Willy Mairesse

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Willy Mairesse (Template:IPA; 1 October 1928 – 2 September 1969)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was a Formula One and sports-car driver from Belgium. He participated in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 19 June 1960. He achieved one podium and scored a total of seven championship points. He committed suicide (overdose of sleeping pills) in a hotel room in Ostend after a crash at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans forced an end to his career.<ref name="Grandprix.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Peter Revson once described the intensity of Mairesse before a race at Spa, Belgium. Revson looked into his car and saw Mairesse's "furrowed" face, beetled brows, and eyes which were almost tilted and their colour changed. "It was almost like looking at the devil."<ref> Template:Cite news </ref>

Sports car driver

Mairesse won first place in the marathon rally Liege-Rome-Liege in 1956.<ref name="ewrc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mairesse secured third place in the Grand Prix of Monza in June 1959. Driving a Ferrari, he placed behind Alfonso Thiele and Carlo Mario Abate, both also in Ferraris.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse and Mike Parkes of England finished second to Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien at the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving a Ferrari 250 TR/61, Mairesse and Parkes also eclipsed the previous Le Mans record, covering 2,758.66 miles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1963 12 Hours of Sebring Mairesse and Nino Vacarella placed second after Ludovico Scarfiotti and John Surtees. Both teams drove Ferraris.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Surtees and Mairesse won the 1000 km of the Nurburgring driving a Ferrari 250P. Thereafter, Surtees and Mairesse led for the 15 hours of the first 18 hours of the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans before the car caught fire while Mairesse was driving. Mairesse escaped injury. Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini won on the French circuit where Christian Heins had a fatal accident. Mairesse and Surtees retired after a motor fire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A young German Red Cross worker was killed in August 1963 when the wheel of a Ferrari driven by Mairesse came off as his car overturned. Guenther Schneider, 19, was hit by a flying wheel during the running of the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and died.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse was triumphant in the 1964 Grand Prix of Angola, run at Luanda. His average speed was 80.78 miles per hour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse piloted a Ferrari 250 LM to first place in the 500 km sportscar race of Spa in May 1965. He completed the race in 2 hours, 29 minutes, and 45.7 seconds. He achieved an average speed of 126.29.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Clarify Mairesse and Jean Beurlys of France finished third at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ferrari 275 GTB winning the GT category in its debut at Le Mans,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt won the race. In April 1966 Surtees and Parkes won the 1,000 kilometer Monza Auto Race. Mairesse and Herbert Mueller of Switzerland came in third in a Ford sports car, two laps behind.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In May Mairesse and Mueller drove to victory in the Targa Florio, driving a Porsche Carrera 6. Rain caused considerable attrition as only thirteen of seventy starters finished the race.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse and Beurlys again drove a Ferrari to third place in the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. This event was won by the American team of Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Formula One

Mairesse was third in the Grand Prix of Europe, 1960 Italian Grand Prix. This was the penultimate race of the 1960 Formula One World Championship. Run at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Phil Hill was victorious, with Richie Ginther second, and Mairesse third, a lap down.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse qualified fifth for the 1962 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. The pole was won by Graham Hill in a BRM.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the event Mairesse and the Lotus of Trevor Taylor dueled for more than an hour, passing and repassing a number of times each lap. Mairesse was cheered heartily by an enthusiastic partisan crowd. The two cars came together at more than 100 miles per hour in the long, sweeping left-hand Blanchimont turn. Mairesse's car went off to the left, careering into a hillside behind a ditch and catching fire after flipping over. He was thrown out of his Ferrari and his shoes and the legs of his trousers were torn off. He was conscious, despite numerous scrapes, cuts and burns. Mairesse was loaded into an ambulance and transported to a hospital, where he was reported to be in good spirits and without any serious injuries. Taylor and Mairesse made contact earlier in the season at the Grand Prix of Brussels.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a race in which only twelve of twenty-one starters finished, Mairesse came in fourth in the 1962 Italian Grand Prix. He was only a car length ahead of Giancarlo Baghetti.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Out of Formula One in 1963, Phil Hill predicted a rough future for the Ferrari team. He said there was too much competition between Mairesse and Surtees. Specifically, he commented "they will harry each other so much that they will force each other to make mistakes".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mairesse's car crashed during the 1963 German Grand Prix. The Ferrari turned over multiple times after swerving off the track. He was rushed to the hospital with a broken arm. His teammate, Surtees, won the race, with Jim Clark second in a Lotus.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:1963-05-19 Willy Mairesse, Nürburgring - Hatzenbach.jpg

Mairesse at the Nürburgring in 1963.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	WDC	Points
1960	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari Dino 246	Ferrari V6	ARG	MON	500	NED	BEL Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR	POR	ITA Template:Small	USA	15th	4
1961	Equipe Nationale Belge	Lotus 18	Climax Straight-4	MON	NED	BEL Template:Small								NC	0
	Team Lotus	Lotus 21					FRA Template:Small	GBR
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari V6						GER Template:Small	ITA	USA
1962	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari V6	NED	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA Template:Small	USA	RSA		14th	3
1963	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari V6	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	NED	FRA	GBR	GER Template:Small	ITA	USA	MEX	RSA	NC	0
1965	Scuderia Centro Sud	BRM P57	BRM V8	RSA	MON	BEL Template:Small	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA	MEX	NC	0

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1961	Equipe Nationale Belge	Emeryson Mk2	Maserati L4	LOM	GLV	PAU	BRX Template:Small	VIE	AIN DNA	SYR Template:Small	NAP	LON	SIL	SOL DNA	KAN	DAN	MOD	FLG	OUL	LEW	VAL	RAN	NAT	RSA
1962	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari V6	CAP	BRX Template:Small	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU	AIN	INT	NAP Template:Small	MAL	CLP	RMS DNA	SOL	KAN	MED	DAN	OUL	MEX	RAN	NAT
1963	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari V6	LOM	GLV	PAU	IMO DNA	SYR	AIN	INT Template:Small	ROM	SOL	KAN	MED	AUT	OUL	RAN

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Driver(s)	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1958	Template:Flagicon Ecurie Francorchamps	Template:Flagicon Lucien Bianchi	Ferrari 250 TR	S 3.0	33	DNF	DNF
1960	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Ferrari	Template:Flagicon Richie Ginther	Ferrari 250 TRI/60	S 3.0	204	DNF	DNF
1961	Template:Flagicon SEFAC Ferrari	Template:Flagicon Mike Parkes	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	S 3.0	330	2nd	2nd
1963	Template:Flagicon SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Template:Flagicon John Surtees	Ferrari 250P	P 3.0	252	DNF	DNF
1965	Template:Flagicon Ecurie Francorchamps	Template:Flagicon “Beurlys” (Jean Blaton)	Ferrari 275 GTB	GT 4.0	340	3rd	1st
1966	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Filipinetti	Template:Flagicon Herbert Müller	Ferrari 365 P2	P 5.0	166	DNF	DNF
1967	Template:Flagicon Equipe Nationale Belge	Template:Flagicon “Beurlys” (Jean Blaton)	Ferrari 330 P4	P 5.0	377	3rd	3rd
1968	Template:Flagicon C. Dubois	Template:Flagicon “Beurlys” (Jean Blaton)	Ford GT40	S 5.0	0	DNF	DNF

24 Hours of Spa results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1965	Template:Flagicon BMW Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Hubert Hahne	BMW 1800 TI/SA	T 2.5		DSQ	DSQ
1966	Template:Flagicon BMW Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Dieter Glemser	BMW 1800 TI	T 2.0		DNF	DNF