OBSCURE F1 A-Z: ALESSANDRO NANNINI

In this 26 part series of posts I will be going through the alphabet and for each letter, a profile piece on an obscure driver - some you may have heard of before some you may never knew even sat in an F1 car let alone raced one. I have chosen a driver for each letter choosing them based on their surnames.

Nannini raced in Formula One for five years (1986-90) with Minardi and Benetton, entering 78 races and starting 76. The Italian driver achieved some success in F1 but his racing career never really took off.

He made his F1 debut at the 1986 Brazilian Grand Prix - a race to forget as he failed to finish with a clutch failure just 18 laps into the race, his teammate also failed to finish just two laps previous.

Two years after making his debut Nannini achieved his sole win in F1 at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix the race where the rivalry between Senna and Prost at McLaren reached a new level as they collided going into the final chicane - Prost retired but Senna continued on to finish the race but was eventually disqualified for illegally rejoining the track. Nannini is very much the forgotten driver of that race - a race which he only led for two laps but won by 11 seconds to second placed and fellow countryman Patrese.

Nannini's final race would be at the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix - where he achieved a third place in a Benetton behind Prost and Mansell.

Nannini achieved the following accolades in his F1 career;

2 Fastest Laps

0 Pole Positions

65 Career Points

9 Podiums &

1 Win

Nannini could have possibly raced longer than a year after his maiden F1 victory unfortunately he was involved in a helicopter crash which severed his right forearm.