Michele Alboreto

Alboreto started his career in 1976 racing in Formula Monza with a car he and his friends built, known as the "CMR". The car proved uncompetitive, and in 1978, now in a more competitive March, he moved to Formula Italia where he began taking race wins. He then moved up to Formula Three, racing a Euroracing-entered March-Toyota in both the European and Italian series. In his debut Formula Three season he finished sixth and second respectively in the two championships. In 1980, Alboreto took the European crown and finished third in the Italian championship, taking five wins between the two series.

His European title earned a move into Formula Two with the Minardi team. He scored Minardi's only F2 victory, at Misano, during the 1981 season where he finished eighth in the championship.

Alongside his open-wheel career, Alboreto was chosen by Lancia to join their official squad in the World Championship for Makes. He shared the Group 5 Lancia Beta Montecarlo with Walter Röhrl or Eddie Cheever during the 1980 season, scoring three second-place finishes and a fourth.

In 1981 he made his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, earning eighth overall and second in class as the highest-finishing Lancia. He also took his first win in the championship at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, with co-driver Riccardo Patrese.

In 1982, with Lancia moving to the new LC1, Alboreto and Patrese won the 1000 km of Silverstone and the 1000 km of the Nürburgring; a third victory followed with new teammate Piercarlo Ghinzani at Mugello. He secured fifth in the Drivers' Championship that year. In 1983 the team switched to the Lancia LC2, but results were poor and Alboreto departed early to concentrate on Formula One.

At the age of 24, Alboreto made his Formula One debut at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix for the Cosworth-powered Tyrrell team, replacing Ricardo Zunino. A collision with Beppe Gabbiani ended his race after 31 of 60 laps. He failed to score a point during his debut year.

In 1982, Alboreto took the first podium of his Grand Prix career at Imola and, at the final round in Las Vegas, took his first Grand Prix win — the last-ever Caesars Palace Grand Prix. He finished eighth in the championship with 25 points.

Despite a win in Detroit in 1983 — registered as the last victory for a naturally aspirated car before the end of the turbo era in 1989, and the 155th and last F1 victory for the Cosworth DFV (technically the DFY variant) — Alboreto finished only twelfth that season with ten points. However, he was announced as partner to René Arnoux at Ferrari, replacing Patrick Tambay. He became the first Italian driver to race for Ferrari since Arturo Merzario in 1973.

In his debut season for Ferrari, Alboreto took victory at Zolder, becoming the first Italian driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix for Ferrari since Ludovico Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. He finished the 1984 season fourth with 30.5 points, the half-point coming from sixth at Monaco, where the race was stopped early due to heavy rain.

1985 proved to be Alboreto's most successful year. He took two wins: a dominant victory at the Canadian Grand Prix — with new teammate Stefan Johansson finishing second — and the German Grand Prix. Alboreto led the championship table until round 11 at Zandvoort but finished in second place with 53 points, 20 points behind new World Champion Alain Prost. Formula One journalist Nigel Roebuck commented that "Alboreto was Prost's only real challenger for the World Championship." Ferrari's unreliability in the final five races — all of which Alboreto failed to finish due to mechanical failure — cost him the championship. At the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, after stopping for a flat-spotted tyre, his Ferrari's turbo blew and he drove the car back to the pits with the rear on fire, widely interpreted as a protest at the team's unreliability.

In 1986, Ferrari's F1/86, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite, proved slower and less reliable. Alboreto retired from nine races — seven due to mechanical failures — and scored only one podium at the Austrian Grand Prix. He finished ninth in the Drivers' Championship with fourteen points.

Gerhard Berger joined Ferrari in 1987, effectively ending Alboreto's status as team leader. Berger established himself as number-one driver with wins in Japan and Australia, while Alboreto managed only a handful of podiums — at Imola, Monaco, and a second place in Australia — finishing seventh overall with 17 points.

1988 was Alboreto's final year with Ferrari. With McLaren-Hondas of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominating, Ferrari managed only one win, Berger's victory at the Italian Grand Prix with Alboreto second. Ferrari refused to offer him a new contract. Alboreto competed in eighty Grands Prix for Ferrari, a record at the time; it stood until the 1995 Argentine Grand Prix, when it was surpassed by Berger.

