Willy Mairesse
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| Nation: |
 Belgium
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| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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| First start: | 1960 Belgian Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1963 German Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1960 Ferrari 1961 Ferrari - Lotus 1962 Ferrari 1963 Ferrari | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | WM-14. ( 1962 ) | ||||||||
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| World Cup points : | 7th | ||||||||
| Podiums : | 1 | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | 3 over 42.3 km | ||||||||
Wilhelm "Willy" Mairesse (born October 1, 1928 in Momignies , † September 2, 1969 in Ostend ) was a Belgian racing driver .
Wild Willy
Mairesse was also called Wild Willy or Kamikaze Willy . He was an untypical racing driver for today's standards. He drove races on asphalt and gravel, road races and rallies . He was just as at home in a sports car as he was in a monoposto . His career was marked by countless serious accidents and fatal collisions. Rainer Schlegelmilch: “Willy Mairesse committed suicide on installments. His starts were always like going to hell. ”He was feared in a duel, but always welcome as a team-mate in a sports car thanks to his self-sacrificing devotion to long-lost races.
Early years
Mairesse began his career in 1953 as a private driver at rally events. Together with his friend Henry Milsonne, he drove the Liège – Rome – Liège rally in a Porsche 356 . The private car, which was not really suitable for this rally, was left with an engine failure on the first day. A year later, Mairesse took part in this long-distance drive again, this time in a Peugeot 203 - again in his private vehicle. His co-driver was Robert Pirson. The two reached rank 26 in the overall ranking and were eighth in their class. In 1955 he achieved his first class win with Maurice Desse as a new co-driver on the same route.
In 1956 Mairesse switched to a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and competed in a few local rallies and first circuit races. In the GT race in the preliminary program for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , he achieved a highly regarded third place in the overall classification. His first big victory was at Liège – Rome – Liège. The Equipe Nationale Belge noticed him and added him to the team. So he came to Le Mans for the first time in 1958 . Together with his compatriot Lucien Bianchi , he drove a Ferrari 250TR . Mairesse caused the first massive sheet metal damage after a breakdown after only 33 laps by accident. 1959 was a difficult year at the beginning: Mairesse incessantly took too great risks and attracted attention mainly because of his accidents. The decisive race of his early career, however, was the Tour de France for automobiles in the same year . He fought an unforgettable battle with the popular Ferrari factory driver Olivier Gendebien (also a fellow countryman) throughout the race . Gendebien narrowly defeated Mairesse in a fight over the narrow mountain passes of the French Maritime Alps, but Enzo Ferrari was impressed and offered Mairesse a works contract.
The years at Ferrari
At the beginning of 1960, Willy Mairesse became the new works driver for Ferrari - first in a sports car, later that year also in Formula 1 . He made his debut at the Belgian Grand Prix on June 19, 1960 in Spa-Francorchamps for the Scuderia. Formula 1 experienced one of the worst weekends in its history there. Already in training unfortunate Stirling Moss and Michael Taylor (whose fledgling career with this accident to an end) heavy. In the race, the young Englishman Chris Bristow had an accident in a duel with Willy Mairesse. The accident happened on the 20th lap near Burnenville, where Stirling Moss had had an accident the day before. Bristow died instantly. Mairesse was able to continue and retired on lap 23 with damage to the transmission. Only a few laps later, the young Lotus works driver Alan Stacey also had a fatal accident.
At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza went Mairesse his second Grand Prix. As a racing car with a front engine, the Ferrari Dino 246F1 had long been inferior to the British rear-engine vehicles from Cooper and Lotus. Although equipped with almost 50 hp more than the competition, the Ferraris were too heavy. On the Monza racetrack - in 1960 the passage with the banked turns was also used - the Ferraris couldn't be beaten. Mairesse finished the chase behind his teammates Phil Hill and Richie Ginther in third (it remained his only place in the top three in a run for the Formula 1 World Championship). The Scuderia works team at the time was made up of prominent figures: Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips , Richie Ginther and Olivier Gendebien. Willy Mairesse, the youngest addition, was behind the scenes and in the first half of the 1961 season had no chance of a cockpit in Formula 1. However, he drove in a sports car and won the Tour de France like in 1960, this time ahead of Gendebien, which he was defeated in 1959. In Le Mans, he and Mike Parkes finished second in a Ferrari 250TR / 61. Since Mairesse really wanted to compete in the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari gave him the clearance to drive a Lotus 18 - Climax for the Equipe Nationale Belge . On the 7th lap he retired with ignition damage. He also competed in the French Grand Prix in Reims, this time in a factory Lotus 21 Climax. Here he retired with engine failure.
