Past Driver Profile Giancarlo Baghetti

I thought it would be interesting to profile some of the lesser known drivers from the past in Formula 1. Everyone knows about Senna, Schumacher, and Prost, but not everyone knows a lot about drivers that did not win races or titles. So for the first driver to profile I chose Giancarlo Baghetti.

Giancarlo Baghetti was born in Milan, Italy on Christmas Day in 1934 He had a wealthy father which allowed him to get a better start for his racing career. Baghetti did some early racing in production cars until he finally move up to Formula Junior in which he was pretty successful in.

Following his success, Baghetti was then chosen by Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA) which was a group of team owners that got together to give young Italian drivers a chance to prove themselves in Formula 1. FISA was able to get Baghetti a modified version of a 1960 Ferrari Formula 2 car which was a prototype for the famous shark nose Ferrari 156.

With this car Baghetti was entered in his first Formula 1 race which was the non-championship 1961 Syracuse Grand Prix. In a field which included drivers such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and many other notable driver, Baghetti was able to qualify in second position and then was able to win the race by 5 seconds over Dan Gurney in second place using the Ferrari's strong straight line speed.

Coming off of this strong result, Baghetti then entered the non-championship 1961 Naples Grand Prix. This race however was held the same day as the Monaco Grand Prix so the field was a lot weaker then the one Baghetti faced in Syracuse. In his second race, Baghetti managed to qualify in third position and once again led his Ferrari to victory. This meant Baghetti had one his first two Formula 1 races even though they were non-championship races.

Coming off of these strong results, the Ferrari factory team took notice and put him in the team to replace Olivier Gendebien who had left the team and entered Baghetti in the 1961 French Grand Prix in the iconic Ferrari 156 at the Reims circuit. Baghetti did not have a strong qualifying result managing just 12th place, but on race day many of the top names ran into problems including his three Ferrari teammates on the day. This led to a shoot out between Baghetti in his Ferrari and Dan Gurney in his Porsche. Baghetti was able to use his Ferrari's speed again to slipstream past Gurney to produce one of the most surprising victories of all time. Baghetti became the first driver to win his first ever World Championship event excluding the first World Championship race and the Indianapolis 500. This is a feat that has not been matched since.

Baghetti at the 1961 French Grand Prix

Baghetti then entered the British Grand Prix which did not go as well. He only managed to qualify 19th but retired due to an accident early on and then in the Italian Grand Prix he had a strong qualifying result of sixth but retired early due to an engine problem. Baghetti did manage to set the fastest lap for this race however.

Baghetti ended his 1961 season by winning the non-championship Coppa Italia which was held at the Vallelunga Circuit. Baghetti entered this race in a Porsche and did not have as much competition without many big names. Baghetti's 1961 season seemed to be a success winning four of the six Formula 1 races in which he entered. Baghetti however, would not win another Formula 1 race in his career.

Baghetti entered four World Championship races in the 1962 season in which his best finish was fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix. Baghetti also finished fifth at the Italian Grand Prix which was good enough to give him five points which placed him 11th in the championship. Baghetti also contested in two non-championship races in 1962 for Ferrari which included a second place finish at the Mediterranean Grand Prix at Pergusa.

For 1963 Baghetti switched to the ATS team which was a breakaway from Ferrari. The chassis used was designed after the Ferrari 156 but by this time the car was outdated and Baghetti struggled. Both Baghetti and teammate Phil Hill failed to score any points throughout the year. In 1864 Baghetti tried racing in outdated BRM cars in he which again failed to score any points in. Following this, Baghetti entered just the Italian Grand Prix the next three years in which he failed to finish in 1965 and 1967, and was not classified in 1966. Baghetti also failed to finish the two non-championship races he took part in as well.

This led to an end to Baghetti's Formula 1 career which had started with so much promise. After his racing career was over, Baghetti became a photographer in which he worked for Playboy and was the publisher for the Auto Oggi magazine. Baghetti died of cancer in Milan on November 27, 1995.

If you have a driver that you would like to see profiled in the future, let me know in the comments section below.