Michele Alboreto (Italian pronunciation: [miˈkɛːle alboˈreːto]; 23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1981 to 1994. Alboreto was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1985 with Ferrari, and won five Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing, Alboreto won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 with Joest, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2001 with Audi.
Alboreto's career in motorsport began in 1976, racing a car he and a number of his friends had built in the Formula Monza series. The car, however, achieved very little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three. Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for his entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team.
Two wins, the first in the final round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas, and the second a year later in Detroit, earned Alboreto a place with the Ferrari team. Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by twenty points. The following three seasons were less successful, however, and at the end of the 1988 season, the Italian left Ferrari and re-signed with his former employers Tyrrell, where he stayed until joining Larrousse midway through 1989.
Further seasons with Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi followed during the tail end of his F1 career. In 1995, Alboreto moved on to sportscars and a year later the American IndyCar series. He took his final major victories, the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours and 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, with German manufacturers Porsche and Audi, respectively. In 2001, a month after his Sebring victory, he was killed testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
Alboreto started his career in 1976 racing in Formula Monza with a car he and his friends built, known as the "CMR". The car itself proved to be uncompetitive and in 1978 Alboreto, now in a more competitive March, moved over to Formula Italia where he began to take race wins. Two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three, racing in a Euroracing-entered March-Toyota in both the European and Italian series. In his début Formula Three season, Alboreto finished 6th and 2nd respectively in the two championships, scoring three wins in the Italian series.
In 1980, Alboreto took the European crown and finished third in the Italian championship, taking five wins between the two series. An appearance in the British Championship was also made that year.
Alboreto's European title earned Alboreto a move into Formula Two, a feeder series for Formula One, with the Minardi team. He scored Minardi's only F2 victory, at Misano, during the 1981 season where he finished eighth in the championship.
Despite his career in open wheel racing, Alboreto was chosen by Lancia to be part of their official squad in the World Championship for Makes, running in rounds which did not conflict with his other races. He shared the Group 5 category Lancia Beta Montecarlo with Walter Röhrl or Eddie Cheever on four occasions during the 1980 season, scoring three second-place finishes and a fourth.
Alboreto again ran a partial schedule in 1981 even though he was also running Formula Two and Formula One. This season included his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He earned an eighth-place finish overall, second in class, and was the highest-finishing Lancia. He followed this with his first win in the championship, at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen with co-driver Riccardo Patrese. Alboreto finished the year 52nd in the Drivers' Championship, the highest-ranked Lancia driver.
When Lancia chose to move to a new class of competition with the Lancia LC1 as the championship concentrated solely on endurance races in 1982, further success came for Alboreto. A small schedule for the championship, as well as an emphasis on European circuits, allowed him to compete in every race that year. Although the LC1 suffered from mechanical problems on its debut, Alboreto and teammate Patrese were able to rebound to earn a victory at the 1000 km of Silverstone. Teo Fabi joined the duo for the 1000 km of the Nürburgring, where they once again earned a victory. He was not able to repeat his previous success at Le Mans when the LC1's engine failed, and was unable to complete an event at Spa when the car broke in the closing laps. A third victory was earned by Alboreto and new teammate Piercarlo Ghinzani at their home circuit, Mugello. The final two races of the World Championship season had Alboreto's car eliminated from contention due to accidents. At the end of the season, he had secured fifth in the Drivers' Championship.
Lancia changed classes and cars once again in 1983 World Sportscar Championship season, but Alboreto remained as one of the team's primary drivers. He brought the new Lancia LC2 to a ninth-place finish in its debut at the 1000 km of Monza, but the new car struggled to finish the next few races of the season. His entries would not finish another race until round five, where he earned eleventh. While Lancia chose to skip later rounds of the championship, he would not return to the team in order to concentrate fully on his commitments to Formula One. His troubles with the LC2 and early departure from the team earned him only two points in the championship.
At the age of 24, Alboreto made his Formula One debut at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix for the Cosworth-powered Tyrrell Racing team, replacing Ricardo Zunino after the Argentine failed to impress team boss Ken Tyrrell. Unfortunately for the Italian, a collision with fellow countryman Beppe Gabbiani put him out of the race after completing 31 of the 60 laps. Alboreto failed to score a single point during his debut year, his highest position being ninth at the Dutch Grand Prix.
In comparison to the previous season, Alboreto had a more successful 1982 campaign. The Italian took the first podium of his Grand Prix career at Imola and, at the final round in Las Vegas, Alboreto took his first Grand Prix win. He is the last winner of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix as the following year, the track was axed from the calendar. Alboreto scored a total of 25 points during his second season of F1, finishing as the top Italian in eighth place overall.
Despite a win in Detroit, registered as not only the last victory for a naturally aspirated car until the end of the turbo-era in 1989, but the 155th and last F1 victory for the Cosworth DFV (technically Alboreto's Tyrrell carried the DFV's 1983 development, the DFY), after Nelson Piquet's leading Brabham suffered a rear tyre deflation in the closing stages, Alboreto failed to finish in the points consistently and, with only one further points finish at Zandvoort, he finished the season with ten points and down in twelfth position. However, it was announced that the Italian would partner René Arnoux at Ferrari. Replacing Patrick Tambay, he became the first Italian driver to race for the marque since Arturo Merzario in 1973. Allegedly, by signing Alboreto, Enzo Ferrari broke his own personal rule about hiring an Italian driver for his Formula One team.
In his debut season for Ferrari, Alboreto took victory in the third round at Zolder becoming the first Italian driver to win an F1 Grand Prix for Ferrari since Ludovico Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. He finished on the podium a further three times: at the Österreichring where he finished third; Ferrari's home circuit of Monza where he finished second; and at the Nürburgring, where he also finished in second place despite running out of fuel going into the final turn (the close following Brabham-BMW of reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet also ran out of fuel at the final turn allowing Alboreto to keep his 2nd place). Alboreto finished the 1984 season in fourth with 30.5 points, the half point coming from his sixth place at the Monaco Grand Prix which was cut to under half its original race distance due to heavy rain, resulting in half points being awarded.