Tuesday, July 5, 1988, and the press release reads:
"Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell will be driving for Ferrari for the 1989 Formula 1 World Championship. Enzo Ferrari welcomed Michele Alboreto in Maranello, and he conveyed his appreciation for the loyal and heartfelt collaboration, even in the most difficult circumstances, for five professional seasons".
In its classic style, Ferrari announced what had already been leaked by newspapers long ago. After many words spent and what ifs, it could not wait any longer. The British driver will be paired with the Austrian next season, and it must be said that while McLaren has an established champion (Prost) and a potential champion (Senna), the Maranello team can count on a fast, competitive and generous line-up, according to the identikit drawn on Sunday by Vittorio Ghidella at Le Castellet. Nigel Mansell should have already come to Maranello two years ago and he had signed a contract as well. Then, fighting for the World Championship, he changed his mind after some pressure from Williams, his team. A change of heart that did not have legal repercussions only because the British driver proved to be sensitive - giving a considerable amount to charity - to people affected with dystrophy that is especially dear to Ferrari, and agreed, most likely, to give the Maranello team an option in case he left the British team. And this is now the case. Nigel Mansell chose not to stay, despite the good prospects coming from the Williams-Renault deal and the fact that Frank Williams himself went out of his way to offer him a stellar salary (5.000.000 dollars). This figure has only had the result of increasing the sum requested from Ferrari (but as has been the case for some time, the munificent tobacco sponsor is going to pay for it). At the same time, Mansell has been in conflict with the Williams team. Still debating over having lost the World Championship for two seasons in a row, and demoralized after seven consecutive retirements this year, the Englishman made some heavy remarks on his current team:
"It has become a difficult team. The only thing that is working well at the moment is the cooling system of the helmet".
It is a clear sign of a problematic relationship, amplified by the difficulties from the lack of reliability of the Judd engine and active suspensions. And what about Michele Alboreto? As expected, the press release by Ferrari let the Italian driver go with a few words that were also of great appreciation. What else? One can only feel sorry for the Italian driver, in the process of going to Williams or Tyrell, who has to leave right when Ferrari is beginning its ascent. But these are the tough rules of sport: when things are not going well, someone is always paying. Therefore, the initiative to hire Italian drivers has come to an end. In fact, you should always look for the best and in a competition where huge interests are at stake, you cannot choose a driver only because of his nationality. What matters is that Ferrari is going to start winning again, that Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell are not going to let down the expectations from the Tifosi, and that the team from Maranello, if it will be able to come back on top, is going to bet on an Italian driver, when there will be one available. It was twenty-one years since Ferrari had hired a British driver. With the last of a series being Mike Parkes, who raced in 1967 alongside Lorenzo Bandini, Chris Amor and Ludovico Scarfiotti. Since then, drivers of all nationalities have taken turns driving cars from Maranello. From the South African, Jody Scheckter, winner of the last title back in 1979, to the Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, to the numerous Frenchmen, among them René Arnoux, Patrick Tambay and Didier Pironi. Still, Enzo Ferrari’s choices have almost always proven to be the right ones. Nigel Mansell, who will arrive in Maranello in 1989, represents in a way the posthumous legacy of Colin Chapman, who died of a heart attack in the winter of 1982. He was the boss at Lotus, known also as a great talent scout, someone who could spot talent, and he was the first one to believe in the then-moustached driver. He called him into his team starting in the autumn of 1979, as a test driver, alongside Elio de Angelis and Mario Andretti. He then made his debut at the Austrian Grand Prix the following year, which ended with a retirement.
Since then, Mansell has stayed for five seasons with the same team and he made the move to Williams in 1985, a team with which he took his first win at Brands Hatch. Mansell’s racing career started almost by chance, and relatively late, in 1977, when he was already 23 years old, despite having a childhood passion for engines (he drove his first car at seven years old and competed in his debut race on karts at fourteen).
"I started going to races with friends. Some of them started racing and I followed them".