At the German Grand Prix, Mairesse could be seen again in a Ferrari. He drove the 156 in a race for the first time and had an accident on lap 13. After the Scuderia lost Wolfgang von Trips to his death in Monza, Willy Mairesse moved up in 1962 and was to drive in Formula 1 for the entire season. But there was another serious accident at the second race of the season.
Again at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, he collided with Trevor Taylor's Lotus at the beginning of Blanchimont . Willy Mairesse suffered severe burns on his feet, but miraculously both drivers got away with their lives. It wasn't until the race in Monza that he drove the 156 again and reached fourth place, just a second behind third, Bruce McLaren . He had greater success in the sports car season. He won his first Targa Florio , together with Ricardo Rodríguez and Oliver Gendebien in a Ferrari Dino 246SP .
1963 was Willy Mairesse's last year at Ferrari, and despite further successes in sports cars (he won the 1000 km on the Nürburgring , for example ) , the season was marked by two serious incidents: At the 24 Hours of Le Mans , Mairesse suffered in the early stages In the morning hours, dominating the Maison Blanche section, another serious accident. The Ferrari 250P that he drove with John Surtees went up in flames. At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring - the season had so far only brought him failures in Formula 1 - the worst accident of his career occurred: On the starting lap, Innes Ireland and Lorenzo Bandini collided just after the airfield section. Rescue workers were at the scene of the accident when Willy Mairesse took off a lap later on the hilltop in front of the airfield and hit the crash barriers hard. Eyewitnesses reported missing flag signals, but also that Mairesse was way too fast in this section. The spinning Ferrari met a paramedic who was killed in the process. Willy Mairesse himself was so badly injured that he could not race for a year. His Ferrari and Formula 1 careers ended at this race.
Despite so many falls, Ferrari had always stuck to Willy Mairesse over the years. Above all, he was an excellent test driver. His exploring the limit area helped develop vehicles. He was instrumental in the success story of the Ferrari GTO .
Success in sports cars
Only in 1965 did Willy Mairesse slowly return to motorsport. The quietest and most successful years of his career followed. Jean Blaton , a Belgian brewery owner who was one of the best long-distance pilots of the 1960s under the pseudonym "Beurlys", took him on. For the Ecurie Francorchamps , the two drove in the sports car world championship . They finished third on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1966, Mairesse switched to Scuderia Filipinetti , drove a Ferrari at Le Mans with his new regular co-driver, the Swiss Herbert Müller (failure due to gearbox damage) and won the Targa Florio for the second time in a Porsche 906 . Then it was quiet about the Belgian. He only raced with Jean Blaton, with whom he was now a close friend. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, the two were again rewarded with third place with a Ferrari 330P4 .
One last race
Jean Blaton again and one last time at Le Mans in 1968: his old friend Blaton wanted to give Mairesse the chance to return to the racetrack - a bad decision with serious consequences. Blaton owned a Ford GT 40 with chassis number 1079. The car was prepared for Le Mans 1968 by the Belgian Ford importer Claude Dubois for his Ecurie Francorchamps. Willy should form the driver team again together with Blaton. The test run took place in May at the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps (failure due to a leak in the fuel line). But the Ecurie Francorchamps was known for its meticulous preparation of racing cars, especially for the long distance. In addition, the GT 40 had now outgrown all teething troubles and was usually fast and stable. The problem with the fuel supply could be solved during test drives. In 1968 the Le Mans 24 Hours were moved from their traditional date in June - there was student unrest in Paris and a general strike that followed - to September. It was rainy and cool when the cars rolled for the Le Mans start on September 29, 1968 . In the hustle and bustle of the start - the yellow Ford with start number 8 was at an angle at 10th starting position - Mairesse did not close the door on the GT 40 properly. At the worst time, at the end of the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, it jumped up again on the first lap due to the wind at a speed of almost 300 km / h. Mairesse tried to close the door at full speed - whether with both or only one hand, is still unclear - and lost control of the car in the process. Mairesse had an accident for the last time in his career (the wreckage of the GT 40 was later rebuilt by Sbarro in Geneva and now belongs to a Parisian businessman with a Peugeot engine). The injuries, especially to the head, were so severe that the doctors had to put Mairesse into artificial deep sleep for two weeks. Mairesse never recovered from this accident. After six months of convalescence, he externally recovered, but mentally did not cope with this last serious accident. The knowledge that his racing career was irrevocably over made his life unbearable. He chose to commit suicide: Willy Mairesse died after taking an overdose of sleeping pills on September 2, 1969 in a hotel room in Ostend.
