Michele Alboreto

Italian Ferrari ace who challenged Prost and conquered Le Mans.

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Michele Alboreto (23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1981 to 1994. Alboreto was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1985 with Ferrari, and won five Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing, Alboreto won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 with Joest, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2001 with Audi.

Quick Facts

Born: 23 December 1956
Birthplace: Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Died: 25 April 2001
Place of death: Lausitzring, Brandenburg, Germany
Cause of death: Single vehicle collision whilst testing the Audi R8
Spouse: Nadia Astorri (1982)
Children: 2

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.

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?

He scored Minardi's only Formula Two victory, at Misano in 1981.
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.