The rest is history: some seasons in Formula Ford, Formula 3, not many victories but consistency and total dedication. At the limit of sacrifice: when the moment came to take it to the next level, he did not hesitate, with the support of his wife, to quit his job as a technician (his title was halfway between a high school diploma and a degree in engineering) at Lucas Aerospace and to sell his house. Then, slowly, some steps forward, the first results. As a second driver, considered to be a bit of a lead foot who did not have a lot of tactical intelligence, who still needed to mature, and these episodes could have morally undermined a less determined driver. A prime example is what happened at the end of 1984 when the relationship with Lotus had already deteriorated. In Estoril: Mansell could fight for the win but he had to retire because of the lack of competitiveness of his car. A few months later a mechanic confessed that he was forced by the team managers to fit brakes that would not have lasted until the end of the race… Mansell is a calm guy in life: he loves sports such as fishing and especially golf, at which he is a pro, he is married to Rosanne and has three children. But on track, he transforms. He is competitive, brave, and surely one of the fastest. And he is technically prepared as well, so much so that Honda in 1980 chose him for the Formula 2 team run by Ron Tauranac to test the six-cylinder engine that was then used by McLaren and Lotus. A driver that has it all, then, who has the gift of pushing the car to its limit. Nigel Mansell is not easy-going with his teammates. He considers the job as a driver to be an individual activity and he is generally jealous of how he prepares his car. He rarely loses patience, but when he gets angry he does not mince his words. In Belgium, in 1986, after a crash, he punched Ayrton Senna in the garage. The Englishman is tough: in 1977 he fractured his neck in an accident in Formula Ford and he practically ran away from the hospital, getting back to racing almost immediately: doctors had prescribed him six months of total rest. In 1979 he had serious issues with his spinal column again after going off-track in Formula 3 and last year he was launched in the air in a terrifying crash in Suzuka with his Williams which prevented him from fighting Nelson Piquet for the World Championship. A few months later he showed up at winter testing, taking everyone by surprise for his grit and courage. Just what Ferrari was looking for. Last year Nigel Mansell had one of his best and bravest races here at Silverstone. Overtaking his teammate, Nelson Piquet, with a bluff. Twelve months have gone by and the Williams driver most certainly will not be able to repeat himself at the British Grand Prix beginning on Friday, July 8, 1988, with the first qualifying session. His car is not competitive anymore. But on Thursday, July 7, 1988, on the eve of the British Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell has a special reason to be at the centre of attention. The news of his move to Ferrari for the 1989 season is on everyone’s lips. This is why the British driver, 34 years old, is practically forced to improvise a press conference. Mansell, calm and collected, speaks at length.
"I assure you I am not going to tell any lies, although often you have to hide the truth".
The first question springs to mind. Why Ferrari?
"I am happy and honoured to come to Maranello. Also because this is the second chance that is offered to me. Do you remember what happened two years ago? It was a misunderstanding. I had signed a piece of paper that I had interpreted as a memorandum of a meeting with Ferrari executives. Then the matter was clarified. And we remained on good terms. On that occasion, I met Enzo. I also had dinner with mister Ferrari. Now he wished me well over the phone".
Is it true that you are going to be paid 4.500.000 pounds?
"I signed a great contract, and I am satisfied. But I am not going around asking you how much you are getting paid per article, or with whom did you sleep last night…I can only say that it is higher than the one I have now".
Is going to Ferrari a risk?
"I could not stay at Williams. I am not frustrated as somebody wrote, but very, too disappointed. The results speak for themselves. Williams will have to make a new car with a new engine shortly. You cannot rule out that it may be a difficult season for them. Patrick Head is a great designer, but John Barnard proved to be just as great. And he has had a lot of time to design a good car".
Any issues settling in? You do not speak Italian…
"Precisely because I don’t speak Italian I will not have any problems. Anyway, I always have the Isle of Man police uniform ready. No, jokes aside: I am a driver, not a politician. I will still live at home and then I will have a pied-à-terre in Maranello. Unfortunately, I will not be able to drive a Ferrari before January".
Why was everything revealed so soon?
"I don’t know. I only know that in my previous contact, I negotiated so that I could decide at the beginning of the season. When I was racing for Lotus, I had to find a seat in November. With Ferrari, I made a one-year deal, with the option to renew immediately, after the beginning of the season".
What are your thoughts on your teammate Berger?
"I knew Gerhard already before he got into Formula 1. We are friends, he is a great professional and a very fast driver. I hope to be in the same position as Senna with Prost: fighting every race for the win".
But when did you decide to accept the offer?
"The last pieces of the puzzle were solved a few days ago. But I had been thinking about it for three or four weeks. Now I am convinced I am going in the right direction".
What does it mean to race for Ferrari?
"Italian journalists are all witnesses: I have always had great admiration for the Scuderia from Maranello. All drivers dream of Ferrari. I did too. What can I say? It’s like driving for the Pope. Or the Prime minister of Formula 1, for those who are not Catholics. I made this decision in perfect harmony with my family. I think that my next team will provide me with a global package of great interest that will allow me to fight for the World Championship".
