Luigi Fagioli
Nation: | Italy | ||||||||
Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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First start: | Great Britain Grand Prix 1950 | ||||||||
Last start: | 1951 French Grand Prix | ||||||||
Constructors | |||||||||
1950–1951 Alfa Romeo | |||||||||
statistics | |||||||||
World Cup balance: | World Cup third ( 1950 ) | ||||||||
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World Cup points : | 32 | ||||||||
Podiums : | 6th | ||||||||
Leadership laps : | 8 over 49 km |
Luigi Christiano Fagioli (born June 9, 1898 in Osimo (AN) , † June 20, 1952 in Monte Carlo ) was an Italian racing driver . Although he was born in the Marche region of northern Italy and was a cultured personality, the press nicknamed him "The Old Robber from Abruzzo ". Friends and relatives called him "Gigi". He was the youngest of the eleven children of his parents Sisinio and Maria Fagioli (née Zoppi). In 1931 he married Pia Coltilde Vercellone from Biella .
In 1952 he died in Monaco as a result of a training accident at the exit of the tunnel.
Career
The first years with Maserati and Alfa Romeo
Before Luigi Fagioli began his automobile racing career in small Italian races in 1925, he had already competed in motorcycle races with two-wheelers of the Borgo and SAAR brands since the early 1920s. With a Salmson 1.1 liter acquired in 1925 , he then competed in mountain and road races. In 1927 he took part in the premiere of the Mille Miglia , but did not reach the goal. After his victory at the Circuito di Rimini in 1928, he switched to a private Maserati 1500. In this car he won several hill climbs. With his seventh place at the Targa Florio 1928 on a Maserati Tipo 26 , he drew the attention of the Maserati brothers. In 1930 he won the Coppa Principe di Piemonte in Avellino and the Coppa Ciano on the Circuito di Montenero near Livorno as the official works driver of Maserati, each ahead of competitors in Alfa Romeos from Scuderia Ferrari . In 1931 Luigi Fagioli fought a fierce duel with Louis Chiron in a Bugatti Type 51 at the Monaco Grand Prix , which he had to admit defeat by only three seconds. At the Grand Prix of Tunisia , he also remained second, again beaten by a Bugatti T51, this time driven by Achille Varzi . At the French Grand Prix in Montlhéry he set the fastest lap before the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on his Maserati before the likes Baconin Borzacchini , Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari won.
In 1932 he drove the Maserati Tipo V5 , whose 16-cylinder engine had a displacement of 4.9 liters and was charged by a Roots blower . With this vehicle he won the Premio Reale di Roma and the Circuito di Senigallia . He also achieved four second places at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the Czechoslovak Grand Prix in Brno , the Gran Premio di Monza and the Circuito Lago di Bolsena.
In 1933 he also started on a Maserati, this time on an 8CM . Except for a third place in a hill climb, he couldn't finish most of the races. When Tazio Nuvolari Enzo Ferrari left Scuderia Ferrari to found his own racing team with Maserati vehicles, Ferrari signed Luigi Fagioli. In his first race for the new team, the Nice Grand Prix, he finished fourth. He won several races with the Alfa Romeo , including the Italian Grand Prix , in which Tazio Nuvolari came second and the drivers Baconin Borzacchini, Giuseppe Campari and Stanisław Czaykowski were killed in an accident. Although both Tazio Nuvolari and Carlo Felice Trossi won as many races as Luigi Fagioli, he was declared Italian champion at the end of the season.
Factory drivers from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union
Through his success with Alfa Romeo in 1933, Mercedes noticed him and Alfred Neubauer signed the Italian for the 1934 season . Fagioli stayed with Mercedes for three years, although his relationship with the race director and teammates was difficult. His successes included the Italian Grand Prix in 1934 , in which he had taken over the racing car from Rudolf Caracciola , and the 1934 Spanish Grand Prix . In the 1934 Eifel race at the Nürburgring , he was in the lead when he had to pit and let Manfred von Brauchitsch pass by . On the final lap, his car misfired.
In 1935 Fagioli took second place at the German Grand Prix , won the Coppa Acerbo in Pescara , the Italian Grand Prix in Monza (together with Rudolf Caracciola ) and the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuito Lasarte . That year he also won the Monaco Grand Prix . It was the first time that this race saw a start-to-finish victory. He finished third at the Gran Premio di Tripoli and second at Spa-Francorchamps , Bremgarten and Lasarte. Luigi Fagioli was also able to win the AVUS race and the Gran Premio de Penya Rhin in 1935 . In the driver's European championship of the AIACR (Association Internationale des Automobiles Club Reconnus, forerunner of the FIA ) he finished second behind Rudolf Caracciola. In 1936 there were quarrels with Neubauer and Caracciola, mostly because of stable orders or a lack of equal treatment. He separated from Mercedes in 1936, which were mostly inferior to Auto Union that year . Before leaving Mercedes, he finished third in Tripoli, fifth at the Nürburgring and fourth in Bremgarten.
For the 1937 season, Luigi Fagioli moved to the superior Auto Union team. He had to sit out most of the season due to major back problems, but finished fifth at the wheel of the Auto Union Type C in Tripoli and fourth at the Coppa Acerbo. At the end of this season, his rivalry with Rudolf Caracciola in Tripoli broke out violently: because he felt held back by Caracciola, he attacked the German with a hammer, but was held back by a mechanic. Due to his back problem, Fagioli retired from racing in late 1937 and with the outbreak of World War II it seemed as if his racing career was over.
