Cesare Perdisa (21 October 1932 – 10 May 1998) was an Italian racing driver from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. He participated in eight

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, ...

World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 22 May 1955. He achieved two podiums and scored a total of five championship points. Significantly younger than the majority of the drivers around at the time, Perdisa often gave his car to his more experienced teammates when they encountered troubles. This happened, for example, on the 11th lap of the

1956 Belgian Grand Prix The 1956 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 June 1956 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 4 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers. After the first day of practice on Thursday, Fangio was on pole with a time almost 5 ...

, when Stirling Moss lost the right rear wheel of his Maserati. Moss brought his car to a stop and ran a quarter of a mile back to the pits where he took over Perdisa's Maserati, which he drove to the finish. In March 1957 Perdisa withdrew from the upcoming 12 Hours of Sebring after the death of his teammate

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 ...

. Castellotti died at the

Modena Autodrome Autodromo di Modena (or Aerautodromo di Modena) was a race track on the edge of Modena in Italy. The track had a length of . It was opened in 1950 and the circuit was crossed by an airstrip of about in length which was used by the local flying cl ...

when he crashed a Ferrari he was testing for the event. Although Perdisa initially claimed he was giving up racing only temporarily because of the shock he experienced when Castellotti died, he subsequently retired for good.''Italian Out Of Race'', New York Times, 17 March 1957, Page S4. Perdisa was Castellotti's closest friend. Shortly after his retirement, Perdisa hit the news again in September 1957 when he rushed Juan Manuel Fangio and his wife, Andrea, to a hospital in Bologna. The couple had been thrown from their 2.5 litre Lancia Aurelia while trying to avoid a truck entering the highway. Travelling at close to 100 mph, Fangio's car had smashed into a utility pole, although he and his wife only sustained bruises. Following his retirement, Perdisa and his brother Sergio edited the official magazine of Calderini Agricole, the largest company in Italy specialised in agriculture.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) :''* Indicates shared drive with Jean Behra'' :''† Indicates shared drive with Stirling Moss'' :''‡ Indicates shared drive with Peter Collins and

Wolfgang von Trips Wolfgang Alexander Albert Eduard Maximilian Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips (; 4 May 1928 – 10 September 1961), also known simply as Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and nicknamed 'Taffy' by friends and fellow racers, was a German racing driver. He ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perdisa, Cesare 1932 births 1998 deaths Italian racing drivers Italian Formula One drivers Maserati Formula One drivers Ferrari Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Bologna