Notes:
Willy Mairesse never won a Formula 1 Grand Prix and was never titled as World Champion. However, his memories are still tenacious. He was described as too brave and fearless to the extreme. A well known Formula 1 and sportscar driver of the 1960s, one of the hardest racers of Belgium, Willy Mairesse wrecked his cars with frequency but also showed dogged determination and talent as a driver. After a career-ending accident during the 1968 Le Mans 24-hour race, he fell into depression and took his own life in 1969, one month before his 41st birthday.
Willy Mairesse was born in Momignies, a town close to Chimay near the Franco/Belgian border, in the province of Hainaut, Wallonie, Belgium, on 01 October 1928. The son of a wealthy timber merchant, he debuted in motorsports in his twenties, competing in rallies as a privateer. At the wheel of a 1.5-liter Porsche 356 he took part in the 1953 Marathon de la Route, also known as Liège-Rome-Liège Rallye, co-driven by Henry Misonne. He returned to this race one year later, driving a Peugeot 203 with Raymond Pirson, and again in 1955 when he achieved a class win, eighth place overall, in the same car along with Maurice Desse. In 1956 Mairesse won the 12 Heures de Huy with the Peugeot, before progressing to a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, in which he competed in international rallies and circuit races such as the tough Grand Prix des Frontières at Chimay, and the GT race, supporting event to the German Formula 1 Grand Prix on the Nürburgring, in which he scored a creditable third place. Finally he won the 1956 Liège-Rome-Liège Rallye, sharing the 300SL with Willy Genin, and in 1957 the "Grand Prix de Voitures de Serie", at his very first start on the Spa-Francorchamps race course.
This successes caught the attention of the Équipe Nationale Belge, a racing team which was run at the time by the Belgian Formula 1 driver and Ferrari importer Jacques Swaters. Mairesse joined the ENB team, competing in the World Sportscar Championship until 1959, but had a few good results beyond a fine second place finish in the 12 Hours of Reims in 1958, driving a Ferrari 250GT with his one-year-younger lifelong friend Jean Blaton, who raced under the nom de course of "Beurlys". They built up a strong friendship, racing together in numerous occasions, for almost a decade.
In 1959 four Belgian racers in two Ferrari Berlinettas were involved in a fierce battle during the Tour de France Automobile. Mairesse, co-driven by Georges "Jojo" Berger finished runner-up, closely following the winners, country-fellows Olivier Gendebien-Lucien Bianchi in another Ferrari 250GT. This race attracted the attention of Enzo Ferrari in person, who invited Mairesse to Maranello. The Belgian had a reputation as a wild man on the track and got a job as a testing driver, taking some long distance drives for the Scuderia Ferrari, between 1960 and 1963.
He soon got a chance to taste real racing with the red cars, making his Formula 1 debut in the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. In front of his home crowd, Mairesse gave his best at the wheel of the works Ferrari Dino 246, setting the 12th time in qualifying. On race day Mairesse was involved in an aggressive dice for sixth place with Britain's rising star Chris Bristow. On 20th lap, Bristow lost control of his Cooper T51-Climax at Burnenville, trying to stay ahead of Willy’s Ferrari. His car left the road, crashed into an embankment and rolled over several times. Bristow suffered head injuries, from which he died almost instantly. Possibly he and Mairesse touched wheels on the approach to one of the fastest corners on the track. This sad experience brought Mairesse a “bad boy” reputation which would not leave him until the end of his career.
Just at his third Formula 1 start, Willy Mairesse finished in a respectable third in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, following a lap down his team mates Phil Hill and Richie Ginther. That would remain his first and only Formula 1 podium ever.
His reputation as a hard racer was consolidated with some outstanding wins, including the 1961 Trophée d'Auvergne at Clermont-Ferrand and the Tour de France Automobile in 1960 and 1961, paired with his friend Berger in a Ferrari 250GT SWB. In the 1961 World Sportscar Championship, Willy Mairesse scored second places in the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Giancarlo Baghetti, and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Mike Parkes. Mairesse and Parkes also eclipsed the previous Le Mans record, covering 4,438.718 kilometers (2,758 miles), three laps behind the winning Ferrari 250TR of team mates Gendebien-Hill.