Now what?
"This weekend you will find me around the fifteenth place. This year we will have the chance to do something only in Hungary and Spain. If it started raining, I could get a podium. For Williams, of course".
But his heart is already at Ferrari. And what if Ferrari’s time has finally come? We are not talking about winning the British Grand Prix, the eighth race of the World Championship, but at least getting in the way of McLaren’s domination in qualifying, after seven consecutive pole positions of the Anglo-Japanese team, six with Ayrton Senna and one with Alain Prost. There are no prior illusions about the race, limited by fuel consumption, which is quite prohibitive on the extremely quick Silverstone circuit. Nonetheless, the hope of obtaining at least the fastest time over a single lap is still there and it is concrete. The premises of this affirmation come from the performance of the cars from Maranello lately, almost always the best in terms of top speed in the last races. In Le Castellet too, on the straights, Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto were a couple of kilometres an hour faster than the very quick McLaren. With a low-load rear wing, sure, but a lot of horsepower as well. Gerhard Berger says:
"Here at Silverstone the turbo response time, in our case a turbo lag, does not have too big of an influence. That is why I feel quite hopeful. If not pole, I can aim for the first row. And I would already be satisfied with that. In France, I was around two-tenths off Senna and seven off Prost. Today and tomorrow I could be closer. Instead, it’s useless to dream for the race: if anything, we can aim for third place, provided everything goes well. You could only go further up if McLaren has any troubles".
Gerhard Berger, as usual, is a great realist. But the Austrian has not thought about John Barnard’s presence. The British designer, who will already be busy trying to develop a normally aspirated car that made its debut at a purely functional test at Balocco, seems to have realised that even a turbo-engined single-seater needs to be developed to avoid declining over the course of the season. For this reason, John Barnard is working on two fronts. On one hand, analysing the data from the new car, on the other attempting to improve the current one that, all in all, is still the best of the rest behind McLaren-Honda. The problems to solve are not easy. There is work to do on the engine to improve turbo response times and the aerodynamic performance to improve fuel consumption and handling on track. There is not enough space, or time, to do much but you can be sure that no stone will be left unturned. Especially because the drivers, Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto, are pushing: the former would like to have the chance of fighting on equal terms with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost to prove that he has earned his renewal at Ferrari. The latter to show that his third place at Le Castellet was not by chance. Michele Alboreto says:
"Give me a competitive car and I will show you if I am a driver in decline".
Meanwhile, the Italian driver has been looking for a valid team for the next season. He was thinking about Williams, but the team seems to be oriented toward Thierry Boutsen or Nelson Piquet. In case of any difficulties, Michele Alboreto could aim for Tyrell, which next year, led by Harvey Postlethwaite as technical director, could start a journey toward renewed competitiveness. And Michele knows very well that a streak of positive results could facilitate his pursuit of a place in the sun. Friday, July 8, 1988, Ferrari keeps his promises. John Barnard had said at Le Castellet:
"In the next races, we will be closer to McLaren".
And in the first round of qualifying at the British Grand Prix, the cars from Maranello were even able to beat them. A partial and platonic success, of course, but also the first tangible sign of a gradual comeback, favoured by track conditions, which is very fast. And for once it is Michele Alboreto who is setting the fastest lap, 1’10”669, with an average speed of 243.407 km/h that makes for a thrilling lap. An indication of his performance is those who are behind him: Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna, in this order. A fantastic duel among three extremely fast men. So much so that the Austrian was only 0.07 seconds off and the Brazilian 0.011 seconds off. After free practice, which practically ended fifteen minutes early because of the rain, Michele Alboreto says:
"Everything went well, including the rain. Still, Ferrari here is very quick. We only have some minor problems with the two chicanes, as our tyres feel slippery there. At Silverstone, the turbo response time is less of a decisive factor and that explains some of our progress. Anyhow, the chassis and aerodynamics are excellent. There are no hard feelings involved with the result I achieved, nor the wish to take my revenge over Ferrari who chose Mansell over me. I am always pushing to the limit, but a lot depends on the car. And then we will see with the second round. But let’s not get carried away for the race, we still have fuel consumption issues".
