In just a few days Lewis Hamilton will make his race debut for Scuderia Ferrari. This will be the third team Hamilton races for at this level of the sport. He’ll no doubt be thinking about his impressive debut season 2007 when he claimed a podium on debut, and 11 more during the year. However, the seven-time world champion will not be able to achieve the unrepeatable feat of Giancarlo Baghetti.
Follow Double Apex on Instagram and Facebook where we share more car content
Buy now and take advantage of free delivery in South Africa on orders over R349.
Good Company
Should Lewis Hamilton stand on the top step of the podium in Australia wearing red, he will join some illustrious company. The list of debut winners with Ferrari includes some of the greats of the sport. This list, which includes several champions, is:
- Juan Manuel Fangio/Luigi Musso, 1956 Argentine Grand Prix
- Giancarlo Baghetti, 1961 French Grand Prix
- Mario Andretti, 1971 South African Grand Prix
- Nigel Mansell, 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
- Kimi Räikkönen, 2007 Australian Grand Prix
- Fernando Alonso, 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
Never to be Repeated
The very first driver to win an F1 race on debut was the winner of the first-ever F1 race. Makes sense. Incidentally, it was Giuseppe “Nino” Farina. Much the same way as the first team to win a Rugby or Football world cup, is the only team to have won the world cup, for a few years at least. It’s down to semantics.
However, the case of Giancarlo Baghetti at the 1961 French Grand Prix is a special one. This was ten years after the inception of Formula One. The race in Reims was Giancarlo Baghetti’s first Grand Prix for Ferrari. Furthermore it was his maiden world championship F1 outing.
Baghetti was signed by Enzo Ferrari after the team owner saw the young racer’s prowess in a feeder series known as Formula Junior. The patriotic team head wanted to showcase his countryman’s talent, so entered a ‘private’ car for him under the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche banner.
Debut Race
Giancarlo Baghetti
The young Italian qualified only 12th in France. But he systematically carved his way through the field while the three other Ferrari drivers all had mechanical problems. At the very end of the race the rookie found himself in a battle for the lead.
Baghetti powered his Ferrari past Dan Gurney’s Porsche on the final run towards the finish line. Thereby winning his first-ever Formula One race by a mere 0,1 seconds. It was also the first-ever victory for a mid-engined Ferrari F1 car (the ‘Sharknose’ 156), forever changing the sport.
Fading Away
Sadly, Baghetti’s first win was also his only win. He left Ferrari after 1962 and raced for a series of other teams, eventually retiring in 1968, aged just 33. After quitting racing he worked in a variety of roles from photographer to motorsport journalist. He died from cancer aged 60 in 1995.
Historical images courtesy of the Michele Lupini Collection.
Leave A Comment