Felice Bonetto (9 June 1903 in
Manerbio
Manerbio (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the ...
, near
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
– 21 November 1953 in
Silao
Silao (), officially Silao de la Victoria, is a city in the west-central part of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico. It is the seat of the municipality with the same name. As of the 2005 census, the city had a population of 147,123, making it th ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
) was a courageous
racing driver who earned the nickname ''Il Pirata'' (The Pirate).
He was a road racing legend, who started racing in the 1930s, and enjoyed a brief Formula One career, including a win in the non-Championship
Grande Premio do Jubileu in 1953. During his
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
career, he raced Italian cars, starting with a privateer
Maserati for
Scuderia Milano
Scuderia Milano was an Italian Formula One motor racing team founded in Milan by Arialdo and Emilio Ruggeri, two brothers who had raced Maseratis in the early post-war period. The team scored two World Championship points on its debut, when Feli ...
, then the works
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...
, and finally the works
Maserati, achieving two shared podiums finishes in the World Championship. His greatest successes were in
sport cars, winner of the 1952
Targa Florio
The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...
, but his career and life were cut short when he fatally crashed into a lamp post in the
1953 Carrera Panamericana
The 1953 Carrera Panamericana was the fourth running of the Carrera Panamericana Mexican sports car racing event, and the first edition as a part of the World Sportscar Championship. The race took place from 19–23 November, and was run from Tuxt ...
whilst leading.
Career
Debut and early career
Felice Bonetto was born in Manerbio, which in the province of Brescia, the home of the
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...
. Despite that, he began to race, very young, on motor bikes. The switch to four wheels came very late to modern standards; he, in fact, already 28 when he participated in the Bobbio-Penice, with a
Bugatti. Despite having to make do with cars that not always competitive, but the results were not lacking. In 1933, Bonetto was third in the infamous Gran Premio di Monza with an
Alfa Romeo 8C 2600. The race will always be remembered as the ''Black Day of Monza'', when three of Europe's greatest racing drivers crashed fatally within a few hours of each other:
Giuseppe Campari
Giuseppe Campari (8 June 1892 – 10 September 1933) was an Italian opera singer and Grand Prix motor racing driver.
Racing career
Born near the city of Lodi southwest of Milan, as a teenager he went to work for the Alfa Romeo automobile compa ...
,
Mario-Umberto Borzacchini and
Count Stanisław Czaykowski. He also finished second in the Coppa Principessa di Piemonte. A year later he came twelfth in the
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...
, but he obtained his greatest success after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. After the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
abruptly ended his career, as well as that of his colleagues of the time. Bonetto resumed his racing in 1946 with the small
Cisitalia
Cisitalia was an Italian sports and racing car brand. The name "Cisitalia" derives from "Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia", a business conglomerate founded in Turin in 1946 and controlled by the wealthy industrialist and sportsman Piero Dusio ...
, before moving into Formula One.
Formula One
Although Bonetto had raced Formula One cars before, he made his World Championship F1 debut in the
1950 Swiss Grand Prix
The 1950 Swiss Grand Prix, formally titled the ''Großer Preis der Schweiz für Automobile'', was a Formula One motor race held on 4 June 1950 at Bremgarten. It was race four of seven in the 1950 World Championship of Drivers. The 42-lap race was ...
. He was five days short of his 47th birthday. He entered his own
Maserati 4CLT
The Maserati 4CL and its derived sister model the Maserati 4CLT are single-seat open-wheel Grand Prix racing cars that were designed and built by Maserati. The 4CL was introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season, as a rival to the Alfa Rome ...
in several Grands Prix, under the
Scuderia Milano
Scuderia Milano was an Italian Formula One motor racing team founded in Milan by Arialdo and Emilio Ruggeri, two brothers who had raced Maseratis in the early post-war period. The team scored two World Championship points on its debut, when Feli ...
banner, and drove a works
Alfa Romeo SpA in 1951, as their number three driver. He shared a third, with
Giuseppe Farina
Emilio Giuseppe Farina, also known as Giuseppe Antonio "Nino" Farina, (; 30 October 1906 – 30 June 1966) was an Italian racing driver and first official Formula One World Champion. He gained the title in 1950. He was the Italian Champion in ...
in the
Gran Premio d'Italia
The Gran Premio d'Italia is a Listed flat horse race in Italy open to three-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Milan over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
History
The event was ...
. A move to sports cars followed, but he returned to Formula One at the end of 1952 and had a good season in the
Officine Alfieri Maserati in 1953, with a visit to the podium, when he again shared a third-place finish in the
Grote Prijs van Nederland. This time partnered by
José Froilán González
José Froilán González (October 5, 1922 – June 15, 2013) was an Argentine racing driver, particularly notable for scoring Ferrari's first win in a Formula One World Championship race at the 1951 British Grand Prix. He made his Formula One ...
. Away from the World Championship, Bonetto did have some success; he was second in the 1949 in the
Gran Premio di Napoli in a Ferrari.
Ace of sport
![1950-04-23 Mille Miglia Alfa Romeo 412 Bonetto Casnaghi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/1950-04-23_Mille_Miglia_Alfa_Romeo_412_Bonetto_Casnaghi.jpg)
More than F1, however, Bonetto had greater success in sports cars. He won the 1947 Circuito de Firenze driving a
Delage 3000. In 1949 he was second in the Mille Miglia, behind
Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti (18 October 1898 – 24 February 1955) was an Italian auto racing driver. Born into a working-class family, Biondetti raced motorcycles before turning to automobiles where he had greater success.