Ferrari had never been ahead in qualifying at a Grand Prix this year. To find the best overall time you have to go back to last year with Gerhard Berger at Suzuka. Instead, the last time Michele Alboreto qualified ahead of everyone was in 1985 in Brazil. The Maranello team, orphaned by its head of engine design, rules in terms of speed. Berger is the fastest overall with 306 km/h on the Hangar straight (it is worth pointing out that Silverstone does not have long straights, but several very fast corners). Michele Alboreto hit its maximum speed over the finishing line, 278 km/h. That means that in terms of acceleration, the cars from Maranello are no joke. Still, differences are minimal, 1 or 2 km/h. On Saturday, then the battle will go down, weather permitting. Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna are not going to throw in the towel, rather they will go all in. The Frenchman says:
"Our cars were not balanced, you will see that we’ll be able to come back".
Not to mention Gerhard Berger who does not enjoy seeing his teammate ahead of him:
"I had a small issue with the gearbox and I was not able to use a second set of tyres. We could do better".
In the meantime, a storm of controversy hits Williams and Nigel Mansell, who will be a Ferrari driver next year. The Englishman can hardly refrain from making heavy accusations. He merely says:
"It is the most unpredictable car I have ever driven".
This comes as a justification after three scares and just as many times going off track (coming back into the pits full of grass) because of active suspensions that suddenly stop working. At the moment, Patrese has not even qualified. The day ends with some positive surprises as well. One is the March driven by the Brazilian Mauricio Gugelmin up in fifth place, first of the drivers with cars having a normally aspirated engine. It seems that this is due to a detail on the front suspension - a rod - that has been modified. The car completely changed its behaviour, and it is not suffering from understeer or oversteer anymore, with Gugelmin being as fast as Ferrari and McLaren in very fast corners.
"I couldn’t believe it. In some corners where I always had to lift the throttle, I can now easily go full throttle".
A day of glory at Ferrari. Michele Alboreto with pole position and Gerhard Berger in second place. And it is on McLaren’s home turf. No one would have expected it, although, on the eve of the weekend, the drivers of the Maranello team had said there could have been a chance of putting Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in a difficult position. But, on Saturday, it will be difficult to defend the positions and above all, have no illusions about the race. Ferrari was faster than everyone on one occasion, but racing is another thing. What matters is fuel consumption and in this field, British cars still seem unbeatable, although on Friday, to be honest, some cars with normally aspirated engines were rather impressive. Michele Alboreto, who has not lost his need for speed, took advantage of a track that suits him to shoot his shot. The Italian driver, nevertheless, is very realistic when it comes to the race:
"It’s useless to raise any false hopes. We are making progress but we are still not at McLaren’s level in terms of race management. We shouldn’t have problems with the tyres here, but apparently, Honda’s fuel consumption is out of our league. Prost himself said that here at Silverstone they will use a modified engine that improves their fuel savings. It will be very difficult to challenge them, but we will try our best".
The challenge is still at the highest level and no effort will be spared. In addition to the battle on track, the fight is now taking place everywhere, especially when it comes to technicians. The story of Jean Jacques His, head of engines at Ferrari, has recently come out. Renault issued a surprise press release in the afternoon announcing that His, forty-one years old, married with two kids, will go back to the French team led by engineer Dudot. As is known, Renault next year will return to Formula 1 to supply the new normally aspirated ten-cylinder engine with 3500 cc. His’ move seems to have personally floored Enzo Ferrari who had received assurances from the designer of his permanence in Maranello. The manufacturer summons the young engineer to his office and asks him the reason behind Renault’s announcement. His stutters, maintains he knows nothing about it, and that it was a unilateral move by the French company. Then, once he leaves the office, he confesses that he did not dare to admit his defection to the ninety-year-old manufacturer from Modena. The fact is that Ferrari’s foreign contingent is shrinking. First Postlethwaite, now His, and in the next few days perhaps Midgeot, head of aerodynamic studies. It is a time of great changes and it will not be easy to get to the bottom of it. But what is to say is that the whole team is solidifying, at the technical level, around Barnard and that can be a good thing. Going back to the British Grand Prix, apart from what will probably be a McLaren domination, the prediction is for a tight race. Even only for the predictable Prost-Senna duel. The Brazilian still has not accepted his defeat at Le Castellet, and the Frenchman would like to keep it on track to extend his lead over his rival-friend. Last year, this was one of the most beautiful races, with the now legendary overtake by Nigel Mansell on Nelson Piquet.
