RIP Andrea de Adamich 1941-2025

By Damien Smith
Features
 | 10 Nov 2025
Classic & Sports Car – RIP Andrea de Adamich 1941-2025

Tall and characterised by his trademark black spectacles, Andrea de Adamich looked more like a student or a lawyer than a racing driver.

But the Italian, who has died at the age of 84, notched up 30 Grand Prix starts before his career was cut short by injuries sustained in an infamous accident, then later built a high profile as one of his home country’s best-known motorsport personalities.

Born in Trieste into an aristocratic family, de Adamich professed his desire for competition could have driven him towards tennis or skiing rather than motor racing.

Instead, a gift from his mother of a Triumph TR3 led him to hillclimbs, then to circuit racing in a Lola Formula Junior.

In 1965 he claimed the Italian Formula Three crown – and the following year he was the European Touring Car Champion in an Alfa Romeo GTA.

Suddenly, he found himself catapulted into Formula One – as a works Ferrari driver, no less.

Classic & Sports Car – RIP Andrea de Adamich 1941-2025

Andrea de Adamich at the 1967 Nürburgring 1000km race in an Alfa Romeo T33 © Getty Images

De Adamich made his first start in the non-championship Spanish Grand Prix in 1967 and spun out of his points-paying debut at Kyalami at the start of ’68, only to be derailed by neck injuries sustained in a crash at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions.

His F1 chance, it seemed, was over.

But later that year, de Adamich made his comeback and in a Ferrari Dino 166 claimed the South American Formula Two Temporada series, joined Team Surtees for a transaltlantic Formula 5000 campaign in 1969 – and returned to F1 with McLaren in 1970.

Alfa Romeo V8 power had eased him into the seat, but the engine proved uncompetitive and often he failed to qualify.

De Adamich took Alfa power to March for 1971, but it failed to improve his fortunes. Then a return to Surtees in 1972 netted his first F1 points finish with a fourth place at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Meanwhile in parallel, he enjoyed greater success with Alfa Romeo driving its T33 sports cars, winning twice in 1971 at Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen.

But his top-line racing career came to a sudden halt in 1973. Driving for Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team, de Adamich was unlucky to be caught up in a nine-car, British Grand Prix pile-up at Silverstone triggered by Jody Scheckter’s spinning McLaren.

It took nearly an hour to remove the bespectacled racer from the wreck, and he returned to Italy on a private plane arranged by Ecclestone with two broken legs.

He soon knew the damage to his right foot would rule out any thought of an F1 return.

But from there de Adamich still enjoyed a long and fulfilling life in and around motorsport, via commercial ventures with Marlboro and in the media, first as a journalist for magazines such as Autosprint and then as an F1 TV commentator.

He also established and ran a successful high-performance driving school at the Varano de’ Melegari circuit in northern Italy, keeping him fully immersed in the world of competition he so loved.

Images: Getty Images

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Damien Smith

Damien is a contributor to Classic & Sports Car, and a prolific author and writer