From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian.
When one thinks of the outstanding drivers of the 1950s the names of Moss and Fangio come readily to mind but there is a third name that should be added to that select band - that of Alberto Ascari.
If ever a driver had motor racing in his blood it was Alberto. For his father, Antonio Ascari, had been one of the greats of the pre-war era. Extremely superstitious, Alberto had a powerful stocky build and started his motorsport career in 1936 racing motorbikes before graduating to cars in the 1940 Mille Miglia. However, it wasn't until after the second World War that he began to build a name for himself driving a Maserati with his friend Luigi Villoresi around the period when the great Tazio Nuvolari retired.
For the 1949 season Alberto signed a contract to race for the newly-emerging Ferrari team which led to his first Grand Prix win in Switzerland driving one of the new supercharged 1500cc Ferrari 125Cs. In the following year the World Championship was created and Alberto took a further two victories at Nurburgring and Monza in the Ferrari 375F1. With these wins, and as an Italian driver in an Italian car, Alberto became the great hero of the Italian public. His popularity reached undreamt of heights in 1952 and 1953 when he took no less than nine successive grand prix wins becoming the first double world champion in the process.
A move to Lancia in 1954 proved frustrating. Lured there by the prospect of driving the innovative Lancia D50 it was not until near the very end of the 1954 season that the car "came good" and could challenge for overall victory. The 1955 season started well enough with some promising results in several non-championship events which seemed to indicate that the Lancia D50 was over its development problems and all looked set for a good race at Monaco on May 22nd.
Following its 1954 successes Mercedes Benz were the firm favourites for the race and initially Moss and Fangio built up a good lead over Alberto. But by lap 50 Fangio was out, the victim of blocked valves. On lap 81 Moss was also gone with the very same problem!
Trintignant, in what was now second place, turned up the pressure on Alberto who was unaware as he tackled the chicane on the 81st lap that he was now leading. On the approach to the chicane, Alberto locked up a wheel on oil left by Moss's Mercedes Benz, causing him to spin, ploughing through the fencing and plunging into the harbour. Within seconds, Alberto came to the surface and was rescued by frogmen positioned there for just such an eventuality. Incredibly, his only injuries were scratches to his face and right thigh. Amidst all of this excitement Trintignant took what was to be only the second victory of his F1 career.
Four days later, Alberto was invited by his friend Eugenio Castellotti to accompany him to Monza where he was due to test a 750 Monza Ferrari. Unplanned, Alberto borrowed a helmet, gloves and goggles from Castellotti and took the Ferrari out for a few 'slow' laps saying "It's always better to get straight back into a car after an accident, isn't it?" On his third lap the Ferrari rolled, throwing it's driver out. Horrified onlookers found Alberto lying on the grass with multiple injuries. He was to die in the arm of his friend Villoresi in the ambulance taking him to hospital.
The death of Alberto Ascari stunned Italy and was one of the reasons Ferrari declined to hire Italian drivers for his team in the future. Alberto, rarely mentioned today in the same breath as Moss and Fangio, was nevertheless a modest and courageous driver who was gifted with uncommon skills behind the wheel.