Michele Alboreto, Formula One Italian Racing Driver

Pasta, Pizza, Espresso, Fashion, Beaches, Fancy cars ( named after Spanish bulls )... the list is endless what Italy is famous for. Add Motor sports and it brings glitter to it. Italy is only behind UK and USA in the list of countries that produced most number (101) of Formula One drivers. Michele Alboreto is one of the famous driver in that long list.

Widely known for finishing second to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship and spanning his racing career beyond Formula one, he had his hand in 24 Hours of Le Mans , 12 Hours of Sebring sport and IndyCar series too. He is also famous for his duel with Ayrton Senna in the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix, Imola.

Alboreto raced 80 grands prix for Ferrari from 1994 to 1998. He won 5 races in his Formula one career in addition to winning 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring. He was killed in a tragic accident in 2001 while test driving for Audi.

Italy Post in 2009 issued a commemorative stamp on Michele Alboreto. The stamp shows the racing driver Michele Alboreto beside a Ferrari F1 156/85, with a Formula 1 race track behind him featuring and a number of cars whizzing round it. The logo of the “ITALIA 2009” event appears at the top on the left of each stamp.

The stamp features the words “GIORNATA DELLO SPORT” (Sports Day), “FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DELLA FILATELIA” (International Philately Festival), “ITALIA”, the names of the sportsmen featured “MICHELE ALBORETO” and the denomination “€ 1,40” complete each stamp.

Nigel Mansell, Formula One British Racing Driver

Finally it was worth the wait. It came at a time when I was starving for a new Formula One themed stamp. I still remember I had the poster of this F1 celebrity when I was a kid and Formula one in India at that time was just in sports magazines - Thanks to Sportstar.

Couple of days back on a morning when I read the email that Jersey Post has released a stamp on Nigel Mansell, I was the happiest person on earth. I felt as if I have received some kind of award. So fresh, new and comes in many variations. 

Nigel Mansell is no-new-name in Formula One. Born as Nigel Ernest James Mansell, he was the most successful British driver and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year for Honours services to children and young people.

He holds the distinct record of being the only driver in history to hold both the Formula One ( 1992 ) and CART championships ( 1993 ) at the same time. Jersey post issued six stamps and a collectible souvenir sheet to commemorate the 20th anniversary of this distinct record.

He still holds records for the highest percentage of pole positions in a season (88%), most wins from pole position in a season (9). 

All the six stamps carry the caption "Legacy of a Formula One champion - Nigel Mansell".

• The 45p stamp commemorates his First Pole Position at the 1984 US Grand Prix. 
• The 55p stamp commemorates his First Formula One Win at the 1985 European Grand Prix.
• The 60p stamp commemorates his First Formula One win at the Brazilian Grand Prix for the Team Ferrari at the start of the 1989 season. He was known as "il leone" ("the lion") by the tifosi (Ferrari fans) because of his fearless driving style.
• The 68p stamp commemorates his First Formula One Driver's Championship when he clinched the title finishing second at the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, 11th race of the season.
• The 80p stamp commemorates his First Indy Car Championship when he secured the 1993 title completing first at the 1993 Nazareth Speedway, 15th race of the 16 race season.
• The 88p stamp potrays the famous spectacle when Mansell on the victory lap at the 1991 British Grand Prix gives Artyon Senna a lift to the paddock when the latter ran out of fuel.

Jersey post issued some 35 variations of these stamps such as stamp sets, souvenir sheet, presentation pack, first day cover, blocks of 2 & 4. Every one of these is a stamp collectors delight ;)

Formula One - Monaco - Maserati 250F & Tyrrell P34

2013 season has just started and 3 of the 19 races have already completed. As usual my bet is on the Ferrari's ( always ). I was still searching for a stamp released to honor Sebastian Vettel or his team Red bull Racing for their 3 consecutive championships ( 2010-2012 ). With nothing out there yet on these, I came across 2 stamps for the year 2013 from Monaco and these are very special. Let's see why.

Maserati 250F : Being considered as one of the finest single-seater cars, it is also the successful racing car ever made by Maserati in their history of  Formula 1 racing. Introduced in 1954 and used untill 1960, it competed in 46 Formula One championship races with 277 entries with 8 wins. Juan Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest driver ever has won 6 races out of this front-engined F1 car, the other driver being Stirling Moss with 2 wins.

Tyrrell P34 : Formula one is all about innovative design, dynamics, speed and performance. Lots have been tried, some of them were successful but some of were not. This one belongs to the latter but something very interesting in the design. Tyrrell P34 is a six wheeled formula one racing car, 4 smaller tyres at the front and 2 normal sized tyres at the back. The design was successful when introduced in 1976 and survived another season but due to technical problems around tyres and suspension, Tyrrell discontinued the model and pulled out the design from Formula one, 1977 being the last season.