Lorenzo Bandini showed his promise by finishing on the podium in his first world championship race as a Ferrari driver around the demanding Monaco circuit. Tragically, he lost his life in a terrible crash in the same race five years later.
He reached F1 after successes with Scuderia Centro Sud, mostly in non-championship races. After three starts for Ferrari in 1962 he returned as a regular the following year, but it was a turbulent time for the team following the departure of several top staff.
In 1964 the ship was steadied and Bandini took the opportunity to learn from experienced team mate John Surtees, who won the championship that year. Bandini also took his first and only win at the car-wrecking Zeltweg track when several of the top drivers dropped out.
Ferrari team manager Eugenio Dragoni championed Bandini’s cause perhaps too strongly, prompting Surtees to leave the team after the car he preferred was given to his team mate in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix.
Following the change in engine formula from 1.5-litres to three, Ferrari were competitive again. But Bandini, now the team leader, was frustrated by technical problems which denied him potential wins in France and Italy.
The next season began at Monaco and Bandini took the lead early on. He was passed by Denny Hulme,however, and trying to chase the Brabham down Bandini made a mistake at the chicane and crashed, the car erupting into flames. He suffered severe burns, to which he succumbed three days later.