Giancarlo Baghetti (born on 25 December 1934 in Milan, MI, Lombardy, Italy – died on 27 November 1995 at the same place) was an Italian racing driver best known for winning his first Formula One race, the 1961 French Grand Prix. Baghetti drove for Ferrari (private and works), ATS, Scuderia Centro Sud (private BRMs), Brabham and Lotus throughout his career.
Baghetti's début win places him alongside Giuseppe Farina and Johnnie Parsons as one of three drivers to win their first F1 race. Farina won the 1950 British Grand Prix, the inaugural F1 race, while Parsons won the 1950 Indianapolis 500, the third F1 race, and included a whole field of débutants. Thus, Baghetti is the only driver to win his first in a field that did not compose entirely of drivers making their débuts.
Baghetti's racing career started in 1955, and he began racing in Formula Junior in 1958. Baghetti joined the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA) in 1961, and entered a couple of non-championship races, the Syracuse Grand Prix and Naples Grand Prix. Baghetti won both races. The next race he entered was the championship French Grand Prix, and despite starting in the midfield, Baghetti found himself in potential race-winning position with ten laps remaining, and he just held off Dan Gurney for a début victory. This gave Baghetti a place in F1 history, and he is also the only driver to win his first three Grand Prix races.
Unfortunately, Baghetti's career would only go downwards from there. It was to be his only championship victory (though he did win the 1961 Coppa Italia), and he fail to reach the finish of the other two championship races he entered. Joining the works Ferrari team for 1962, Baghetti scored two points finishes, and a non-championship podium, and left for the ATS team, who had splintered off Ferrari – the car, however, was a disaster and the project lasted just a solitary season.
For 1964, Baghetti joined the Scuderia Centro Sud team, and drove a BRM, without success. In 1965, 1966 and 1967 he competed solely in the Italian Grand Prix (and a pair of non-championship races), but none of the efforts came to any success. Following this, Baghetti's racing career petered out and he stopped competitive racing.
Baghetti later turned his hand to journalism and photography, before dying of cancer aged 60.
Formula One Career[]
Baghetti was born in Milan, the son of a wealthy Milanese industrialist. He started racing in 1955 with production cars and advanced to Formula Junior by 1958. In 1961, he was selected by the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA), a group of independent Italian team owners who had arranged a loan deal with Ferrari for a 156 Formula Two car to compete in non-Championship Grand Prix races, aimed at giving promising Italian drivers experience. Although his performances in lower categories were not particularly spectacular, Baghetti was chosen over Albino Buttichi and Lucien de Sanctis for the opportunity. The car was first entered in the Syracuse Grand Prix, the inaugural major event under the new 1.5-liter regulations, where Baghetti qualified second in a strong field and won, as the only Ferrari in the race, with the Porsche 718 and British teams unable to match the Dino's V6 engine. A few weeks later, he drove the same car to victory at the Napoli Grand Prix.
In the 1961 French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux, Team FISA entered a custom 60-degree V6 Ferrari 156, which produced at least 10 horsepower less than the competition, for Baghetti in this World Championship event. After Wolfgang von Trips, Richie Ginther, and Phil Hill retired their works 156s, Baghetti was left to defend Ferrari's honor. He managed to beat Dan Gurney’s Porsche 718 to claim victory, achieving a hat trick of wins in his first three Grands Prix. Gurney was leading with just 100 yards remaining as the cars raced at 160 mph (260 km/h) to the finish line. This win made Baghetti the first Italian to win a Formula One World Championship event since 1956. It also made him the first—and so far the only—driver to win on their World Championship Grand Prix debut against a field that did not consist solely of other debutants.
He competed in two more World Championship races, retiring from the 1961 British and Italian Grands Prix, although he set the fastest lap in the latter. He also won the poorly attended Prima Coppa Italia at Vallelunga, racing in a Porsche 718.
In 1962, he was promoted to Ferrari’s official F1 team, but only managed two points finishes—fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix and fifth at the Italian Grand Prix—as Ferrari was outperformed by the British teams. He also finished second in the non-Championship Mediterranean Grand Prix. Although offered a full Ferrari F1 drive for 1963, he had already signed with a rival team. Enzo Ferrari held Baghetti in high regard, describing him as “a lesser Varzi.” In 1963, Baghetti participated in the unsuccessful ATS effort, teaming with Phil Hill for Carlo Chiti’s independent team, but failed to finish any of his five starts. The following year, he moved to Scuderia Centro Sud’s older BRM P57 cars, with his best result being seventh at the Austrian Grand Prix. His Grand Prix career largely ended there, although he made three more sporadic appearances—driving a works Brabham in 1965, a semi-works Dino Ferrari 2.4 V6 in 1966 where he performed well and ran ahead of Arundell’s Lotus V8 Climax and Anderson’s 2.7-liter Brabham, and a competitive drive in a works Lotus 49 in 1967, where he finished midfield, passing Amon and Ickx, and would have earned a point had his engine not blown.
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
Note: Entries in italics are non-championship entries only.
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | FISA | Ferrari | 9 | 9th | Report |
| Scuderia Sant Ambroeus | |||||
| 1962 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 5 | 11th | Report |
| 1963 | Automobili Turismo e Sport | ATS | 0 | NC | Report |
| Ecurie Filipinetti | Lotus-Climax | ||||
| 1964 | Scuderia Centro Sud | BRM | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1965 | Brabham Racing Organisation | Brabham-Climax | 0 | NC | Report |
| Scuderia Centro Sud | BRM | ||||
| 1966 | Reg Parnell Racing Ltd | Ferrari | 0 | NC | Report |
| Anglo-Suisse Racing Team | Lotus-BRM | ||||
| 1967 | Team Lotus | Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC |
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 28 |
| Starts | 21 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 1 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Fastest Laps | 1 |
| Points | 14 |
| Laps Raced | 852 |
| Distance Raced | 5,071 km (3,151 mi) |
| Races Led | 1 |
| Laps Led | 7 |
| Distance Led | 58 km (36 mi) |
Race Wins[]
| Win Number | Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| F1 Championship | |
| 1 | 1961 French Grand Prix |
| Non-championship | |
| 1 | 1961 Syracuse Grand Prix |
| 2 | 1961 Naples Grand Prix |
| 3 | 1961 Coppa Italia |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||||
| 1961 | 
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9 | 9th | |||||||||||||||
| 1st | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1962 |
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5 | 11th | ||||||||||||||
| 4th | Ret | 10th | 5th | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1963 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
| Ret | Ret | 15th | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
| DNA | 10th | 8th | 12th | Ret | 7th | 8th | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1965 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
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| 1966 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||
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| 1967 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||
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| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes[]
External links[]
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