Ferrari driver Wolfgang von Trips claimed just his second-ever Formula One race victory at the British Grand Prix in 1961, before tragically dying that same year at the age of 33 in another race. The West German driver was promoted to F1 five years earlier and given the nickname 'Taffy' in the paddock, before becoming a driver capable of competing for the title. He had been leading the Drivers' Championship at the time of his death.

He fought to two race wins in the Netherlands and at Silverstone in addition to runner-up places in Germany and France, having started out with a fourth-placed finish in Monaco to open the season.

Then he arrived for an Italian Grand Prix that would infamously go down in sporting history as the site of F1's worst ever accident, which would see Von Trips fatally thrown from his car at high speed.

On the second lap at Monza, his Ferrari collided with Jim Clark's Lotus on a long straight before what is now known as Curva Alboreto, while Von Trips was trying to overtake his rival.

However, he lost control of the car and crashed into the crowd as the vehicle became airborne and hit a side barrier. He died before reaching the hospital and in total, 15 spectators were killed.

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.

The accident remains the worst in F1 history and the sport's governing body, the FIA, subsequently banned the series from competing on tracks with steep-banked corners.

Clark was accused of manslaughter before the charges were dropped and the Lotus star recounted the incident: "Von Trips and I were racing along the straightaway and were nearing one of the banked curves, the one on the southern end. We were about 100 metres from the beginning of the curve. Von Trips was running close to the inside of the track.

"I was closely following him, keeping near the outside. At one point von Trips shifted sideways so that my front wheels collided with his back wheels. It was the fatal moment. Von Trips's car spun twice and went into the guardrail along the inside of the track. Then it bounced back, struck my own car and bounced down into the crowd."

Von Trips was posthumously named runner-up in the World Championship that year and Ferrari withdrew their car from the last round, at Watkins Glen.

The previous year, a group of British teams had boycotted the race in protest at the use of the banking. Once engine capacities were cut, they agreed to race at Monza but still objected to the banked oval circuit.

The course was never used again for F1 and was abandoned completely in 1969.