Did anyone else catch the piece on poor Bandini, and his very avoidable death? I knew of it very well from my dad, but it is chilling (I quote a passage). It is a huge shame back then that drivers were never listened to on safety, and it is good things have improved so much (danger is one thing but in the past things were downright reckless):
Giancarlo Baghetti was spectating at the chicane, and at Monza years later told me he was still haunted by the experience. "Unless there was a car coming past," he said, "all you could hear was Lorenzo screaming."
The marshals - one of whom never removed the pipe from his mouth - had only ropes with which to right the car, and none had any fireproof clothing. Five minutes went by before the car was turned over, and the driver literally manhandled from the cockpit. As they carried him away, a TV helicopter fanned the fire into life again. Unprotected, the marshals ran clear, dropping Bandini as they did so.
It was, in sum, a scene from Hades. With no means of getting an ambulance to the area, eventually the hapless driver was taken across the harbour on a launch, thence to the Princess Grace Clinic, where three days later he died.
