An F1 winner’s Monte Carlo cameo

Give it a shake. It’s the 1984 Monte Carlo Rally snow globe. Yes, you’re right, we probably could have gone with an Audi from the front of the field 40 years ago, but we kind of like this one.

Delving into the Girardo and Co. archive on a weekly basis is a time-consuming process. There’s so much in there. So much to be enjoyed. And so much potential for a picture of the week. And this week, it’s got to be a fairly incongruous-looking Fiat Ritmo. The Jolly Club colours hint at something a bit special, but it’s only when you squint through the snow and see it’s being driven by Alessandro Nannini that you understand you’ve unearthed another gem.

At the time this one was shot, ‘Sandro’ was still a couple of years away from his Formula 1 debut with Minardi, but he was known to rallying, at least in his homeland. In 1979 he won an Italian national event in a Lancia Stratos.

Four decades ago, he was out of luck and a broken gearbox kept him off the Monte finishers’ list. He did, of course, go on to greater things and won his only F1 race in Japan, driving Benetton’s B189 in 1989.

His F1 career was cut short when a helicopter accident severed his right forearm in 1990.

Born in Sienna, Nannini is Tuscan through and through – as anybody who has enjoyed Cavalucci and an espresso at his café just a stone’s throw from Piazza del Campo can testify.

See, worth shaking the snow globe every now and then.