Following the death of the other Scuderia Ferrari driver Wolfgang von Trips at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix and the subsequent departure from the team of Phil Hill, who won that year's title, Mairesse was appointed first driver of the Maranello team in 1962, competing in Formula 1 as well as in sportscar racing. That was an enormous responsibility, which fell heavily on Mairesse's shoulders. His driving style, naturally aggressive and somewhat erratic, became even more hard, as if the Belgian driver was trying to succeed at any cost.
He won two non-championship Formula 1 Grands Prix in the Ferrari 156 - the Grand Prix de Bruxelles at the Heysel track, which made him very popular in his home country, and the Naples Grand Prix at Posillipo street course, Italy. At Naples, Mairesse asked the organizers to be awarded by his Belgian girlfriend Dorine during the prizegiving ceremony. He also scored a fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, battling with Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T60-Climax for third place all race long, losing a podium finish through a very smart slip-streaming move by McLaren in the last metres of the race.
A freak accident overshadowed his season when he collided with Trevor Taylor’s Lotus at Blanchimont, with six laps to go in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, while fighting for second place. He and Taylor had dueled for more than an hour, passing and repassing each other. Mairesse’s Ferrari rolled off the road crashing into a ditch, and caught fire. Although he was thrown out of the car, losing his shoes and part of his trousers, the driver escaped serious injury.
In sportscar events, Mairesse won that year's Targa Florio sharing a Ferrari Dino 246SP with his fellow countryman Gendebien and the furious young Mexican Ricardo Rodríguez. Two weeks later he finished second in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, once again with Britain’s Parkes, in a Ferrari 330LM/GTO.
Despite his results were far from what Enzo Ferrari had expected from him, Mairesse maintained his Ferrari seat in 1963. Whereas many drivers become more cerebral and smoother with time, Willy went the opposite way. He drove off course frequently, spun too often and frequently banged wheels against other drivers at a time when this was not a common behavior in racing. He did win the 500 kilometers of Spa-Francorchamps in a Ferrari 250 GTO and the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, sharing a Ferrari 250P with John Surtees. Earlier in the season, Mairesse placed two times second, in the 12 Hours of Sebring with Nino Vaccarella and Lorenzo Bandini and in the Targa Florio with Lodovico Scarfiotti. Mairesse was seriously injured twice that year. The first time was during the 24 Heures du Mans, when he raced partnered with Surtees. The pair which proved successful at the Nürburgring three weeks earlier, led the race for the first 14 hours in the works Ferrari 250P, when the car was brought to the pits for refueling. As soon as the car left the pits, with Mairesse at the wheel, it began to leak fuel. The first time he braked while going into the Esses before Tertre Rouge, the car caught fire. Mairesse lost control and crashed violently, emerging burned and bruised.
He fought back to be ready to race seven weeks later at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. At the wheel of the second car of the Scuderia, he qualified seventh, starting from the outside of second row. In the race, though, Mairesse showed his habitual impetuous, accident-prove driving and already on second lap he crashed heavily at Flugplatz. On the approach to the right-hander, the front wheels of his Ferrari started to skid and the driver tried to counter steer. The car went out of control when its left wheels were spinning on the grass verge, left the track and crashed into an embankment. Günther Schneider, a nineteen-year old Red Cross helper who was sitting at the point where the Ferrari came to rest after rolling, was struck. He died of his injuries two days after the accident at Adenau hospital.
Willy Mairesse suffered a leg and both arms broken in the 1963 German Grand Prix accident; the wounds to his left arm were particularly severe and required a long and painful convalescence until he recovered. This accident meant the end of his career with Ferrari and Formula 1, Mairesse switched his focus to sportscar racing.
He did not return to compete until the end of 1964, when he won the Angola Grand Prix at Nova Lisboa - currently named Huambo - setting also the fastest lap of the race, in the Écurie Francorchamps’ Ferrari 250LM. One year later Mairesse won the Coupe des Belges at Zolder and the Grand Prix de Spa, 500 Km of Spa-Francorchamps. With his old mate "Beurlys", he achieved a creditable class win, third place overall, in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a Ferrari 275GTB, and then another third place overall in the 12 Hours of Reims.
