Lorenzo Bandini - Career

Career

Bandini was born in Barce, Cyrenaica, Libya, then an Italian colony. The family returned to Italy in 1939 and resided near Florence, Italy. When he was 15 his father died. Bandini left home and found a job as an apprentice mechanic in the Freddi workshop in Milan.

He made his way into auto racing from competing on motorcycles. He started racing cars in 1957 in a borrowed Fiat 1100. The wealthy and kindhearted Freddi moulded Bandini's career and assisted him from the start of it.

He achieved a first class victory at the Mille Miglia, in a Lancia Appia Zagato, in 1958, and a class win the same year in the 500cc Berkeley in the 12-hour race at Monza. He then raced in Formula Junior until 1961. Bandini purchased a Volpini Formula Junior car and placed third in his first race in Sicily. In 1959 and 1960 he drove a Formula Junior Stanguellini. In 1960 he placed fourth in the Formula Junior World Championship.

In 1961 Bandini became disappointed when Giancarlo Baghetti, also of Italy, was selected to drive a sponsored Ferrari by the association of Italian motor clubs FISA. However he had the attention of Mimo Dei, the team patron of Scuderia Centro Sud. He was invited to join the Scuderia Centro Sud in Formula One. At a non-championship race, he finished third at Pau. Bandini drove his first world championship race at Spa later in 1961. He retired with engine failure. During the winter of 1961-1962 he drove in the Tasman races in Australia and New Zealand.

The Maranello based Ferrari team's success had declined after the triumphs of Phil Hill and Wolfgang Von Trips in the new rear-engined cars. Hill won the Formula One World Championship in 1961. After Bandini was hired by Ferrari for the 1962 and 1963 seasons, he did fairly well. His debut in a works Ferrari was good one at the Monaco Grand Prix. He placed third.

For 1963 Bandini was retained by Ferrari for sports car races only. Dei once again assisted him by purchasing for him a BRM discarded by Graham Hill. Bandini campaigned the BRM in Scuderia Centro Sud colors.

Bandini, along with Ludovico Scarfiotti, won the Le Mans 24 Hours race for Ferrari in 1963. He again became the number one driver for Ferrari, replacing John Surtees who left in mid-season of 1966. He was unlucky not to win the French and U.S. Grands Prix that year which he dominated before mechanical problems intervened while he was holding a huge lead. Bandini's best finish was a second place at the Monaco Grand Prix in a 2.4 liter V-6 Ferrari behind Jackie Stewart's BRM.

In 1964 Bandini won the first Austrian Grand Prix at the Zeltweg circuit, his only GP win. He also achieved victories for Ferrari in sportscar racing, notably the previously-mentioned 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963, the Targa Florio in 1965, and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967 and the 1,000 km of Monza, both with Chris Amon.

Bandini was married to Margherita Freddi in 1963 and managed a garage owned by his wife's parents in Milan. He resided in Maranello, near the Ferrari headquarters.

During the making of the movie "Grand Prix" directed by John Frankenheimer, Bandini recommended the location at the harbour chicane for a crash scene in the movie filmed at the Monte Carlo circuit. According to actress Eva Marie Saint in "The Making of Grand Prix", this location was ironically the site of his own death in the race one year later.