari was straining every sinew in his body, and in his Lancia D50, to catch up with
race-leader Stirling Mosss Mercedes Benz W196. It was the 77th lap, and
he was winning back two or three seconds per circuit. A quick calculation showed that if
Moss slackened speed by as much as one second per lap Ascari could catch and pass him on
the last circuit
..
1954 had been an immensely
frustrating year for the world champion of 52 and 53. He had walked out on
Ferrari at the end of 1953 and on 1 January 1954 had signed for the ambitious Lancia
company, who had designed and built an innovative new Grand Prix car, the first in their
history. Progress however was slow, and the cars debut was delayed again and again.
Meanwhile consternation reigned in Northern Italy when Mercedes Benz announced that
revolutionary new streamlined "Silver Arrows" were to be ready to race in the
French GP in July. Accordingly Alberto together with friend and mentor Luigi Villoresi
were released by Lancia to drive 250F Maseratis to meet this threat to Italian supremacy.
They shouldnt have bothered. Fangio and Kling in the W196s blew all the other
competitors off the track; only six out of the twenty-one starters survived. Along with
many others Alberto blew his engine on lap 2 trying to keep up with the two Mercedes.
After some fairly chaotically
unsuccessful races for Maserati, Ascari was generously loaned a Ferrari for the Italian
GP. Alberto managed to reach the front row of the grid and by lap 6 was in the lead. The
race settled down to become a duel between Ascari and Mosss private Maserati, but on
lap 49, Alberto retired with an overstrained engine. Eventually what the Italians had most
feared happened, Fangio won on the German Mercedes, but only after Mosss oil tank
split.
Clearly something had to be done,
and so two Lancias, maroon-red paint barely dry, were rushed out to make their debut at
the final race of 1954, the Spanish GP, held on October 24 round the Pedralbes circuit.
Alberto started impressively and by lap 8 had built up a big lead. On lap 9 however, a
moan of dismay went up as he stopped with clutch problems. After one more slow lap, Ascari
retired. Villoresi had already retired on lap 4. Although Hawthorns Ferrari won the
race, Fangio won the World Championship of 1954, thanks to the Mercedes Benz W196, and due
to the belated arrival of the Lancia D50.
Although all 3 Lancias retired in
the Argentinean GP of 16 January 1955, the D50s won two minor F1 races and with the
powerful team of Italians, Ascari, Gigi Villoresi, and young Eugenio Castellotti, Lancia
was well placed to take on and even beat the hitherto all-conquering Germans.
And so back to Monaco
On
the 81st lap Moss swung his smoking Mercedes Benz into the pit. The pistons had
packed up for the day. As Fangio had already retired with a broken transmission on lap 50,
the German challenge was finished leaving the stage clear for a debut Lancia GP victory.
As Ascari drove up towards the
Casino on that fateful 81st lap the loudspeakers were telling the crowds what
he could not know; that Moss was out of his car and the mechanics were gazing hopelessly
at the ruined engine. As he took the Casino corner and wound the Lancia round the sinuous
bends by the station Alberto noticed that the spectators were waving and signaling to him.
He had no way of knowing that they were trying to tell him that when he reached the pits
he would be the leader. His deadly concentration on the task of taking the Lancia round
the city circuit a little faster than seemed possible was broken. He sensed that something
was wrong as he swung round the station bends and turned on to the Corniche road. He
flashed into the tunnel and out into the brilliant sunshine to be confronted with the same
gesticulations and excitement. It distracted his attention for a vital second as he
covered the downhill approach to the chicane and the corner became impossible. He chose
the only way out and took the Lancia clean through the barriers into the sea. Concealed
among the straw bales was an iron bollard the size of a small barrel. The car missed it by
about 12 inches.
Steam from the hot engine mingled
with the dust and fragments of straw floating in the air. For an agonizing three seconds
everyones breath stopped. Then the pale blue helmet appeared bobbing on the surface.
Ascari was hauled into a boat before even the frogmen could reach him.
