Ivan Capelli - Career

Career

Capelli began his career as a kart driver when he was 15 years old, and after four years he moved to the Italian Formula Three Championship.

In 1983 he became Italian Formula Three champion, after dominating the series with nine victories. After that he moved with the Coloni team to the European Formula Three Championship, and here he was the champion again in 1984.

In 1985 he graduated to the European Formula 3000 Championship with a Genoa Racing March-Cosworth and won one race. The same year he debuted in Formula One, driving a Tyrrell at the European Grand Prix (despite never having driven at Brands Hatch before), and finished fourth in Australia. Despite this, he was not picked up for a full time Formula One drive in 1986.

Instead, he contested the 1986 Formula 3000 Championship, still with Genoa Racing, and also raced a BMW in the European Touring Car Championship. He also raced a couple of times in F1 with the AGS team. Meanwhile, Cesare Garibaldi, the boss of Genoa Racing, was working with Robin Herd of March to create a new Formula One team – with Capelli as a core component in their plans. By now, Capelli and Garibaldi had an almost father-son relationship.

For 1987 Capelli was in Formula One full-time with the March team, led by Garibaldi and running Herd's new chassis with a Cosworth V8 normally aspirated engine. Capelli also continued with BMW touring cars for the Schnitzer team, as the March budget was tight (so tight in fact that they raced at the Belgian Grand Prix with a detuned 3.3 litre sports car engine rather than the full 3.5l Formula One unit), and the Schnitzer team had works status with BMW, allowing him to be on the German company's payroll. Capelli scored March's first point with sixth at the Monaco Grand Prix and March's return to Formula One was generally seen as competent, professional and promising for the future. On to 1988, and Capelli had a new weapon at his disposal, a new March chassis designed by Adrian Newey – later to find fame as designer at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull – allied to the Judd V8 engine (derived from the Brabham-Honda CART engine and the Judd/Honda F3000 unit). March had hoped to be the favoured development partner for this engine but found themselves sharing it with Williams and Ligier, both of whom had lost their engine deals. Capelli was also joined in the team by British Formula Three Champion, Brazilian Maurício Gugelmin. Together, they made a strong team, and March was the revelation of the year. At Spa-Francorchamps he scored his first podium with a third place behind Ayrton Senna's and Alain Prost's McLarens and at Suzuka he made a piece of history by being the driver of the only naturally aspirated car to lead a Grand Prix in a season of turbo dominance.

However, the momentum was not maintained. March were in financial problems and erstwhile sponsor, Leyton House, acquired a controlling interest in the team. Although Gugelmin finished third in his home race at Jacarepaguá in 1989, this was done in the 1988 car. The definitive 1989 Leyton House March was a disappointment, and neither driver troubled the leading cars for the rest of the year. However, the team spirit remained intact despite the death of Garibaldi in a car crash. 1990 started off little better. Newey's new car (given the prefix CG in honour of Garibaldi) had excellent aerodynamics but was intolerant of bumps. Things were so bad that on the notoriously bumpy Mexico City track neither driver could make the car work and both failed to qualify. But at Paul Ricard in France at the very next race, Capelli led Gugelmin in a Leyton House 1–2 deep into the race. Gugelmin retired and Capelli was overtaken close to the end by Prost, and finished second. Revisions to the car had made it more competitive (ironically Newey left the team shortly before the French race), but in truth it was the billiard table-smooth track which allowed the result. Despite some promising showings at Silverstone and Hockenheim, the remainder of the year was unfulfilling.

In 1991, Leyton House was responsible not only for chassis development but also bankrolled the ambitious Ilmor V10 engine programme. With so many new ingredients, results were again thin on the ground although Capelli often qualified and raced well. When Leyton House's owner Akira Akagi was arrested in connection with the Fuji Bank fraud, the team was in a precarious state. Capelli had signed for Scuderia Ferrari for the '92 season, so he voluntarily stepped down, allowing pay driver Karl Wendlinger to finish the season and personally paid to attend the races he missed to offer support to the team and advice to his rookie substitute.

In 1992, Capelli became the first Italian to driver for Ferrari since Michele Alboreto in 1988. The Scuderia had gone through a tough time in 1991, but with a new car, the F92A (nicknamed the F-15 on account of its resemblance to the American fighter jet), expectations were high. The new car was not competitive and before the season began Capelli was showing his disappointment. A driver who enjoyed the convivial atmosphere of a family-type team, he struggled to integrate with the bureaucratic structure of early 1990s Ferrari. Losing motivation, the team in turn lost confidence in him and his teammate Jean Alesi gained the upper hand. Capelli was sacked before the season's end.

This experience seemingly broke his spirit, but those who had worked with him at March still had faith, notably Ian Phillips, then Jordan team manager. Taking a Jordan seat for 1993 alongside a young Rubens Barrichello, Capelli failed to rediscover the spark that not long ago had marked him as a champion of the future. After failing to qualify for the second race in Brazil, he left the team by mutual consent. Capelli was distraught and Jordan was disappointed too – they knew Capelli had the ability, but he just couldn't muster it up any longer. His Formula One career was over.

Following his exit from Formula One, he raced a Nissan Primera with mixed results in German Supertouring for BMS Scuderia Italia and later took part in the Trofeo Maserati one-make series. He also became a Formula One commentator on Italian TV station Rai 1 and remains a popular personality in the paddock. Having come to terms with the disappointment of Ferrari, he has regained the happy disposition which had originally made him popular.