Michele Alboreto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Milan, Italy |
23 December 1956||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 25 April 2001 Klettwitz, Germany |
(aged 44)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Formula One World Championship career | |
---|---|
Active years | 1981–1994 |
Teams | Tyrrell, Ferrari, Larrousse, Arrows, Footwork, Scuderia Italia, Minardi |
Entries | 215 (194 starts) |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 5 |
Podiums | 23 |
Career points | 186.5 |
Pole positions | 2 |
Fastest laps | 5 |
First entry | 1981 San Marino Grand Prix |
First win | 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix |
Last win | 1985 German Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1994 Australian Grand Prix |
24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
---|---|
Participating years | 1981–1983, 1996–2000 |
Teams | Martini Racing, Joest Racing, Porsche AG, Audi Sport Team Joest |
Best finish | 1st (1997) |
Class wins | 1 (1997) |
Michele Alboreto (23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver. He is famous for finishing runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races. Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, most notably his five seasons (1984–88) driving for Ferrari.
The Italian's career in motorsport began in 1976, racing a car he and a number of his friends had built in the Formula Monza series. The car, however, achieved very little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three. Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for the Italian's entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team.
Two wins, the first in the final round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas, and the second a year later in Detroit, earned him a place with the Ferrari team. Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by 20 points. The following three seasons were less successful however and at the end of the 1988 campaign, the Italian left Ferrari and re-signed with his former employers Tyrrell, where he stayed until joining Larrousse mid-way through 1989.