19/05/2026
Carlo Chiti was one of the most brilliant and volatile engineers in Italian motorsport history. After his successes at Ferrari, culminating in the 1961 Formula 1 World Championship, Chiti founded Autodelta in 1963, which became Alfa Romeo's legendary official racing department in 1965. Under his technical direction, immortal masterpieces were born, such as the agile GTA (1965) and the award-winning Tipo 33, which dominated the tracks by winning the World Sportscar Championships in 1975 and 1977 thanks to its powerful 12-cylinder engines, also used in Formula 1.
It was precisely in F1, during the 1978/1979 seasons, that a famous anecdote involving **Niki Lauda took place. Exasperated by the Austrian driver's continuous, methodical complaints about the car's oil consumption, Chiti snapped with his trademark Tuscan irony: "Niki, you are a Formula 1 driver, not a Shell accountant! Just focus on driving, we'll take care of the oil!".
Beyond his mechanical genius, which saw him lead Autodelta until 1984, Chiti was famous for his extraordinary humanity and his visceral love for dogs. Inside the Settimo Milanese workshops, his beloved German Shepherds and rescued strays were a constant, untouchable presence, free to roam among top-secret blueprints and disassembled engines. Until his passing in 1994, Chiti proved that behind a mathematical mind dedicated to pure speed beat an immensely large and generous heart.
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