Formatting code for AlboretoMichele
======Alboreto, Michele======
>>**Name:** Alboreto, Michele
**Date of birth:** December 23rd, 1956
**Place of birth:** Milan, Italy
**Died:** April 25th, 2001 (Accident at the Lausitzring)
**Minardi link:** Michele raced 16 time for Minardi during the 1994 season. He secured one point for the Faenza based squad.
**Original article:** Simon Vigar
@@{{image url="http://www.forzaminardi.com/images/content/Alboretomichele.jpg" title="text" alt="text"}}@@<<
Many who first became hooked on Formula One as youngsters in the early eighties remember with fondness the name Michele Alboreto. It echoes through turbocharged memories along with Prost, Lauda, Rosberg, de Angelis and Mansell. The Italian had a long and frustrating career in F1 which ended with Minardi in 1994. Despite the anxieties of friends and family Michele's need for speed kept him racing and he was tragically killed testing a Le Mans car aged 44.
The technical design student started racing his own cars in 1976 and won the European Formula Three title four years later. In 1981 he had his first brush with Minardi in Formula Two. His win at Misano is Minardi's only victory in the category and the same year Michele was promoted to Formula One with Tyrrell. His one-off entry at Imola impressed Ken Tyrrell so much he was given a three year contract. He won his first GP with the British team the following year in Las Vegas and there must have been something about America that agreed with him because victory in Detroit in 1983 was the last for a normally-aspirated engine before the turbo era.
Michele is most famous for his five years with [[Ferrari]] (1984-88) and is the last Italian to have had a decent crack at the title in a scarlet car. After fatalities in the 1950s and 60s Enzo Ferrari famously avoided employing Italian drivers but this time he broke his own rule, "he's a youngster who drives so well and makes few mistakes. He reminds me of Von Trips, who Alboreto resembles even in his educated and serious demeanour". He proved the old man right by winning the Belgian GP in his first year at Maranello, finishing fourth in the championship. In truth Ferrari really wasn't in the same league as McLaren and Williams but Michele still won in Canada and Germany in 1985. It was his best season but he finished runner-up to a man winning the first of four titles, Alain Prost.
Turmoil at Maranello led to a dismal final three years with Ferrari. Michele failed to score another victory as an ailing Enzo oversaw another power-struggle in the design department. Before his death in 1988 he even sacked his own son in the great V12 debate. A few weeks after Ferrari's passing Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto scored an emotional 1-2 for the Scuderia at Monza. It marked the end of Michele's time at Maranello. Nigel Mansell was fed-up with Williams and replaced the Italian. So began a sad, six-year trek down the pitlane for one of the best drivers of his generation. It should be said Michele didn't see it that way and joined each new team with characteristic, some would say blind, optimism.
He thought he had a Williams deal for 1989 but instead ended-up back at Tyrrell. He fell-out with the man who'd given him his break in '81 and after six races switched to Larrousse. Arrows/Footwork and then Scuderia Italia (where he failed to qualify the dreadful car five times) led to a final season with Minardi in 1994. Michele partnered compatriot [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]], the fourth of five seasons when Minardi would field an all-Italian line-up. In a last hurrah Michele scored one point at Monaco before his F1 career finally fizzled out.
He headed off to the German Touring Car series with Alfa Romeo and later proved he could still do the business by winning Le Mans with Porsche in 1997 (with ex-Ferrari team-mate Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen) and coming third with Audi in 2000. It was while testing the Audi R8 at the new Lausitzring facility in eastern Germany in April 2001 that Michele died. The car suffered a tyre failure at high speed and crashed. At the time Michele had been trying to launch a scheme to help young drivers but the irrepressible Italian didn't get a chance to achieve it. However, he had achieved so much in his life before the world of motorsport was robbed of one of its best-loved sons.
//This page belongs to the [[CategoryDrivers drivers]] category.//
>>**Name:** Alboreto, Michele
**Date of birth:** December 23rd, 1956
**Place of birth:** Milan, Italy
**Died:** April 25th, 2001 (Accident at the Lausitzring)
**Minardi link:** Michele raced 16 time for Minardi during the 1994 season. He secured one point for the Faenza based squad.
**Original article:** Simon Vigar
@@{{image url="http://www.forzaminardi.com/images/content/Alboretomichele.jpg" title="text" alt="text"}}@@<<
Many who first became hooked on Formula One as youngsters in the early eighties remember with fondness the name Michele Alboreto. It echoes through turbocharged memories along with Prost, Lauda, Rosberg, de Angelis and Mansell. The Italian had a long and frustrating career in F1 which ended with Minardi in 1994. Despite the anxieties of friends and family Michele's need for speed kept him racing and he was tragically killed testing a Le Mans car aged 44.
The technical design student started racing his own cars in 1976 and won the European Formula Three title four years later. In 1981 he had his first brush with Minardi in Formula Two. His win at Misano is Minardi's only victory in the category and the same year Michele was promoted to Formula One with Tyrrell. His one-off entry at Imola impressed Ken Tyrrell so much he was given a three year contract. He won his first GP with the British team the following year in Las Vegas and there must have been something about America that agreed with him because victory in Detroit in 1983 was the last for a normally-aspirated engine before the turbo era.
Michele is most famous for his five years with [[Ferrari]] (1984-88) and is the last Italian to have had a decent crack at the title in a scarlet car. After fatalities in the 1950s and 60s Enzo Ferrari famously avoided employing Italian drivers but this time he broke his own rule, "he's a youngster who drives so well and makes few mistakes. He reminds me of Von Trips, who Alboreto resembles even in his educated and serious demeanour". He proved the old man right by winning the Belgian GP in his first year at Maranello, finishing fourth in the championship. In truth Ferrari really wasn't in the same league as McLaren and Williams but Michele still won in Canada and Germany in 1985. It was his best season but he finished runner-up to a man winning the first of four titles, Alain Prost.
Turmoil at Maranello led to a dismal final three years with Ferrari. Michele failed to score another victory as an ailing Enzo oversaw another power-struggle in the design department. Before his death in 1988 he even sacked his own son in the great V12 debate. A few weeks after Ferrari's passing Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto scored an emotional 1-2 for the Scuderia at Monza. It marked the end of Michele's time at Maranello. Nigel Mansell was fed-up with Williams and replaced the Italian. So began a sad, six-year trek down the pitlane for one of the best drivers of his generation. It should be said Michele didn't see it that way and joined each new team with characteristic, some would say blind, optimism.
He thought he had a Williams deal for 1989 but instead ended-up back at Tyrrell. He fell-out with the man who'd given him his break in '81 and after six races switched to Larrousse. Arrows/Footwork and then Scuderia Italia (where he failed to qualify the dreadful car five times) led to a final season with Minardi in 1994. Michele partnered compatriot [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]], the fourth of five seasons when Minardi would field an all-Italian line-up. In a last hurrah Michele scored one point at Monaco before his F1 career finally fizzled out.
He headed off to the German Touring Car series with Alfa Romeo and later proved he could still do the business by winning Le Mans with Porsche in 1997 (with ex-Ferrari team-mate Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen) and coming third with Audi in 2000. It was while testing the Audi R8 at the new Lausitzring facility in eastern Germany in April 2001 that Michele died. The car suffered a tyre failure at high speed and crashed. At the time Michele had been trying to launch a scheme to help young drivers but the irrepressible Italian didn't get a chance to achieve it. However, he had achieved so much in his life before the world of motorsport was robbed of one of its best-loved sons.
//This page belongs to the [[CategoryDrivers drivers]] category.//
