Giancarlo Baghetti

In 1960 I raced Formula Junior with a Lancia-engined Dagrada, winning five or six times. That year Ferrari was developing his mid-engined car for the 1.5-litre Formula 1, which was to start in 1961.

In an attempt to find an Italian Grand Prix driver, several teams came together and formed the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche - FISA - and Enzo Ferrari agreed to lend them a car for certain races during the year.

My success in Formula Junior meant that I was one of four drivers consid-ered by FISA, the others being Lele Cammorota and Renato Pirocchi (Formula Junior Champions of 1959 and 1960) and Lorenzo Bandini.

When Ferrari agreed that FISA could have a car for the Syracuse Grand Prix in April, 1961, I was chosen to be the driver. I went to see Enzo Ferrari in Modena and he asked me what cars I had raced. I told him Alfa Romeo and Formula Junior, which was true, and also Maserati and Ferrari - which was not true!

One month later I went back to try the Formula 1 car at the Autodrome and Ferrari came to watch. To prepare for the race I bought a second-hand Scaglietti-bodied Ferrari which I drove for many laps at Monza.

I went to Syracuse about a week before the race and found that the circuit was through the town, so I rented a Fiat from Hertz and began to learn the way round. I had done many street races in Formula Junior and always enjoyed them, but I remember now that Syracuse was very danger-ous, with houses, walls and telegraph poles which you could hit very easily -there were no guard rails in those days!

The Ferrari arrived with three works mechanics to look after it and Romolo Tavoni as team manager. The first time I went out in it I thought I was on a different circuit, as the speed difference between the Ferrari and the Fiat was so great. I soon got the hang of things and when practice was over I was second fastest, my time of 1m57.0s being beaten only by Dan Gurney in the Porsche, who did 1m56.8s.

For me, this was incredible. I was faster than Stirling Moss, John Surtees, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Roy Salvadori, Jimmy Clark, Jo Bonnier - all my heroes. I had never seen any of them race before and suddenly, here I was, on the front row of the grid for my first Grand Prix with most of them behind me. Fantastico!

When we lined up for the start I was very nervous, thinking, "After you, Mr Moss. After you, Mr Gurney. "The official starter was Signor Castagnetto, one of the founders of the Mille Miglia. He was a very old man and dropped the flag in a half-hearted way, so most of us hesitated, except Sur-tees, who took the lead.
Now my nervousness disappeared and Moss, Surtees were not my heroes any more - just drivers, men I had to beat.

I made a bad start and when I got to the first corner I braked too hard and got into a skid. I thought that was the end of my drive for Ferrari!

If I had crashed then. I would never have driven in Formula 1 again. I finished the first lap in seventh, but quickly began to overtake the cars in front of me and after three laps was in fourth, behind Surtees (Cooper-Climax) and Gurney and Bonnier in Porsches.

On lap 6 I overtook them all and crossed the line in the lead, with all the spectators cheering like crazy! But there were still 50 laps to go and although the Ferrari was faster on the straights, the Porsches could catch me up in the corners.

Surtees retired and Bonnier dropped back, so I only had Gurney to worry about. We had a great race and I learned a lot from him until, finally, I was able to pull out a lead of about 5 seconds, which I held until the end.

I got a fantastic reception as I took the chequered flag - an Italian wins a Grand Prix! My first, too, so I was following in the steps of Tony Brooks, who also won his first Grand Prix at the same circuit in 1955.

The next day I made headlines in all the papers and everybody made a big fuss about me, but when I went to see Mr Ferrari in Modena he just said, "Bravo, Baghetti." Very quiet - there was no excitement.

Two weeks later I raced the Ferrari again at Naples and won that also, but there was no real opposition, as it was the same day as the Monaco GP. Then I had to wait until the French GP at Rheims and I won that, too!

That was a bigger success because it was my first World Championship race. It was a great win, of course, but it was my third Grand Prix win in succession, so emotionally Syracuse was bigger. There's nothing like the first time!