Enzo Ferrari favored drivers like Eugenio Castellotti (shown above with Mike Hawthorne, Juan Fangio, Alfonso de Portago and Peter Collins) who drove like madmen without calculating the peril. Castellotti was a wealthy young Lodi gentleman who lounged in the pits with a white helmet pushed back over midnight black hair and a blue jacket pulled tight around muscular shoulders. A cigarette dangled from his shapely lips. The Italian women called Il Bello, the beautiful one.
My impression of Ferrari was more pragmatic: He favored drivers like Castellotti and Portago less because they were madmen than because wealthy playboys and therefore he didn't really have to pay them. True "professionals," were just emerging in the 50s, and always ran up against Enzo's tight-fistedness when it came to being paid properly for their risk taking. Many great drivers left Enzo's employ over the years due to money disputes. Castelotti and Portago left Enzo's employ because they were both killed in his cars...
ReplyDeleteI accidentally omitted the words "they were" before the word "wealthy" in the above comment. Sorry for the poor sentence!
ReplyDeleteI had always thought that Enzo Ferrari gravitated to wealthy young drivers like Portago and Castellotti for their promotional value. Their wealth and noble blood burnished the Ferrari marque. Though it may be a combination of these things.
ReplyDeleteIt was win/win. Rich guys driving your cars = prestige and low overhead.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody identify the time and place (i.e. date and circuit) for this delightful picture. You have to wonder what Fangio is thinking !
ReplyDeleteAh. It was 1956 French GP at Reims. The Ferrari drivers were wearing black armbands as poor Dino Ferrari had died the day before.
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