Without a drive and contemplating retirement, Alboreto returned to Tyrrell for 1989. Tensions with Ken Tyrrell arose at Monaco when Alboreto was assigned the older 017 while teammate Jonathan Palmer received the new 018, prompting Alboreto to boycott Thursday practice. He finished the race fifth; Palmer ninth. At Mexico, Alboreto finished third — the team's only podium of the season. By the French Grand Prix, Tyrrell had secured Camel cigarette sponsorship and asked Alboreto to drop his personal Marlboro deal; he refused, and Tyrrell replaced him with Jean Alesi. Alboreto then joined the Larrousse team for the German Grand Prix and the rest of the season, finishing eleventh in the championship with six points.

In 1990 Alboreto moved to Arrows, which was in the process of being sold to sponsor Footwork. He finished in the top ten several times but failed to score a point. In 1991, Footwork secured Porsche works engines; the overweight and unreliable units were later replaced by Hart-supplied Cosworth engines, and Alboreto again failed to score. In 1992, with Mugen Honda V10 engines supplied via Footwork's Japanese connections, the reliable FA13 allowed Alboreto to score points four times, finishing the season tenth overall with six points.

For 1993, Alboreto joined Scuderia Italia, which had moved from Dallara-built to Lola-supplied chassis. He failed to score any points and failed to qualify several times before the team withdrew before the season's end. For 1994, he joined Minardi. He achieved only one points finish — sixth at Monaco — before retiring from Grand Prix racing at the end of the year, with a record of 194 starts and five Grand Prix wins.

At the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, overshadowed by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, Alboreto's car lost its right rear wheel leaving the pitlane, which bounced through the Benetton, Ferrari, and Lotus pit areas, injuring several mechanics.

Following his departure from Formula One, Alboreto entered the German Touring Car Championship (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) in 1995, racing for Alfa Romeo's factory team Alfa Corse and finishing 22nd. He also entered the International Touring Car Championship and World Sportscar Championship.

In 1996, Alboreto entered the newly formed Indy Racing League with Scandia/Simon Racing, finishing fourth on debut at Walt Disney World Speedway, eighth at Phoenix International Raceway, and retiring at the Indianapolis 500 with gearbox problems. He also ran sports prototypes for Scandia/Simon in the IMSA World Sports Car Championship with a Ferrari 333 SP, and entered Le Mans in a Joest Racing-entered Porsche WSC-95 alongside Pierluigi Martini and Didier Theys, retiring after 300 laps.

In 1997, Alboreto won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, again in a Joest-entered car, alongside Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen. The trio completed 361 laps, one more than second-placed Gulf Team Davidoff's BMW-powered McLaren F1 GTR. The same year, he was called to testify at the trial following Senna's fatal accident; he told the tribunal that Senna's accident was likely caused by a technical failure rather than a driver error.

Alboreto subsequently recorded a fourth place at the 1999 Le Mans, a third at the 2000 Le Mans, a victory at the 2000 Petit Le Mans, and a win at the 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, all with Audi.

On 25 April 2001, Alboreto was testing an Audi R8 at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz near Dresden in preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. At around 5.30 p.m. local time, the car reached approximately 300 km/h on a straight at the proving ground when its left rear tyre failed. The R8 was launched into the air, somersaulted over the Armco barrier and landed inverted. Alboreto's head struck the ground, killing him instantly. An investigation concluded the tyre failure was caused by a loose screw that had entered the tyre and caused a gradual loss of air pressure. The finding motivated Audi to expedite implementation of a sensor-based TPMS in their racecars.

Fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella dedicated his podium finish at the 2005 Italian Grand Prix to Alboreto, noting he was lucky to have raced alongside him in touring cars. On 28 August 2021, the final corner of the Monza circuit, the Curva Parabolica, was officially renamed the Curva Alboreto during the 2021 Italian Grand Prix weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.

Alboreto's helmet was blue with a yellow stripe with white edges — a tribute to Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson, whose helmet used the same colours to reflect the Swedish flag. Alboreto and Peterson first met in 1972 and were friends until Peterson's death in 1978.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.