Massimo Natili

Massimo Natili (28 July 1935 - 19 September 2017): Italian racing driver from Ronciglione who participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in 1961, driving for Scuderia Centro Sud. He achieved a best result of 12th at the British Grand Prix and scored no championship points. Natili was one of numerous promising young Italian drivers who started in Formula Junior before attempting Formula One, but his career was effectively ended by a fiery accident in a Formula Junior race at Monza in 1962. Born in Ronciglione, a small town in the Lazio region north of Rome, Natili was one of a number of promising young Italian drivers who emerged during the late 1950s.

He started racing in Formula Junior, the junior single-seater category that served as a training ground for future Formula One drivers, using 1000cc production-based engines in purpose-built chassis. Natili showed enough promise in Formula Junior to earn a test with Scuderia Centro Sud, one of Italy's leading privateer teams. Centro Sud ran customer cars from various manufacturers—primarily Maseratis and Coopers—entering them in both World Championship and non-championship races. Impressed by Natili's testing pace, the team gave him a handful of outings in 1961.

Natili's Formula One debut came at the 1961 British Grand Prix at Aintree on 15 July. The race was held in torrential rain, creating treacherous conditions that challenged even the most experienced drivers. Despite the conditions, Natili successfully qualified his aging Cooper-Maserati T51 in 23rd position, an achievement given the car's outdated specification. He was teammates with Lorenzo Bandini, who would later become a Ferrari driver and finish third in the 1964 World Championship before his death at Monaco in 1967.

Natili completed the race distance, finishing 12th, multiple laps behind race winner Wolfgang von Trips but classified as a finisher—no small achievement in conditions that eliminated numerous more experienced competitors. Natili's second and final Formula One appearance came at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September. Racing at his home Grand Prix before passionate Italian fans, Natili again drove a Cooper-Maserati for Centro Sud but retired from the race with mechanical failure, ending his brief Formula One career with two starts, one finish, and zero points. In 1962, Natili returned to Formula Junior, competing in various Italian championship races.

During a Formula Junior race at Monza, disaster struck—Natili's car was involved in a fiery accident, and his car burst into flames. Natili was trapped briefly before being pulled from the burning wreckage by an anonymous spectator whose quick action saved Natili's life. The rescuer's identity was never established, and this unknown hero disappeared into the crowd after saving Natili. The accident left Natili with serious injuries, including burns and impact trauma.

While he survived, the accident effectively ended his competitive career at the highest levels. The physical and psychological impact of the Monza crash made continuing in single-seater racing impossible. Following his recovery, Natili made a limited comeback to racing, competing in selected Italian Formula 3 events during the mid-1960s. In 1964, he came fourth in the Rome Grand Prix, a non-championship Formula event, showing he retained some of his previous speed.

However, he never returned to Formula One or achieved the success that once seemed possible. Natili gradually reduced his racing activities through the mid-1960s before retiring completely. He returned to civilian life in Italy, living quietly and maintaining only minimal connections to motorsport. Unlike some former drivers who remained visible in the paddock or worked in racing-related businesses, Natili largely disappeared from public view.

Natili lived to the age of 82, passing away on 19 September 2017 in Italy. His death received limited coverage, mentioned primarily in Italian motorsport publications that noted his brief Formula One career and his status as one of the many young Italian drivers whose promising careers were cut short by the dangers of 1960s racing. Known for his Formula Junior success, brave performance in the rain at Aintree, fiery Monza accident and rescue by an anonymous spectator, and brief comeback attempt in Formula 3, Massimo Natili represents the countless drivers whose careers were ended not by lack of talent but by the appalling dangers of 1960s motorsport. His two Formula One starts are a footnote, but his survival of the Monza fire—thanks to an unknown hero—demonstrates both the dangers drivers faced and the courage of spectators who risked their own lives to save them.