The last Ferrari driver to win the Italian GP at home set an amazing F1 record before being let go.
Ludovico Scarfiotti made history by becoming the first Italian Ferrari driver to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza since the legendary Alberto Ascari, 14 years earlier. Surprisingly, he was dropped from the team for the next race.
Formula 1 had stopped racing on Monza’s oval track after a tragic accident in 1961, when Ferrari’s Wolfgang von Trips and 15 spectators lost their lives. Since then, Ferrari had only won one of the four races held on the shorter circuit version.
In 1964, Scarfiotti took part in his first Italian Grand Prix. Starting in 16th place, he finished ninth, helped by many other drivers retiring from the race. Meanwhile, his teammate John Surtees took the win.
Both Scarfiotti and Surtees would play important roles in the 1966 season. Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini started the year driving for Ferrari, but Surtees left the team after a disagreement about the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. He was supposed to share driving duties with Scarfiotti, but on race day, team manager Eugenio Dragoni switched their roles, putting Scarfiotti in the first stint, which upset Surtees. After talks with Enzo Ferrari didn’t solve the problem, Surtees quit.
By the time the Italian Grand Prix rolled around in 1966, Ferrari was still chasing its first win that season. Bandini’s best results had been sixth place, and the team had skipped the previous race because of a strike in Italy. Mike Parkes had shown speed by taking pole position at Monza, ahead of Scarfiotti.
When the race started, Bandini made a fantastic jump from fifth to lead on the first lap, with Parkes close behind – a dream moment for Enzo Ferrari himself. For Ferrari, winning that race had become very important, especially with Jack Brabham close to winning the Drivers’ Championship.
Scarfiotti dropped to seventh early on but moved up after Bandini had engine trouble. He passed Surtees and Denny Hulme to reach second place behind Parkes, who was a skilled engineer and driver. Parkes had joined Ferrari in 1963 mainly for sports cars and had some big wins, and he was seen as a good replacement for Surtees when he left.
Though Parkes was technically experienced, the team wanted an Italian driver to win the race. Scarfiotti took the lead on lap 13 and held off challenges from Hulme and Surtees, helped by Bandini, who was several laps behind but played his part to protect the lead.
In the end, Scarfiotti won by almost six seconds. This victory was special – an Italian driving a Ferrari to win the Italian Grand Prix in front of the passionate home crowd and Enzo Ferrari himself. To this day, no other Italian has won the race for Ferrari since. Plus, it was the fastest F1 race ever at the time, with an average speed of about 137 mph (220 km/h).
Interesting enough, Scarfiotti drove Ferrari’s spare car, chassis number 011, which hadn’t been used earlier that season.
Sadly, this race turned out to be Scarfiotti’s last Grand Prix of the 1966 season. Ferrari only entered Bandini for the next race in the United States, withdrawing Scarfiotti’s car for reasons that weren’t made clear.
Scarfiotti returned in 1967, competing in two races with a best finish of sixth. At Monza, driving for the Anglo American Racers team, he retired early due to engine trouble. In 1968, he switched to Cooper and raced in three more GPs, finishing fourth twice. The Monaco Grand Prix was his last race before being tragically killed just 12 days later in a hillclimb accident in the German Alps.
Despite the ups and downs of his career, Scarfiotti’s win at Monza remains a proud moment in Ferrari’s history and for Italian motorsport fans everywhere.