Riccardo Paletti and his tragic story.
Many F1 fans would probably never recognize this F1 driver at all but, those who know who he is knows that his story is very heartbreaking.
To those who don't know who he is, This is Riccardo Paletti and he's is the true forgotten F1 driver.
Riccardo Paletti was born on June 15, 1958 in Milan, Italy. There's no information about his childhood though as I went on to fandom wiki it says that he quit skiing to follow his motorsports dreams as a teenager. He started in the karting league (since it was the lowest level).
He entire the Italian F3 Championship in '78 before moving up to F2 the following year. He drove for March Racing. In 1981 he join Onyx in F2 he got two podiums which not only that but also have other amazing results. Which means F1 teams were all attention from his results but one team name Osella Squadra Corse recruited him for the 1982 season.
He finally made his F1 debut in 1982 but this will only be one of the two races of his F1 career. He would be disqualify from multiple races like the Monaco GP.
During the 1982 Montreal GP (Canadian GP) Didier Pironi who was in pole position. The other drivers were able to get the car started but, that's not the case for Riccardo. As his car wasn't working at all he tried to get anyone's attention to say "my car isn't working. Get me out of here!" Drivers avoid him as his car was a standstill.
But unfortunately without anyone seeing him a Didier's car hit Riccardo's car at 180 km/h (110 mph). Didier quickly got out of the car before it was set on fire Riccardo was unconscious from the crash. The marshalls got there when the fire already started. It took them 25 minutes to put the fire out when they finally got him out they were checking for a pulse but there was no pulse unfortunately, with Paletti's injuries to his chest. He of course was rushed to the hospital but died on the way there.
(Riccardo's car into flames while the Marshalls trying to put the flame out)
(Didier Pironi trying to get Riccardo out of his car before it went into flames)
(a screenshot I took of a photo of Riccardo Paletti's grave)
Riccardo would died on June 13th 1982 from the injures he suffered in the crash at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
I made a post about him and his friendship with Alain Prost a few months ago on my Instagram called the tragic story of friendship in F1 where I talked about some friendship of F1 that unfortunately turned tragic.
Here is where I talked about Riccardo↓
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