Biography
Born in Buddusò, S ...
, both drove a
Ferrari 166 MM Touring for
Scuderia Ferrari, and in 1950 he won the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb in an
Osca and the Gran Premio di Oporto in his own Alfa Romeo. The following season, he drove for Alfa Romeo's new 1900TI model to class victory in the Giro di Sicilia. Then for 1952, he moved to
Scuderia Lancia, and at the wheel of a
Lancia Aurelia B20, he finished second on the Giro di Sicilia. He followed this with a sixth place in the Preis von Bremgarten and an eighth in the
les 24 Heures du Mans, and finally a great win in the
Targa Florio
The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...
. He continued with the Scuderia Lancia outfit for 1953; claiming third in the
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...
, second in the Gran Premio di Monza, victory in the
Grande Premio do Jubileu at the
Circuito de Monsanto
The Circuito de Monsanto, or Monsanto Park Circuit, was a race track in Monsanto Forest Park, near Lisbon, Portugal which hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Built on parklands, the circuit was considered difficult to drive because it crossed so ...
and he became part of the squadron deployed to the
Carrera Panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan ( stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, i ...
: his teammates for the race were
Juan Manuel Fangio,
Piero Taruffi
Piero Taruffi (12 October 1906 – 12 January 1988) was a racing driver from Italy.
Sports car career
Taruffi began his motorsport career racing motorcycles. He won the 1932 500cc European Championship on a Norton and in 1937 set the motorcycle ...
,
Giovanni Bracco
Giovanni Bracco (6 June 1908 at Biella – 7 August 1968 at Biella) was an Italian racing car driver.
He lived in Biella, home town of other racing aces such as Mario Porrino and Lamberto Grolla. Before and after World War II he had been racing ...
and
Eugenio Castellotti
Eugenio Castellotti (10 October 1930 – 14 March 1957) was a Formula One driver from Italy.
Driving career
Castellotti was born in Lodi, Italy. He acquired a Ferrari at the age of twenty, from a local benefactor, and began racing sports cars ...
.
Death
The
Carrera Panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan ( stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, i ...
, a notoriously dangerous and difficult public road rally in Mexico that took place over 6 days from one end of the North American country to the other, covering a distance of 2,000 miles (3,200 km). It was the last round of the 1953 World Sportscar Championship, and the race started on 19 November 1953, from
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Tuxtla Gutiérrez (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, the most developed and populated in the state. A busy government, commercial and servic ...
; Bonetto won the first stage, in front of his teammates Taruffi, Fangio and Castellotti. Taruffi would win the next two stages, although Bonetto remained in control. The third day of competition, Bonetto and Taruffi were close and continued to duel with each other; the second stage of the day, however, Taruffi went off the road in the foggy area before the small town of Silao, about 25 miles from
León, damaging the steering of his Lancia. In the same locality, Bonetto crashed his Lancia against the balcony of a house, ending up against a pole. Bonetto hit his head on the balcony at speed and was killed instantly. Prior to the event, Bonetto with Taruffi and other Italian drivers reportedly marked dangerous corners along the route with blue signs. His accident happened at one of those locations – despite this care in marking the corners, Felice would take a 60 mph corner at 125 mph.
After Bonetto's death, team owner
Gianni Lancia
Gianni Lancia (16 November 1924 – 30 June 2014) was an Italian automobile engineer, industrialist and racing enthusiast, known for running the Lancia carmaker in Turin (1949–55). Born in Fobello (near Biella), he was the older son of Vince ...
wanted to withdraw his cars from the race, but the surviving drivers decided to keep on racing in honour of their teammate. Fangio, Taruffi and Castellotti led to the finish giving Lancia first three places, but it was a success that was not rejoiced, as besides Bonetto the race also claimed the lives of fellow Italian drivers,
Antonio Stagnoli
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
and
Giuseppe Scotuzzi, as well as six spectators. Bonetto is buried in the
Cimitero Italiano section of the
Panteón Civil de Dolores, México City.
Bonetto family in the automotive world
The contribution of the Bonetto family to the automotive world did not end with the death of Bonetto. The nephew, Rodolfo Bonetto, was a leading figure in the field of Italian architecture and industrial design. Rodolfo's son, Marco, continued in this field as chairman of Bonetto Design. As for Felice's own son, Roberto Bonetto has dedicated his career to journalism, to become deputy editor of
Quattroruote
''Quattroruote'' (English: ''Four Wheels'') is an Italian automobile magazine established by the Marchigian entrepreneur Gianni Mazzocchi in February 1956. Among its regular features it includes information on used car prices.
History and profil ...
.
Racing record
Career highlights
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key)
Notes
‡ ''Shared drive with José Froilán González''
† ''Shared drive with Juan Manuel Fangio''
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete Mille Miglia results
Complete Carrera Panamericana results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonetto, Felice
1903 births
1953 deaths
Italian racing drivers
Italian Formula One drivers
Scuderia Milano Formula One drivers
Alfa Romeo Formula One drivers
Maserati Formula One drivers
Racing drivers who died while racing
Sport deaths in Mexico
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Mille Miglia drivers
Carrera Panamericana drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers