Grand Prix Insider

10th of May - It was one of those occasions when history was being made in front of an admiring crowd: Jack Brabham wins the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, lapping the streets of the Principality quicker than anyone else. Hence Jack scored his first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix win as well as the fastest race lap for the first time in his career. Same goes for the Cooper Car Company as entrant. Plus the Cooper marque as well as engine supplier Climax both scored the fastest lap in a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time that day.

10/5/1967, Lorenzo Bandini dies.

A calm character, almost “unitalian”, Lorenzo Bandini’s debut in F1 came in 1961 with Scuderia Centro Sud’s old Cooper-Maserati and moving on to the Ferrari works-team in 1962. Despite a 3rd place at the Monaco-GP Enzo Ferrari hired Willy Mairesse for 1963 instead. Back at Centro Sud, Bandini now had BRM works-machinery and scored three 5th place finishes. Bandini won the 24 hours of Le Mans sharing a Ferrari 250LM with Ludovico Scarfiotti and when Mairesse was badly injured in the German GP, Enzo called him back to the Scuderia.

In 1964 Bandini scored his only victory in F1 at the Austrian GP. Until then John Surtees’s loyal lieutenant, Lorenzo suddenly found himself as team leader after the Brit’s fall-out with Enzo early in 1966. After coming in 2nd for the last two editions of the Monaco GP, the Italian was determined to win it in 1967. But when Denny Hulme went past in the final stages, Lorenzo risked too much trying to chase the New-Zealander. He clipped the chicane and rolled his Ferrari 312, suffering appalling burns as the car erupted in flames. This accident marked a significant turning point in attitudes towards improving motor racing safety. Lorenzo passed away three days later as a consequence, shortly before his wife suffered a miscarriage in the same hospital.

Born: 21st of December 1935 in Barce, Lybia.
Died: 10th of May 1967 in Monaco aged 31 years.

10/5/1985, Antoine Branca dies.

Toni Branca was a Swiss amateur who, legend has it, financed his motor racing thanks to the donations of an admiring Belgian countess. He made his Formula 1 debut in 1950 at the wheel of a Scuderia Achille Varzi Maserati at the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten in 1950 and raced again at the non-championship GP des Nations in Geneva. That year he also raced in an F2 Simca-Gordini and led the race in Geneva. His only major finish was fourth at Aix-les-Bains. He raced again in the Belgian GP and the following year reappeared in a privately-run Maserati at the German GP. He was sixth in the non-championship Pescara GP but had little success in F2 and he disappeared from racing at the end of the 1951 season.

Born: 15th of September 1916 in Stalden, Switzerland;
Died: 10th of May 1985 in Sierre, Switzerland, aged 68 years

10/5/1963, Gianfranco Comotti dies.

Franco Comotti was prewar racer who won the 1933 Naples Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo and the 1937 Tourist Trophy at Donington Park in a Talbot, Comotti returned to the sport after the war, competing in the 1950 Italian GP and 1952 French GP, before retiring from a racing career that spanned three decades. He later worked for British Petroleum in Europe.

Born: 24th of July 1906 in Brescia, Italy;
Died: 10th of May 1963 in Bergamo, Italy, aged 56.

10/5/1977, Nick Heidfeld is born in Mönchengladbach.

A Mercedes-Benz protegé since junior formulae and 1999 Formula 3000 champion, Heidfeld’s debut in Formula 1 came in 2000 with the Prost Grand Prix. He signed a three-year deal with Sauber and stayed with the team until the end of 2003 when he moved on to the struggling Jordan team. However support from BMW helped him to win the second Williams seat in 2005. He did well, finishing second at Monaco and the Nürburgring, and at the end of the year was signed to drive for the BMW Sauber operation from 2006 on.

10/5/1914 John Martin James is born in in Packwood, UK.

John James raced an ex-Reg Parnell Maserati 4CLT/48 in the 1951 British Grand Prix at Silverstone as an amateur racer. He later drove it to a couple of top ten finishes at Goodwood, before regulation changes rendered it legal for Formula Libre events only. James retired from the sport in 1952.

Born: 10th of May 1914 in Packwood, UK;
Died: 17th of January 2002 in St Julian’s, Malta, aged 87.

21/10/1932, 75 years ago, Cesare Perdisa is born.

Cesare made his mark driving a Maserati T200S sports car in 1954. He went on to drive for the Maserati and Ferrari works teams.

Born: 21st of October 1932 in Bologna, Italy;
Died: 10th of May 1998 in Bologna, Italy, aged 65.