Enzo Ferrari had initially decided against having Italian drivers on his team, but when Lorenzo Bandini unexpectedly won a race in 1964, the Italian was embraced by the Commendatore. Tragically, Bandini died a horrific death three years later during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Firstly, there’s that name. Lorenzo Bandini, with its delightful bouncing rhythm and emphasis on the middle syllable: this young man from Florence, the son of a successful hotel owner, seemed destined for greatness. Interestingly, his cradle was not in Italy, but in Libya, back when the North African country was an Italian colony. Like many young Italians, his parents were encouraged by Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime to settle in overseas territories. However, the outbreak of World War II forced the family to return to Italy. They brought with them an additional passenger: the young Lorenzo, born in 1935.
Bandini’s father was killed in the war, and his mother had to keep the family hotel in Florence running. Lorenzo was taken under the wing of Goliardo Freddi, a garage owner in Florence. With Freddi’s cars, Bandini took his first steps in motor racing. He won his class in the Mille Miglia in 1958 and set his sights on Formula Junior, a racing class wildly popular in Italy. Like many young drivers, Bandini sought to catch the eye of Formula 1 teams. And like many of his compatriots, he dreamed of Ferrari.
‘Ferrari, Murderer!’
In that period, Enzo Ferrari in Maranello had more pressing matters than scouting Italian talent. In 1958, Ferrari drivers Eugenio Castellotti and Luigi Musso were killed in accidents, causing Italy to lose two of its greatest talents. Ferrari driver Peter Collins also died. The British driver, who spoke fluent Italian, had a special bond with Enzo Ferrari, reminding him of his son Dino, who succumbed to leukemia in 1956. Additionally, Ferrari faced a lawsuit following the fatal accident of Alfonso de Portago during the Mille Miglia, which also claimed the lives of nine spectators.
‘Ferrari, murderer!’, the Italian newspapers screamed. They called him ‘the monster that devours its own children’. These words deeply affected the seemingly unflappable Ferrari. But deep down, he yearned for nothing more than to become world champion with an Italian driver at the wheel.
