Michele Alboreto

Name: Michele Alboreto

Nationality: Italy

Date of birth: December 23, 1956 - Milan

Date of death: April 25, 2001 - Germany

A more talented and rounded performer than many tend to recall, Michele Alboreto joined Ferrari at the start of the 1984 season in the hope that he would become Italy's first World Champion since Alberto Ascari 31 years earlier. And he very nearly pulled it off. In 1985, this was the man who carried the battle against Alain Prost for the title through to September of that year with a run of skillful performances in the scarlet Italian cars.

Michele's F1 career began with Tyrrell in 1981 and the following year he scored a well-judged win in the Las Vegas GP, backing that up in 1983 with victory through the streets of Detroit in what turned out to be the Tyrrell team's last ever win. His switch to Ferrari heralded that glorious summer of 1985 which saw him lead the Drivers' Championship points table for much of the summer. But in his three remaining seasons at Ferrari he failed to win another race. After he left Maranello at the end of 1988, a downward spiral back through the Tyrrell, Larrousse and Footwork teams saw him reduced to driving for Minardi in 1994, his final F1 season.

Alboreto then embarked on a career in sportscars and in 1997 won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen in a TWR-run Porsche.

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