Giancarlo Baghetti

Giancarlo Baghetti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒaŋˈkarlo baˈɡetti]; 25 December 1934 – 27 November 1995) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1961 to 1967. Baghetti won the 1961 French Grand Prix in a privateer Ferrari 156, and remains the only driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix on debut.

Born and raised in Milan, Baghetti started his racing career aged 23 in production cars before progressing to Formula Junior in 1958. Three years later, he was selected by FISA to compete in a non-works Ferrari 156. After winning his first two non-championship Formula One races at the Syracuse and Naples Grands Prix, Baghetti made his World Championship debut with FISA at the 1961 French Grand Prix. He went on to win the race, beating the Porsche of Dan Gurney to score a hat-trick of wins in his opening three Formula One races, and become the first driver to win on his World Championship debut since the inaugural 1950 season. Despite scoring a fastest lap at the Italian Grand Prix and a non-championship victory at the Coppa Italia, Beghetti would never finish on the podium again. After the success of his rookie season, he signed for Ferrari in 1962, followed by seasons with ATS in 1963 and Scuderia Centro Sud in 1964. Baghetti made one-off appearances for Brabham, Parnell and Lotus prior to leaving the sport at the conclusion of the 1967 season.

Outside of Formula One, Baghetti won the 1000cc European Touring Car Championship in 1966 with Abarth, before retiring from motor racing two years later.