Michele Alboreto

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Alboreto's career in motorsport began in 1976, racing a car he and a number of his friends had built in the Formula Monza series. The car, however, achieved very little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three. Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for his entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team. Two wins, the first in the final round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas, and the second a year later in Detroit, earned Alboreto a place with the Ferrari team. Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by twenty points. The following three seasons were less successful, however, and at the end of the 1988 season, the Italian left Ferrari and re-signed with his former employers Tyrrell, where he stayed until joining Larrousse midway through 1990. Further seasons with Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi followed during the tail end of his F1 career. In 1995, Alboreto moved on to sportscars and a year later the American IndyCar series. He took his final major victories, the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours and 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, with German manufacturers Porsche and Audi, respectively. In 2001, a month after his Sebring victory, he was killed testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.

In Their Own Story

The atmosphere at Zolder in 1984 was electric as Alboreto took victory in the third round of the season, ending a nearly two-decade wait for an Italian winner for Ferrari. The following year defined his career: leading the points table until the Dutch Grand Prix, he faced a relentless battle against the McLaren-Porsche combination of Alain Prost. In Germany, Alboreto survived incidents with teammate Stefan Johansson at the first corner and battled oil smoke throughout the race, yet managed to win while Prost was hindered by brake issues and lack of power. However, the season turned tragic in reliability. At Brands Hatch, after a pit stop for a flat tire on lap eleven, his turbo failed halfway through lap thirteen. The rear of the car ignited. Instead of abandoning the vehicle, Alboreto drove the burning machine directly to his Ferrari box, a visceral protest against the machinery that had denied him the title. He finished second in the championship with 53 points, exactly twenty behind Prost.

Reader's Guide

Alboreto's debut Formula One season was 1981 with Tyrrell. He scored his first Grand Prix win at the 1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix. He joined Ferrari in 1984 and won the 1984 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, becoming the first Italian driver to win a Grand Prix for Ferrari since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. His most successful year was 1985, with two wins (Canadian Grand Prix and German Grand Prix) and a runner-up finish in the championship. After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1988, he drove for Tyrrell, Larrousse, Footwork, Scuderia Italia, and Minardi. In sportscars, he won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2001 12 Hours of Sebring.

Did You Know?

• Alboreto won the European Formula Three Championship in 1980.
• He scored Minardi's only Formula Two victory, at Misano in 1981.
• Alboreto's first Grand Prix win was the final round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas.
• He was the last winner of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix.
• Alboreto's 1983 Detroit Grand Prix win was the 155th and last Formula One victory for the Cosworth DFV engine.