Trintignant won the race in a
Ferrari. He had driven a fast but steady race and had seen the successive elimination of
all the eight drivers who had been in front of him at the end of the tenth lap. Meanwhile
Alberto was lying in a hospital bed suffering from nothing worse than a broken nose, and,
not surprisingly, shock. It was a miraculous deliverance.
Four days later, at Monza, Ascari
was on his feet again, watching the practicing for the Supercortemaggiore race. Just
before going home to lunch with his wife he decided to try a few laps with the Sports
Ferrari of his friend Castellotti. In shirt sleeves, ordinary trousers and Castellottis
helmet he set off. As it emerged from a fast curve on the third lap the car unaccountably
skidded, turned on its nose and somersaulted twice. Thrown out on the track, Ascari
suffered multiple injuries and died a few minutes later.
Alberto Ascari was born in Milan on
July 13, 1918. His father Antonio was the greatest Italian driver of his day and
frequently used to take his son with him to races in which he competed. A fortnight before
Albertos seventh birthday, Antonio Ascari was killed while leading the French Grand
Prix at Montlehry. From then on it was Albertos passion to become a racing driver
like his father. So absorbed was he with this ambition that he twice ran away from school
and at the first possible moment bought himself a motor-bike. His first motor race was the
1940 Mille Miglia, the car he drove was a Ferrari. In 1940 he married a Milan girl and
they had two children. The boy was named Antonio in memory of his grandfather and the girl
was called Patrizia. Ascari was devoted to his family.
Alberto resumed racing in 1947. He
bought a 4CLT Maserati from the new owners, the Orsi family. He managed to scrape together
3 million lire, and his good friend Gigi Villoresi helped with some of the other 2
million. Ascari and Villoresi raced successfully on the tracks of Northern Italy, and the
Milanese crowd bestowed the nickname "Ciccio" meaning "Tubby" on
Alberto. 1948 proved another successful year for the two friends in improved San Remo
Maseratis. Ascari also had one race in a 158 Alfa, finishing 3rd in the French
GP at Reims behind team mates Wimille and Sanesi.
Enzo Ferrari, who had been a great
friend and team mate of Albertos father, had been taking a keen interest in Albertos
successes, and he signed both Ascari and Villoresi in 1949. That year Ascari had five
victories plus another win at Buenos Aires in the Peron GP.
In 1950 he had nine Ferrari
victories and in 1951 six, despite Ferrari playing second fiddle to the aging 158/159 Alfa
Romeos, but 1952 was his most successful season with 12. He missed the first race of 1952,
the Swiss GP, as he was away qualifying at Indianapolis with the big 4.5 litre Ferrari,
which suffered a wheel collapse in the 500, but for the other races he had a comparatively
easy ride, Fangio of the rival Maserati team being out of racing for most of the season
after a crash in the Monza GP in June. He won the World Championship at a canter, then
repeated the feat in 1953, despite the tougher opposition from the Maseratis of Fangio and
Gonzales.
Ascari was most relaxed when out in
front of a race, and was unlike most drivers in that he appeared not to give of his best
when further back. As Enzo Ferrari later recalled, "When leading, he could not easily
be overtaken indeed it was virtually impossible to overtake him."
He was not a relaxed driver. With
his mouth set and his eyes concentrated he seemed to whip his car along and his sensitive
hands constantly manipulated the steering wheel. When he was really in a hurry he took his
bends in a series of dicey jerks rather than in one controlled slide. To have Ascari on
your tail was a truly unnerving experience. The knowledge that he would have to find an
opportunity to pass seemed to worry him.
Ascaris death was regarded as
a national loss. Telegrams of sympathy were received from the heads of three foreign
states. From the front columns of the Church of San Carlo al Corso hung black drapes and a
huge inscription: "On the Last Finish Line, meet, O lord, the soul of Alberto
Ascari." At his funeral the Plazza del Duomo, the bustling centre of Milan, was
packed with people. Normally the noisiest square in Italy it was that day so silent that
the telephones could be heard ringing unanswered in the houses.
Three days after the funeral, Lancia
officially suspended all racing activity, and in July they handed six Lancia D50 cars,
engines, blueprints and spares over to Ferrari.