statistics
Statistics in the automobile world championship
general overview
| season | team | chassis | engine | run | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Race laps |
Points | WM-Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari Dino 246F1 | Ferrari 2.4 V6 | 3 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 4th | 15th |
| 1961 | Equipe Nationale Belge | Lotus 18 | Climax 1.5 L4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | NC |
| Team Lotus | Lotus 21 | Climax 1.5 L4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari 1.5 V6 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 1962 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari 1.5 V6 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 14th |
| 1963 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari 1.5 V6 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | NC |
| total | 12 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 7th | ||||
Single results
| season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 |
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| 1960 |
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| DNF | DNF | 3 | ||||||||
| 1961 |
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| DNF | DNF | DNF | ||||||||
| 1962 |
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| 7th | DNF | 4th | ||||||||
| 1963 |
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| DNF | DNF | DNF | ||||||||
| 1965 |
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| 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 |
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| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 |
Ecurie Francorchamps
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Ferrari 250TR |
Lucien Bianchi
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failure | accident |
| 1960 |
Scuderia Ferrari SpA
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Ferrari 250TRI / 60 |
 Richie Ginther
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failure | Gearbox damage |
| 1961 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 260TR / 61 |
Mike Parkes
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Rank 2 | |
| 1963 |
Ferrari SEFAC Spa
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Ferrari 250P |
John Surtees
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failure | accident |
| 1965 |
Ecurie Francorchamps
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Ferrari 275 GTB |
Jean Blaton
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3rd place and class win | |
| 1966 |
 Scuderia Filipinetti
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Ferrari 365P2 |
Herbert Mueller
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failure | Gearbox damage |
| 1967 |
Equipe Nationale Belge
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Ferrari 330P4 |
Jean Blaton
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Rank 3 | |
| 1968 |
Claude Dubois
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Ford GT40 Mk.I |
Jean Blaton
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failure | accident |
Sebring results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 |
Sefac Automobile Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TRI |
Richie Ginther
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Giancarlo Baghetti
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Wolfgang von Trips
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Rank 2 | |
| 1963 |
SEFAC Ferrari
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Ferrari 250P |
Lorenzo Bandini
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Nino Vaccarella
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Rank 2 | ||
| 1965 |
Fong Racing Associates
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Ferrari 275P |
Mauro Bianchi
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Rank 23 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
literature
- Michel Bolleé: Le Mans 1960–1969. Éditions Du Palmier, Nîmes 2004, ISBN 2-914920-35-0 .
- Robert Daley: The Cruel Sport. Grand Prix Racing, 1959–1967. Motorbooks, St. Paul MN 2005, ISBN 0-7603-2100-0 .
- Christophe A. Gaascht: Willy Mairesse. Le Chevalier Meurtri. Nostalgia, Verviers 2003, ISBN 2-930277-09-2 .
- Rainer W. Schlegelmilch: Portraits of the 60s Formula I. Könemann, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-89508-047-0 .
- Steve Small: Grand Prix Who's Who. 3rd edition. Travel Publishing, Reading 2000, ISBN 1-902007-46-8 .
- Ronnie Spain: GT 40. An Individual History and Race Record. Motorbooks, St. Paul MN 2003, ISBN 0-7603-1694-5 .
Web links
- Brief portrait on grandprix.com (English)
- Willy Mairesse at Racing Sports Cars
- Willy Mairesse. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 23, 2019 (English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mairesse, Willy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mairesse, Wilhelm (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Momignies |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd September 1969 |
| Place of death | East End |