Luigi Musso

Luigi Musso

Nation:	Italy
Automobile world championship
First start:	1953 Italian Grand Prix
Last start:	1958 French Grand Prix
Constructors
1953–56 Officine Alfieri Maserati  · 1956–58 Scuderia Ferrari
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup third ( 1957 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 24 1 - 1
World Cup points :	44
Podiums :	7th
Leadership laps :	6 over 65.6 km

Luigi Musso (born July 28, 1924 in Rome , † July 6, 1958 in Reims ) was an Italian Formula 1 and sports car racing driver.

Career

The diplomat's son

Luigi Musso was the youngest of three sons of an Italian diplomat who had served his country primarily in China . The family was wealthy so he could afford all the sports of a " gentleman ". Musso was considered a talented marksman, rider and fencer.

He was enthusiastic about motorsport from a young age and was particularly shaped by the successful ambitions of his oldest brother Giuseppe in this area. So Luigi Musso bought a small 750 cm³ Giannini to take part in the 1950 “Giro Sicilia”. This first race ended with a crash in the monument to the national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi and a gearbox defect.

Breakthrough with the Maserati youth team

It was not until 1952 that Musso was able to convince one of his brothers to entrust him with his Stanguellini , with whom he showed promising achievements. But his real breakthrough came when Maserati was planning a sports car team with three young drivers : Sergio Mantovani , Emilio Giletti and Luigi Musso. Musso soon won the title in the 2.5-liter sports car class. The first trips in a Grand Prix monoposto followed at the end of 1953. In 1954 he competed in international sports car races as well as occasionally in Formula 1 races with a Maserati 250F , where he drew attention to himself with second place at the Spanish Grand Prix won the non-World Cup Pescara Grand Prix .

The move to Ferrari

In 1955 he stayed with Maserati and was again Italian champion. But at the beginning of the Automobile World Championship in 1956 , Ferrari hired him , where he - as was common with almost all drivers at the time - completed both sports car and Formula 1 races. In Argentina , Juan Manuel Fangio took over his car and won the race, so that he shared the victory with it. In the 12-hour race at Sebring , he reached the second place in the Mille Miglia third. Another victory would have been achievable, but after an accident at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring , he had to pause for many weeks. In September he had recovered somewhat. At the Italian Grand Prix he refused to give his car to Fangio. After an eventful race with many changes in leadership and defects, he was in the lead and was on the way to victory when the steering lever of his car broke three laps before the end of the race and he was eliminated.

After these relative disappointments, however, he stayed with Ferrari as a regular team member and won the 1000 km race for sports cars in Buenos Aires in 1957 and participated in various Grand Prix. A victory at the renowned Targa Florio rounded off his success. His best year was the automobile world championship in 1957 , in which he was third in the world championship with 16 points. He also won the Reims GP that was not part of the world championship that year.

In his 24 Formula 1 races, Musso often demonstrated his versatility and reliability, especially in Argentina and France he showed his best performances and was absolutely equal to Fangio or Hawthorn. In addition to the victory in Buenos Aires in 1956 , five second places, a third, a fourth and a fifth place testify to his class.

The fatal accident in Reims

At the 1958 French Grand Prix in Reims , Musso kept close ties with his teammate Mike Hawthorn when his car shot into a ditch in a long, fast corner at around 200  km / h and he himself was thrown out of his seat. He died of serious injuries a few hours later in a city hospital .

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

Grand Prix victories

• 1956:  Argentina  ( Buenos Aires )

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1953	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.0 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1954	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	2	-	1	-	-	-	6th	8th.
1955	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	6th	-	-	-	-	-	6th	10.
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	4th	1	-	-	-	-	4th	11.
1957	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari D50 A	Ferrari 2.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	16	3.
		Ferrari 801		5	-	2	-	-	1
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari Dino 246F1	Ferrari 2.4 V6	5	-	2	-	-	-	12	8th.
total				24	1	5	-	-	1	44

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1953
									- / 7
1954
	DNF							DNF	2
1955
	7 / DNF	DNF		7th	3	5	DNF
1956
	1/-	DNF					DNF	DNF
1957
	DNF			2	2	4th	DNF	8th
1958
	2	2	7th		DNF	†

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

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1955	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 300S	Luigi Valenzano	failure	Gearbox damage
1957	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 335S	Mike Hawthorn	failure	Engine failure

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1954	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati A6GCS / 53	Ferdinando Gatta	failure	Brakes
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 860 Monza	Harry Schell	Rank 2
1957	Ferrari Factory	Ferrari 315 Sport	Alfonso de Portago	Rank 7
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250TR / 58	Olivier Gendebien	Rank 2

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Maserati	Maserati A6GCS	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				DNF
1954	Maserati	Maserati A6GCS	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
			6th	DNF	3		5
1955	Maserati	Maserati A6GCS Maserati 300S	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
					DNF	DNF	5	DNF
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 410 Sport Ferrari 860 Monza Ferrari 290MM	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
			DNF	2	3	DNF
1957	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 290MM Ferrari 315S Ferrari 335S	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
			1	7th			DNF	4th	2
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250TR	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			2	2	1	4th

See also

• List of fatally injured Formula 1 drivers

Web links

Commons : Luigi Musso  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Speedweek - website: Luigi Musso. At: www.speedweek.de , accessed on November 6, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the sports car world championship 1956. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on November 6, 2012 . 
3. ^ Grandprix - Internet site: Grand Prix Results: Italian GP, ​​1956. At: www.grandprix.com , accessed on November 6, 2012 . 
4. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the sports car world championship 1957. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on November 6, 2012 .