He had the look of a boxer with his solid build, but a glance at his eyes revealed his kind nature. Umberto Benassi, known to everyone simply as “Benny,” left us far too soon. He joined Ferrari’s racing department in 1969 and served as chief mechanic. Following the passing of Pietro Corradini last year, another unsung hero of the Prancing Horse’s history has departed.
“Benny” belonged to a generation of mechanics with “golden hands”: today in F1, any broken part is replaced, but back then, every effort was made to repair components to make them reusable. Ingenuity, experience, and flashes of brilliance were used to rebuild cars that otherwise might not have made it to the grid. Forget the curfews that now require teams to leave the paddock at set times; in those days, it was common to work through the night rebuilding cars after drivers had crashed them. Many meals were hastily eaten on the sidepods of the red cars to save time.
Umberto Benassi succumbed to a recently discovered illness on the evening of Friday, January 3, at the age of 78. He was born on January 17, 1947, but his birth was registered the following day, a practice not uncommon in the Modena region. Enzo Ferrari himself, born on February 18, 1898, was also registered two days later, reportedly due to snow.
In recent years, “Benny” had retired, leaving his role at Ferrari to his son. He had joined Maranello when the Scuderia was still a “craft-like” structure with a small core team and left in the mid-2000s when it had grown into a company with over 800 employees.
Over nearly 40 years, he witnessed all of Ferrari’s drivers and could have shared countless anecdotes and stories. But he was a man of few words and only opened up when he felt comfortable, sharing memories that deserved to be documented in a book.
In 1989, as Nigel Mansell’s chief mechanic, and without the knowledge of designer John Barnard, Umberto Benassi reportedly followed Giorgio Ascanelli’s advice to create two small air intakes to cool the alternator. The alternator’s overheating had caused issues with the Moog solenoids that powered the first semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox, replacing the traditional gear lever.
Some may remember him at the Ferrari World Finals in Vallelunga in 1999. He appeared dressed as a Disney cartoon character from the Beagle Boys, humorously reenacting the disappearance of a tire during Eddie Irvine’s pit stop at the Nürburgring, an incident that likely cost the Irish driver the championship.
In 2023, director Michael Mann included Umberto Benassi as an extra in the film Ferrari. He portrayed a mechanic—essentially himself—alongside Pietro Corradini during a pit stop at the tragic Mille Miglia of 1957.
The funeral will take place in Montale on Monday, January 6, at 11:15 a.m. The ScuderiaFans.com editorial team extends its condolences to the Benassi family and friends.
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