New beginning after the war
However, Fagioli returned to Cisitalia and Maserati in 1947 in improved health . In 1949 he finished ninth in the Mille Miglia together with Pino Leopardi in the Fiat 1100 S Berlinetta . He then moved back to the Maserati brothers, who had just founded the Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili (OSCA) . With the Osca MT4 1100 he was second in its class and seventh overall in the 1950s edition of the thousand miles.
In the same year , Fagioli came back to Grand Prix racing in the superior Alfa Romeo team and took part in the Formula 1 World Championship . With Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio he formed the "team of the three F's". However, his performance did not come close to that of his teammates, although with four second places and one third place as a model of consistency, he was third in the 1950 season. At the Pescara Grand Prix, which was not part of the World Championship , he led until one lap before the end of the race before falling back to third place with tire problems. After Fagioli had to give his car to Fangio at the French Grand Prix in 1951 , he resigned from Alfa Romeo. After all, with this success he became the oldest driver who could ever achieve a Grand Prix victory.
As a result, Luigi Fagioli focused on sports car racing . At the 1951 Mille Miglia he was class winner with his OSCA. In 1952 Lancia signed him. At the wheel of a Lancia Aurelia B20 , he finished third in the Mille Miglia. Only Giovanni Bracco and Karl Kling in much more powerful cars ( Ferrari 250 S Berlinetta and Mercedes 300 SL ) could beat him. He left his much younger teammates and Rudolf Caracciola's 300 SL behind.
Fagioli had a serious accident at the wheel of a Lancia Aurelia B20 while training for a sports car race in Monaco. As a result of a defect, he hit the boundary at the exit of the tunnel and was seriously injured. He died of his injuries three weeks later.
statistics
Grand Prix victories before 1950
- 1933 - Italian Grand Prix ( Monza )
- 1934 - Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
- 1934 - Spanish Grand Prix ( Circuito Lasarte )
- 1935 - Monaco Grand Prix ( Monte Carlo )
Pre-war Grand Prix results
season | team | dare | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | Points | position |
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1931 | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati 26M | 22nd | 26th | |||||||
DNF | |||||||||||
1932 | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati V5 | 18th | 7th | |||||||
2 | |||||||||||
1933 |
private / Maserati / Scuderia Ferrari |
Maserati 8C-3000 / Maserati 8CM / Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3 |
- | ||||||||
DNF | DNS | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
1934 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz W 25 | - | ||||||||
DNF | 2 | DNS | DNF / 1 1 | 1 | |||||||
1935 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz W 25 | 22nd | 2. | |||||||
1 | 4th | 2 2 | 6th | 2 | DNF | 2 | |||||
1936 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz W 25 short | 26th | 14th | |||||||
DNF | 5 3 | DNF / 4 4 | |||||||||
1937 | Auto Union AG | Auto Union Type C | 36 | 20th | |||||||
DNS | DNS | 7 5 |
Legend | |||
---|---|---|---|
colour | meaning | EM points | |
gold | victory | 1 | |
silver | 2nd place | 2 | |
bronze | 3rd place | 3 | |
green | Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance | 4th | |
blue | not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance | 5 | |
violet | not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance | 6th | |
red | not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance | 7th | |
colour | abbreviation | meaning | EM points |
black | DSQ | disqualified | 8th |
White | DNS | did not start | |
DNA | did not arrive | ||
other | P / bold | Pole position | |
SR / italic | Fastest race lap | ||
DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
Statistics in the automobile world championship
Grand Prix victories
general overview
season | team | chassis | engine | run | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Race laps |
Points | WM-Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | SA Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo 158/50 | Alfa Romeo L8C | 6th | - | 4th | 1 | - | - | 24 (28) | 3. |
1951 | SA Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo 159 | Alfa Romeo L8C | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 4th | 11. |
total | 7th | 1 | 4th | 1 | - | - | 32 |
Single results
season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | ||||||||
2 | DNF | 2 | 2 | 2 | (3) | |||
1951 | ||||||||
1/11 1 |
1 Fagioli handed over the car with number 8, which crossed the finish line in first place, to Juan Manuel Fangio during the race . Fagioli took over the vehicle with the number 4, which finished in eleventh place, from Fangio.
Legend | ||
---|---|---|
colour | abbreviation | meaning |
gold | - | victory |
silver | - | 2nd place |
bronze | - | 3rd place |
green | - | Placement in the points |
blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
NC | not classified | |
red | DNQ | did not qualify |
DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
black | DSQ | disqualified |
White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
WD | withdrawn | |
Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
TD | Friday test driver | |
without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
INJ | injured or sick | |
EX | excluded | |
DNA | did not arrive | |
C. | Race canceled | |
no participation in the World Cup | ||
other | P / bold | Pole position |
SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
* | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
() | Streak results | |
underlined | Leader in the overall standings |
Web links
- Official homepage (Italian / English)
- Fagioli's biography at motorsportmemorial.org (English)
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: Luigi Fagioli (I). www.kolumbus.fi, September 12, 2014, accessed on September 13, 2014 (English).
- Luigi Fagioli. www.grandprixhistory.org, accessed on September 13, 2014 .
- Luigi Fagioli in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Fagioli, Luigi |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fagioli, Luigi Cristiano (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | June 9, 1898 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Osimo , Ancona Province , Italy |
DATE OF DEATH | June 20, 1952 |
Place of death | Monte Carlo , Monaco |