The Chinese Grand Prix 2026 went down in history for the return of a Italian pilot on the top step of the podium in Formula 1. After having set the absolute record of the youngest poleman at the age of 19 years, 6 months and 18 days (also in Shanghai), Andrea Kimi Antonelli made the Mameli anthem resound twenty years after Giancarlo Fisichella’s last ‘blue’ victory, thus entering the roll of honor of Italians triumphant in F1, which now includes sixteen winners. But who were our compatriots who, before Antonelli, celebrated one or more victories during their careers in the Circus?
From the golden decade to 1975
It undoubtedly deserves a special chapter Alberto Ascari: winner of 13 GPs, the Milanese still holds the record for the Italian with the greatest number of successes in F1, the same ones that allowed him to win two consecutive world titles in 1952 and 1953 (also a record for an Italian). The career of the Turin native was also memorable Giuseppe Farinastill remembered today for being the first poleman, the first winner and the first world champion in the history of Formula 1 in 1950, achieving a total of 5 successes. The 1950s were in fact the golden age of Italian pilots in the Circus, as demonstrated by the other statements of Luigi Fagioli, Piero Taruffi and Luigi Mussoalbeit with one victory each. A ‘trio’ of drivers with only one career success also showed up in the 60sin this case with Giancarlo Baghetti, Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti. The latter, even today, is the last Italian to have won the Italian Grand Prix, with the success dating back to 1966. From the celebration in Monza there was then a wait that lasted almost ten years, ending with the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix, a race that was suspended due to the flood and won by Vittorio Brambillawho after crossing the finish line lost control of the car and collided with the protective barriers.
80s and 90s
Again in Austria, this time in 1982, the dream of his first Formula 1 victory came true Elio De Angeliswho crossed the finish line first with an advantage of just 50 cents over Keke Rosberg, the one who would go on to become world champion that season. The late Roman driver then managed to achieve another career success, this time in Imola, in 1985. Also in 1982, Italy celebrated the victory of one of the most loved drivers as Michele Alboretoin that case on the Caesars Palace street circuit. Returning to the top step of the podium for a second time at the wheel of Tyrrell in 1983, the Milanese achieved three further successes in Ferrari, becoming the last Italian to win with the Red in the 1985 Canadian GP, for a total of five victories in his career. 1982 was a particularly positive year for the ‘Tricolore’, because precisely in that world championship we also witnessed the first career victory of another Italian: rejoicing in Monte Carlo, in one of the GPs that went down in history as one of the most chaotic at the end, was Riccardo Patrese. Between the 1980s and early 1990s, the Paduan achieved a total of six victories, one of which was at Imola in 1990. Despite being officially recognized as the San Marino Grand Prix, the victory was still the last by an Italian driver on Italian soil. The fight for the world title between the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost was resolved amid great controversy in the 1989 Japanese GP, with a contact between the two drivers: while the Frenchman retired due to damage to the car, the Brazilian managed to get back on track also thanks to the help of the stewards. For this reason, Senna was disqualified at the end of the race, with Alessandro Nannini who won his first and only victory.
The 2000s
Also in Suzuka, in 1992, there was Patrese’s last career victory, as well as the last by an Italian driver. We had to wait eleven years, more precisely until the 2003 Brazilian GP, to witness the first career success of Giancarlo Fisichella. In reality, at first, the victory was awarded to Kimi Raikkonen after the race was interrupted due to a violent accident involving Alonso, but the detection of an error in the timing system meant that the victory was subsequently awarded to the Roman driver, then at Jordan. ‘Physicist’ he then won the last two GPs of his career in 2006, in Renault, with a first and only success achieved in the meantime by Jarno Trullialso with Renault, in the 2004 Monte Carlo GP.
