Luigi Musso

The last of an ill-fated generation of Italian Grand Prix drivers, Musso followed one of his elder brothers into the sport with some less than earth-shattering performances, but he slowly gained experience and, armed with one of the latest Maserati sports cars for 1953, proved almost unbeatable as he sped to the Italian 2-litre championship.

So impressed were Maserati that he shared Mantovani’s car at that year’s Italian GP before racing works sports and Grand Prix machines the following season, when he was again sports car champion of Italy, winning the Circuit of Senigallia, and taking second in the Targa Florio and third in the Mille Miglia. In single-seaters he inherited a win in the Pescara GP, and took a fine second place in the Spanish GP at season’s end. For 1955 Musso undertook another busy schedule of racing, scoring points only at Zandvoort, but taking second places in non-championship races at Syracuse, Bordeaux and Naples. Driving the Maserati T300S in sports car events, his only win came at the Monza Supercortemaggiore race with Behra.

In 1956 Luigi was invited to join the Scuderia Ferrari, and the association began on a high note when he shared the winning car with Fangio in the Argentine GP, following this with a second place in the Syracuse GP. Unfortunately a crash in the Nürburgring 1000 Km left him temporarily sidelined with a broken arm, though he made a contentious comeback at Monza, first refusing to hand his car to the waiting Fangio at a pit stop, then taking the lead of the Italian GP only for his steering to fail after a tyre threw a tread.

Something of a nearly-man, outright success seemed continually to elude the Italian in World Championship races in 1957. He was a runner-up in both France and Britain, as well as in the non-title Syracuse and Modena GPs, though he did at last take a victory at Reims in the GP de Marne. This sequence continued into 1958, when a succession of yet more second places (Argentine GP, Buenos Aires City GP, Buenos Aires 1000 Km and Monaco GP) was broken by victory in the Syracuse GP and the Targa Florio.

After crashing his Ferrari at Spa with tyre failure, Musso arrived at Reims for the French GP determined to make amends, but while he was chasing his team-mate Hawthorn he ran wide on the long Gueux curve at 150 mph. The car ran into a ditch and flipped, killing the driver instantly.