| rdfs:comment | - Giancarlo Baghetti (born on 25 December 1934 in Milan, MI, Lombardy, Italy – died on 27 November 1995 at the same place) was an Italian racing driver best known for winning his first Formula One race, the 1961 French Grand Prix. Baghetti drove for Ferrari (private and works), ATS, Scuderia Centro Sud (private BRMs), Brabham and Lotus throughout his career. Baghetti later turned his hand to journalism and photography, before dying of cancer aged 60.
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| abstract | - Giancarlo Baghetti (born on 25 December 1934 in Milan, MI, Lombardy, Italy – died on 27 November 1995 at the same place) was an Italian racing driver best known for winning his first Formula One race, the 1961 French Grand Prix. Baghetti drove for Ferrari (private and works), ATS, Scuderia Centro Sud (private BRMs), Brabham and Lotus throughout his career. Baghetti's début win places him alongside Giuseppe Farina and Johnnie Parsons as one of three drivers to win their first F1 race. Farina won the 1950 British Grand Prix, the inaugural F1 race, while Parsons won the 1950 Indianapolis 500, the third F1 race, and included a whole field of débutants. Thus, Baghetti is the only driver to win his first in a field that did not compose entirely of drivers making their débuts. Baghetti's racing career started in 1955, and he began racing in Formula Junior in 1958. Baghetti joined the Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche (FISA) in 1961, and entered a couple of non-championship races, the Syracuse Grand Prix and Naples Grand Prix. Baghetti won both races. The next race he entered was the championship French Grand Prix, and despite starting in the midfield, Baghetti found himself in potential race-winning position with ten laps remaining, and he just held off Dan Gurney for a début victory. This gave Baghetti a place in F1 history, and he is also the only driver to win his first three Grand Prix races. Unfortunately, Baghetti's career would only go downwards from there. It was to be his only championship victory (though he did win the 1961 Coppa Italia), and he fail to reach the finish of the other two championship races he entered. Joining the works Ferrari team for 1962, Baghetti scored two points finishes, and a non-championship podium, and left for the ATS team, who had splintered off Ferrari – the car, however, was a disaster and the project lasted just a solitary season. For 1964, Baghetti joined the Scuderia Centro Sud team, and drove a BRM, without success. In 1965, 1966 and 1967 he competed solely in the Italian Grand Prix (and a pair of non-championship races), but none of the efforts came to any success. Following this, Baghetti's racing career petered out and he stopped competitive racing. Baghetti later turned his hand to journalism and photography, before dying of cancer aged 60.
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