Luigi Musso was born on 28 July 1924 in Rome. The Italian competed in 24 Formula 1 races, fifteen of them at the wheel of a Ferrari. His record features the 1956 Argentinian Grand Prix, sharing a car with Fangio, the 1957 Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometres, driving with Castellotti and Gregory and the 1958 Targa Floria, teamed with Gendebien.
Musso died on 6th July 1958, from injuries sustained in an accident at the French Grand Prix, when he went off the track, while fighting with team-mate Mike Hawthorn. In the opinion of many, the fierce rivalry between the Italian and the two Englishmen, Hawthorn and Peter Collins, was the true cause of the accident. Enzo Ferrari had this to say about the incident in his book “Piloti, che gente:” When the stress of winning pervades a big hearted driver, it can easily happen that he takes uncalculated risks, especially when the main adversary is driven by the same obstinate will to win. And it’s not that these racing conflicts happen only between racers from different teams.”
To those who occasionally like to criticise the Scuderia for the way it manages the competition between its drivers, it is worth remembering these words from the Founder and the incident to which he referred.
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