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ALBORETO, MICHELE
12/23/1956, Milan, Italy
Deceased: 04/25/2001, Lausitzring, Germany
Starts: 194
Points: 186.5
Wins: 5
Poles: 2
Fastest Laps: 5
(c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000
Michele Alboreto was not your typical Italian driver. He was pretty calm and polished, and seemed destined for bigger things in the mid eighties. However, by the end of the decade his light was fading fast. Alboreto did all the things expected of a driver on the way up, including Italian and European F3, both championships he bagged with some ease. By 1981 he was in Formula 2, driving for Minardi and managed to win the team’s single F-2 race, in Misano. During the course of the year he had been signed up by Tyrrell. That first GP year was pretty much a learning curve. The 010 was not a very fast car, and even experienced lead driver Cheever did not score that many points. So Alboreto’s first season yielded a best of 9th in Holland, and no points. 1982 was a different thing. The 011 was a better car, and Alboreto showed confidence in his mount, finishing 7th the first time out and scoring in the next straight races, including the Imola fiasco. There was a mid year slump, but by France the car was back in the points, culminating with a maiden victory in the Caesars Palace parking lot as well as Fastest Lap. By 1983, normally aspirated cars were having a severely tough time being competitive against the turbos, so it is not that surprising that Alboreto did not record as many points as in 1982. However, he did score a brilliant victory in the streets of Detroit, one of two race tracks in which he qualified in the top ten. This was enough to motivate Ferrari to hire an Italian, something the Scuderia had not done for a few years. Michele was competitive from the onset, and won for Ferrari the 3rd time out, in Belgium, where he also had a pole. However, this was McLaren’s year, and Michele finished 5th in the Championship. In 1985 Alboreto seemed more confident, and scored pole in Brazil, and second place in the race. In the first six races of the year he had scored 5 podiums, including a win in Canada. He seemed well positioned to challenged for the championship until the Dutch round. Ferrari performance dropped from that point on, and Alboreto retired from the last five races, leaving the championship wide open to Prost and McLaren. 1986 was a tough year. Ferrari was nowhere as competitive as in 1985, and many times Alboreto did not qualify in the top ten. The best he mustered was 2nd in Austria, albeit one lap behind. To make matters worse, a stronger teammate was hired by Ferrari for 1987, Gerhard Berger. The car qualified better, but reliability was appalling. Alboreto retired 8 straight times midseason, and scored three podiums, for a total of four points paying positions. Strangely enough, Alboreto continued at Ferrari for the next year, where at least on paper he would have a better chance of doing well. Berger proved the new Ferrari was a winning proposition in the latter races of 1987, and Ferrari was considered one of two best teams. Not only that, Williams, which was way better than the competition in the last two years, would not have turbo engines for that season. However, McLaren simply destroyed the opposition, and Berger was obviously Ferrari’s top dog. Alboreto still managed a 2nd in Italy, with fastest lap, but was shown the door at the end of the year. He went back to Tyrrell in 1989, and did very well in Monaco and Mexico, however, tobacco sponsorship clashes meant Michele would need to find another team. So he was hired by the weak Larrousse team, but he managed to at least qualify the car, something that was an achievement in the 40 car entries of 1989. He was hired by Arrows for the 1990 season, but Arrows being Arrows, the car was mostly uncompetitive. For 1991, Alboreto and all were hedging their bets on the new Porsche engine. It should be mentioned that McLaren won three championships with the TAG engine, which was made by Porsche, so it was expected that Stuttgart would turn out something as good or better as the TAG. The V12 engine was heavy and totally uncompetitive, relegating Arrows to the list of DNQs. By France, Alboreto was using Cosworths again, however the situation did not improve much: another scoreless year! Michele was back at Arrows for 1992, and there was a sensible improvement of performance. Incredibly, though Alboreto posted six 7th places, which at the time meant 0 points. He did score on four occasions, with a best 5th place. For 1993 Alboreto was hired by Scuderia Italia, which had secured Ferrari engines for its cars. Unfortunately, this meant very little, and Michele still was the slowest driver on track many times, meaning several other Dnq’s for his curriculum. The end seemed nearer, but Michele had a final season driving for Minardi in 1994. The car was at best midfield material, but Michele scored one final point, in Monaco. By the end of the season he was out of F1. He continued driving, including a disastrous year in the DTM, driving for Alfa Romeo and an inconclusive season driving in the IRL, where he managed one 2nd place. During his F1 career, Alboreto drove sports cars for Lancia for many years, so it was only plausible that eventually he would seek employment in the sports car field, once he was done with F1. So he did, and Joest Porsche contracted him, resulting in a Le Mans win, in 1997. Eventually Alboreto was hired by Audi, the best Sports Car team of the 2000s. Unfortunately, Alboreto died testing one of Audi’s cars at Lausitzring in 2001, before taking a real crack at another Le Mans victory.