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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFILE – Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno, File)<\/p>\n
Now the 20-year-old Antonelli, reportedly rejected by Ferrari as a child before joining Mercedes, is changing Italy\u2019s racing story.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Antonelli almost certainly securing the title Sunday in Mexico City, here why it\u2019s taken so long for an Italian to win again.<\/p>\n
The glory days of the 1950s, and why they ended<\/p>\n
Italy was the center of the racing world when the World Drivers\u2019 Championship began in 1950.<\/p>\n
Just five years after the end of World War II, the fledgling Ferrari brand was one of a clutch of teams in Italian racing red fighting for wins.<\/p>\n
Italian Nino Farina won the first title for Alfa Romeo, and Ascari added two more for Ferrari in 1952 and 1953. The decade was dominated by Juan Manuel Fangio, F1\u2019s first superstar driver and an Argentine of Italian heritage, who won five championships in his 40s, a feat never seen since.<\/p>\n
Financial issues forced Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati out of F1, leaving Ferrari as the sole Italian constructor by 1960 with fewer opportunities for Italian drivers.<\/p>\n
Small British teams, mocked by founder Enzo Ferrari as \u201cgaragistas\u201d for being run out of backyards and garages, revolutionized F1 with light and nimble designs with the engine behind the driver. By the late \u201960s, they were dominant.<\/p>\n
There have been other teams based out of Italy \u2014 including Racing Bulls today \u2014 but Ferrari has remained the country\u2019s only genuine title contender.<\/p>\n
Catholic newspaper part of the backlash to F1\u2019s deadliest years<\/p>\n
Until the late 1970s it was rare for a season to pass without at least one Formula 1 driver being killed after crashing in races or tests.<\/p>\n
Deaths of Italian auto racing stars \u2014 including Ascari, killed testing a Ferrari sportscar in 1955 \u2014 caused a backlash in Italy.<\/p>\n
The influential Catholic Church newspaper L\u2019Osservatore Romano issued a blistering condemnation of auto racing after the 1958 death of Italy\u2019s Luigi Musso, who was driving for Ferrari.<\/p>\n
The newspaper likened auto racing to the ancient Roman god Saturn who \u201ccontinues to devour his own children,\u201d with Musso as one of the victims of a quest to make money regardless of the human cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a matter of morality if we consider that, beyond any pretext of science and progress, there is an immediate, concrete industrial and economic interest in such appalling undertakings \u2014 an interest that turns the stopwatch into a means of advertising, even if it is linked to the statistics of the victims,\u201d the newspaper wrote.<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s founder \u2018swore\u2019 to stop hiring Italians<\/p>\n
When a fiery crash left Ferrari\u2019s latest Italian star Lorenzo Bandini with fatal burns in 1967, it was a turning point.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnzo Ferrari swore after the death of Bandini that he\u2019d never again hire an Italian driver,\u201d American driver Mario Andretti told a conference in Italy last year.<\/p>\n
In the 59 years since, only one Italian has driven a full F1 season for Ferrari. Michele Alboreto raced five years for the team in the mid-1980s, finishing second in the 1985 standings. That was shortly before Enzo Ferrari died aged 90 in 1988.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the team let other title contenders pass it by, like six-time race winner Riccardo Patrese. That made it harder for Italians to make the step up to F1, faced with the choice of an uncompetitive local team or taking the risk of moving to Britain at a young age.<\/p>\n
The most recent Italian to drive for Ferrari in F1 was Giancarlo Fisichella in 2009, standing in for the injured Felipe Massa, but he spent almost all of his career with teams based in England.<\/p>\n
Andretti and Senna were champions from Italy\u2019s diaspora<\/p>\n
Born to an Italian family in what is now Croatia, Andretti won the title with Lotus in 1978 and drove for Ferrari before that. As an Italian American, hiring him was a loophole in Enzo Ferrari\u2019s self-imposed restrictions, Andretti has said.<\/p>\n
Three-time champion Ayrton Senna of Brazil, widely considered a contender for F1\u2019s greatest-ever talent, had Sicilian heritage. Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time champ in the 1970s, was another Italian Brazilian.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n