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Kimi Antonelli is hoping to become Italy’s first world champion in Formula 1 since Alberto Ascari, the legendary driver whose final race saw him crash into the harbour at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old has become a sensation across Italy this season, after he emerged as a serious contender for the 2026 F1 championship. His maiden victory at the Chinese GP earlier this season marked the first Italian winner in the sport since 2006.
To find the most recent Italian F1 world champion, however, one must go back to the early days of the category, back to the 1950s. Three of the first four world championships went to Italian drivers, but there hasn’t been one since.
Given the length of time that has passed since his title-winning feat, Alberto Ascari is more commonly known to modern F1 fans as the man who turns nine, ten and eleven are named after at the legendary Monza chicane.
However, in his day, Ascari was known for his lightning-fast speed in an F1 car, as well as his superstitious nature. On top of this, the Italian driver is also renowned for being the first F1 driver to crash into Monaco’s famous harbour.
- READ MORE: He is the driver who recorded Ferrari’s worst-ever result but went on to win two F1 championships
Alberto Ascari ended his final F1 race in the harbour at the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix
“Ascari was truly in a league of his own,” F1 journalist Sascha Roos said on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast. “Naturally, there are some of the craziest stories in Formula 1 surrounding him. Ascari was extremely superstitious. His favourite colour was blue.
“He always wore the same helmet – blue – of course, and he firmly believed in certain pre-race rituals. He was terrified of the number 3, for example.”
One of the ‘crazy’ stories that Roos alluded to took place during the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, which, unfortunately, proved to be the Italian’s final race in F1.
As Ascari, who was driving for Lancia that day, chased down race-leader Stirling Moss on lap 80, an engine failure from the Briton’s Mercedes F1 car spewed oil on the track just outside of the tunnel exit.
Unbeknownst to Ascari, he exited from the tunnel at full throttle and lost traction due to the oil spillage, which sent his Lancia flipping over the barriers and into the harbour.
As reported by Roos, “The Lancia sank completely underwater, and for a few seconds everyone thought that was it. The world champion didn’t resurface, but suddenly everyone saw the light blue helmet back on the surface and then, a little later, Ascari too.”
The two-time world champion was then pulled out of the water after sustaining “a few bruises and a broken nose” in the incident, later spending a night in hospital where he was visited by a number of his fellow rivals.
Due to his superstitious nature, many wondered why Ascari hadn’t seen the incident as a bad omen. Just four days later, he would lose his life at Monza while testing a Ferrari sports car in anticipation of a prestigious endurance race at the circuit.
Ascari was never meant to clock in any laps that day, and so he donned his friend’s white helmet for a few rotations. However, he would not make it back into the pits, suffering a fatal crash at the corner that was later renamed in his honour.
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