Mairesse also raced in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 1965 at the wheel of a factory BMW 1800TI that he shared with Hubert Hahne of Germany. Starting from the pole position, Mairesse and Hahne remained in the lead for almost 18 hours, setting the fastest lap of the race, until mechanical failure deprived them of a fine victory. That year he entered only one Formula 1 World Championship event, his home Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in a BRM P578 for the Italian Scuderia Centro-Sud of Mimmo Dei, but he did not start the race.
In the following seasons he drove a variety of different machinery, spending the greatest part of his time on building up his own businesses, becoming a Campagnolo Rims agent and running a Honda motorcycle dealership. In April of 1966 he was invited by the Écurie Filipinetti to drive a Ford GT40 in the 1000 Km of Monza, the first European round of the World Sportscar Championship. Rain fell steadily during the day, Surtees and Parkes won the race in a works Ferrari 330P3, Mairesse with his Swiss friend Herbert Müller as team mate, managed to come in third, two laps behind the winners. Two weeks later Mairesse and Müller won outright the Targa Florio, sharing a Écurie Filipinetti-entered Porsche 906. This was Willy’s second win on the infernal Piccolo Madonie 72-kilometer (44.7-mile) twisty circuit. Later Mairesse and Müller drove another Filipinetti’s car, an ageing Ferrari 250LM in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, finishing second in class, ninth place overall.
In 1967 Enzo Ferrari gave to the Écurie Francorchamps one of the new 4-litre 330P4 sportscars which dominated the season, to be driven by Mairesse and Blaton. It was considered an act of faith by Ferrari to entrust a P4 coupé to his former works driver, but the "Old Man" always showed a soft spot for "Wild Willy". In the car that was painted red with a large yellow row, the couple of veterans did not finish the 24 Hours of Daytona and in the 1000 Km of Spa-Francorchamps Mairesse proved to be the best opponent for the victory when it poured with rain, to the most exciting rising talent of the day, Jacky Ickx. The young Belgian eventually won the race, with Dick Thompson in the Gulf-Mirage M1 Ford. Two months later Mairesse and Blaton brought the car home to third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, behind the winning Ford MkIV of A.J. Foyt-Dan Gurney, and the works Ferrari 330P4 of Scarfiotti-Parkes, second. By the end of 1967, Ferrari won its last World Sportscar title in history.
This impressive performance at Le Mans was just about the last remarkable result in Willy Mairesse’s career. A year later, he and “Beurlys” finished seventh in the 1000 Km of Monza, driving a private Ford GT40 entered by Claude Dubois. Then Willy suffered a serious accident on the first lap of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in that same car. As the flag fell down, he ran across the track, jumped into his #8 car, shut the door, started the engine, got his seat belts fastened and started. As he roared down Les Hunaudières straight, the door latch of his car came undone and the door flew up, while traveling at a speed of 280 km/h (174 mi/h). Mairesse lost control of the car and hit the barrier very badly. The car was totally destroyed, he spent the next two weeks in a coma. He never recovered from his head injuries with physical and mental impairment and was no longer able to find a ride being his top-level career over. Sadly, less than twelve months later he committed suicide in a hotel room in Ostend, Belgium, on Tuesday, 02 September 1969.
It is believed that during the starting procedure, known as "Le Mans start", Mairesse did not close firmly his car's door, which blew open during the first lap, causing him to crash violently. One year later, his compatriot Ickx was the lone objector to the traditional sprint start at Le Mans. He slowly walked across the track, then he sat in his car, closed the door and locked the safety belt carefully, being the dead last to start the race - eventually to win, 24 hours later.
In the book "Alla destra del Drake - Memoirs of Enzo Ferrari's lieutenant", Franco Gozzi, former sporting director of the Scuderia, related the legend of “The Racing Tiger" Willy Mairesse. Gozzi, who visited Mairesse just two months before his death, wrote: "Mairesse's suicide was as his whole life, courageous."
Willy Mairesse made 12 Formula 1 Grands Prix starts, scoring seven championship points, and participated in eight editions of Le Mans 24-hour race. He was not related with the French Formula 1 driver Guy Mairesse who was active in the early 1950s.
 
The Mairesse family's grave in the Cimetière de Momignies in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, near the Belgian/French border, where Willy Mairesse was laid to rest.
Photos taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.
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