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Luigi Fagioli

Luigi Fagioli
  • Surname
    Fagioli
  • First name
    Luigi
  • Date of birth
    09.06.1898
  • Date of death
    20.06.1952

This Italian, who was born near Ancona, was a latecomer to motorsport. It was not until 1926 that he took part in his first event, and in 1930 he took his first victory – in the Coppa Principe di Piemonte in a Maserati. After that, his career accelerated: In 1933, he became Italian champion for the Alfa Romeo racing team run by Enzo Ferrari. Fagioli distinguished himself as a person and as a racing driver through a mixture of consistency and temperament, which earned him an invitation to join the Mercedes-Benz works team for the 1934 season.

Fagioli said thank you with three Grand Prix victories: At Monza – together with Rudolf Caracciola – at Lasarte in Spain and at the Coppa Acerbo in Pescara. The following year he won the season opener in Monaco and the Penya Rhin Grand Prix in Barcelona. Nevertheless, Fagioli proved to be an uncomfortable team-mate who only reluctantly deferred to team management. His contract expired at the end of the 1936 season and was not renewed.

In the following season, he surprisingly started for the Auto-Union team, but found it difficult to drive the tricky mid-engined cars and suffered from health problems that meant he could only take part in a few races. In the end, the only countable results were a fifth place at the Grand Prix of Tripoli, a fourth place at the Coppa Acerbo and – together with Nuvolari – a seventh place at the Swiss Grand Prix. Fagioli retired from racing at the end of the season.

At the age of 52, however, he returned to the Grand Prix scene. In 1950, in the service of the Alfa Romeo works team, he essentially battled it out with his brand colleagues Juan Manuel Fangio and Nino Farina in the Formula 1 World Championship that had just been established, coming third after Farina and Fangio. He subsequently concentrated on sports car racing and achieved a class victory at the 1951 Mille Miglia.

Then, in 1952, during practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, which was announced for sports cars that year, he suffered a serious accident with his Lancia Aurelia, the consequences of which led to his death three weeks later.

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