Lorenzo Bandini: Monaco 1967
The first video is a touching account of Lorenzo Bandinis fatal race at Monaco in 1967. The clip, which is in Italian with subtitles, features moving interviews with Bandini, his wife and Mother.
Bandini was hired by Enzo Ferrari in 1962, primarily as a sports car gun . He competed in three Grand Prix in ’62, finishing an impressive third at Monaco.
Unfortunately for1963 Bandini was dropped from the Ferrari F1 team, but managed a breakthrough win at Le Mans at the wheel of a Ferrari 250P.
By mid 1966 John Surtees had walked out on Enzo and Bandini suddenly found himself as the F1 team’s number one driver, alongside Mike Parkes and Scarfiotti. He led several Grand Prix, but failed to win and come Monaco 1967 he was under immense pressure.
During the Monaco race he was in fine form, hunting down leader, Kiwi, Denny Hulme when he crashed heavily at the chicane. His beloved Ferrari rolled and caught fire. Bandini had suffered shocking chest injuries, but was trapped in the car when it caught fire and he suffered terrible burns. He died in hospital three days later.
Bandini’s career highlights included victory at Le Mans in 1963, his only Formula One win at The Austrian Grand Prix in 1964, Targa Florio in 1965 and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967. All these wins came driving those lovely red machines from Maranello.
Tags: 1960s, Death and Glory, Drivers, Formula 1, Video
What a nasty way to go.
I have all-too vivid memories of this event for a haunting reason.
Back in the day, my brother and I were mad F1 fans and, before the days of direct telecasts and the internet, we relied on ABC news at 0700 on Monday mornings to catch up with the Grand Prix news from the weekend.
That night I had had a very restless sleep, punctuated by an horrific nightmare that a driver had died in a fiery accident at Monaco. It was so real that it woke me up and I told my brother about it when we were getting ready for school.
At 0700 the news came on with the tragic news of Bandini’s accident. We looked at each other with that “Oh my God” look that is appropriate in that sort of situation. I have no idea how this happened and it has never happened to me again, but some sort of terrible premonition came to me that night and it is as clear to me now as it was 40 odd years ago.
[...] many people Lorenzo Bandini represented the ultimate Italian GP driver with his matinée idol good looks and shock of black [...]