Alberto Ascari

Alberto Ascari was Italy's first true Formula 1 superstar and the dominant force of the sport's early seasons. Born in Milan on 13 July 1918, he was the son of grand prix driver Antonio Ascari, and he carried the family name to the very summit of motor racing by winning back-to-back World Championships in 1952 and 1953 with Ferrari.

Across a brief but brilliant top-flight career he scored 13 wins from just 36 starts, a win rate above 36 percent, together with 14 pole positions and 140 championship points. His 1952 and 1953 seasons were a model of crushing superiority, as he reeled off a run of consecutive grand prix victories that stood as a record for decades, winning almost everything in front of him in the scarlet Ferrari.

After his Ferrari years he moved to the new Lancia project, and he also raced Maserati machinery. His life was cut short on 26 May 1955, when he was killed testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza, just days after a dramatic plunge into the harbour at the Monaco Grand Prix. He died at 36, in eerily similar circumstances to his father.

Ascari was a precise, front-running driver who liked nothing better than to lead from the start and control a race from the front, a style perfectly suited to the powerful Ferraris of the early 1950s. Calm, methodical and immensely quick, he is remembered as the finest Italian driver of his era and a national hero. The Variante Ascari at Monza keeps his memory alive in the country that idolised him.