Ivan Capelli

Ivan Capelli

1991 United States Grand Prix
Born	24 May 1963 (1963-05-24)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1985 - 1993
Teams	Tyrrell, AGS, March, Leyton House, Ferrari and Jordan
Races	98 (93 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	3
Career points	31
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1985 European Grand Prix
Last race	1993 Brazilian Grand Prix

Ivan Franco Capelli (born in Milan, May 24, 1963) is an Italian former Formula One driver. He participated in 98 Grands Prix, debuting on October 6, 1985. He achieved 3 podiums, and scored a total of 31 championship points. Today he is an F1 commentator on the Italian TV station Rai 1.

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 9 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 1, 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 F1 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 F1 team - with Capelli as a core component in their plans. By now, Capelli and Garibaldi had an almost father-son relationship.

Capelli driving for March at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.

Capelli driving for Leyton House at the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

For 1987 Capelli was F1 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 F1 unit), and the Schnitzer team had works status with BMW, allowing him to be on the German company's payroll. Capelli scored the F1 team's first point with 6th at the Monaco Grand Prix and March's return to F1 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 F3 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 3rd 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.

Capelli in the cockpit of his Leyton House for the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

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 90s 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.

Capelli during a charity match In Abu Dhabi

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 F1 career was over.

Following F1, 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 an F1 commentator on Italian TV station Rai 1 and remains a popular personality in the F1 paddock. Having come to terms with the disappointment of Ferrari, he has regained the happy disposition which had originally made him popular.

Racing Results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1985	Genoa Racing	SIL	THR	EST	VAL Ret	PAU DNS	SPA Ret	DIJ Ret	PER Ret	ZEL 1	ZAN DNS	DON 3	7th	13
1986	Genoa Racing	SIL Ret	VAL 1	PAU Ret	SPA 3	IMO 2	MUG 3	PER Ret	ZEL 1	BIR Ret	BUG 4	JAR 3	1st	39

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts.
1985	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 014	Renault V6 (t/c)	BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR Ret	RSA	AUS 4	17th	3
1986	Jolly Club SpA	AGS JH21C	Motori Moderni V6 (t/c)	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA Ret	POR Ret	MEX	AUS	NC	0
1987	Leyton House March Racing Team	March 871	Ford Cosworth DFZ V8	BRA DNS	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON 6	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 10	AUT 11	ITA 13	POR 9	ESP 12	MEX Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	19th	1
1988	Leyton House March Racing Team	March 881	Judd V8	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 10	MEX 16	CAN 5	DET DNS	FRA 9	GBR Ret	GER 5	HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA 5	POR 2	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 6	7th	17
1989	Leyton House Racing	March 881	Judd V8	BRA Ret	SMR Ret															NC	0
		March CG-891	Judd V8			MON 11	MEX Ret	USA Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 12	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret
1990	Leyton House	Leyton House CG901	Judd V8	USA Ret	BRA DNQ	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 10	MEX DNQ	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 7	HUN Ret	BEL 7	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	10th	6
1991	Leyton House	Leyton House CG911	Ilmor V10	USA Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 6	BEL Ret	ITA 8	POR 17	ESP Ret	JPN	AUS	18th	1
1992	Scuderia Ferrari SpA	Ferrari F92A	Ferrari V12	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA 5	ESP 10	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN 6	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN	AUS	13th	3
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hart V10	RSA Ret	BRA DNQ	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	NC	0

External links

• Ivan Capelli career statistics
• F1 Rejects article on Capelli's 1992 season
• Official site

Sporting positions
Preceded by Enzo Coloni	Italian Formula Three Champion 1983	Succeeded by Alessandro Santin
Preceded by Michel Ferté	Monaco Formula Three Race Winner 1984	Succeeded by Pierre-Henri Raphanel
Preceded by Pierluigi Martini	European Formula Three Champion 1984	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Christian Danner	International Formula 3000 Champion 1986	Succeeded by Stefano Modena
Awards
Preceded by none	Lorenzo Bandini Trophy 1992	Succeeded by David Coulthard (1995)