Giancarlo Baghetti

Giancarlo Baghetti (1934-1995) won the first two non-championship F1 races he entered in Italy, then wrote history by winning the 1961 French Grand Prix held at Reims-Gueux at the wheel of a Ferrari… on his Grand Prix debut!

Son of a rich industrialist from Milan, he starts racing in sports car at the end of the 50s and shines by finishing second in the 1958 Mille Miglia. He scores good results in the Formula Junior and gets noticed by Enzo Ferrari who takes him under his wings and gives him a drive in F1.

Baghetti thus wins on his Grand Prix debut in France in 1961, but can’t duplicate this form and his results are disappointing in 1962 and he is forced to leave the famous Scuderia. He then moves to the new ATS team in 1963, where he only stays for one season. He’s then briefly seen at the wheel of a BRM, a Brabham and a Lotus without scoring notable results.

After an injury sustained in a F2 race, Baghetti retires from racing and becomes a journalist and a press photographer, and sadly dies of a cancer in 1995, a few days before his 61st birthday. He’s seen here-below, at the wheel of a Ferrari 156 during the 1962 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.