Massimo Natili

28/7/1935

Record updated 28-Jul-06

Formula One driver from Italy. He participated in 1 grand prix, debuting on July 15, 1961. He scored 0 championship points.

Massimo Natili
Massimo Natili was born in Ronciglione, Italy. He was one of a number of promising young Italian drivers that started out in Formula Junior.

In 1961 he tested for Scuderia Centro Sud, and was given a handful of outings. At Syracuse, Mario Cabral was called up by the Scuderia, but was pushed aside by the new boy Massimo. He successfully qualified an aging Centro-Sud Cooper-Maserati for the 1961 British Grand Prix at Aintree in torrential rain, where he was teammate to Lorenzo Bandini. He drove for Alto Lazio in the Targa Florio with Giuseppe Cucchiarelli in a Giaur Fiat-Giannini finishing 19th overall. In June he finished second behind Tony Maggs in the  Gran Premio della Lotteria di Monza driving a Lotus-Ford.

In 1962 he was lucky to survive a crash in a Monza FJ race, when an anonymous spectator pulled him from his blazing car with burns to face and legs.

He reappeared for Centro Sud in April 1963 at the  Gran Premio Shell F.1 - Coppa d'Oro and failed to finish in either heat of the XV Gran Premio di Roma on the 19th May in the Cooper-Maserati T53 (FI-13-61). He finished fourth in the 1964 Rome GP with a Brabham-Giannini.

In 1965 he continued in Italian Formula 3 with a Brabham and he won the 1 Litre Classin the Italian Sports Car Championship with his Lotus 23.

In 1966 he drove a Bizzarrini 5300 in the Le Mans 24 Hour race with Sam Posey however they were eventually disqualified for a pit lane infringement.

In 1967 he drove a Bianchini in the Italian F3 series.

Natili also working in films helping to direct the 1956 film Maruzzella and in 1966 he made a film' Come imparai ad amare le donne' (How I Learned to Love Women)

He ran a BMW dealership in Italy but has now retired though he is still involved in motorsport. He was a visitor at the 2004 San Marino GP and the Mille Miglia. He entered the Mille Miglia in 2003 and 2006, driving with the Italian actress Giulia Montanarini.

Now owns & rents out a large villa near Viterbo.



<