A story that repeats itself with other protagonists. However, after beating Honda on their home turf, at the Suzuka circuit, Saturday, July 9, 1988, is another source of satisfaction for Ferrari, beating McLaren in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, on a track around a hundred kilometres from Woking, wonderful headquarters of the British team. The cars from Maranello are flying on the extremely fast circuit at Silverstone and for the first time in four years, they have taken the first two positions, blocking out the first row for today’s race. It is a head-to-head duel between the two drivers of the team from Maranello, with Gerhard Berger ahead by only 0.2 seconds over Michele Alboreto. Fourth pole of the Austrian’s career, with an overall result that puts an end to four years of abstinence. In fact, the last time two Ferrari set the fastest laps was at the 1984 Belgian Grand Prix. For those thinking it was luck, or favourable coincidences, such as the rain in the last 15 minutes, now they will have to think again. McLaren with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, both unchained, have to give their all to set the fastest time, but they are unable to do so. Marco Piccinini, Sporting Director, says:
"It is undoubtedly a positive result that goes to show the progress we have made. Now we are definitely closer. And the drivers too were great".
It is true. The two Ferrari drivers put on a show. Starting with Michele Alboreto who improved his best time three times, and finishing with Gerhard Berger, who initially was struggling due to an issue with the pop-off valve, then having a crescendo worthy of a Wagnerian symphony, always within the thousands of a second, lapping at a speed of 245.267 km/h on average. Behind them, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost tried their best to make a comeback. The Brazilian also had two incredible spins, while the French tries to find some favourable slipstreams, putting all of his experience into practice. But there is nothing they can do. And in the end, the gaps are clear, although the numbers are still small: around 0.5 seconds for Ayrton Senna, and 0.6 seconds for Alain Prost. But the final result of the race could be another story entirely, or rather the same old story. However, there are signs that there could be some changes. McLaren brought a new chassis to Silverstone (with the machinery to assemble it costing over 150.000 euros) to be used on faster circuits. The upgrade did not bring any improvements and the British team had to go back to the old one. There is the hope that this will cause some panic at McLaren, leading them to make some mistakes, although Senna is very hopeful:
"With a full tank, we are stronger, I am not worried".
In fact, there are still many doubts about fuel consumption during the race. There are 310 kilometres to cover averaging a speed of 230 km/h and Ferrari still needs to improve in this field. But the big change is for cars with a normally aspirated engine, which, as is known, have no limitations (150 litres for the turbo) when it comes to petrol. March was extremely fast, with Gugelmin fifth, and Capelli sixth. There are two other values to take into consideration. Nelson Piquet with an aerodynamically modified Lotus could potentially be back on the podium. And Williams, which was not fast but laid aside its electronic active suspensions. Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese will have two cars with normal springs and shock absorbers. They will start from the back, but they could still be in the mix. If we add the two Benetton driven by Alessandro Nannini and Thierry Boutsen, the mixture could be lethal. It could be that this is a track favouring Ferrari, but the new management at Ferrari already achieved one objective: being faster than McLaren in terms of speed. A performance that has technical significance as well because it means having a powerful and reliable engine, an efficient body and sound aerodynamics. It is still an uphill struggle for Ferrari, having a certain hostility around them for the new situation. It is clear that Dr Cappelli’s job is not and will not be an easy one. The departure of engineer His was a master stroke, and there may be more similar episodes in the future given Barnard’s role as technical director and other internal factors that could lead other technicians to leave the team.
Nonetheless, Cappelli is confident and his arguments, as summarised here, are acceptable.
"Ferrari is not made up of a couple of names. There are efficient structures, experienced people, there are technicians as well as young talents. If an orchestra loses a director, it can still play very well".
The renovation and reinforcement plan is going ahead as planned and if some designers were to leave, they will be replaced. Related to this, Radio-Box started spreading some rumours, using the duty to report as a justification. Marco Piccinini clarifies some points:
"I am not available for a job at FISA. I read that we were going to have some contact with Japanese technicians. In fact, an ex-designer at Honda (Sakurai, Ed) who now works in movie production reached out to me as he would like to interview us".
As for the His case, these are the explanations:
"The market for technicians has become somewhat like mercenaries. Ferrari maintains a certain style, it has made engines before His, with His and it will continue to do so without him. We are saddened about what happened due to a behaviour that we do not share both with regards to the individual concerned and the big companies operating in the industry".
The reference to Renault is obvious and their work has been therefore censured. But back to the race. Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto are not delusional as to their consumption, but they still hold out some hope for a lucky shot. In the afternoon, Nigel Mansell visits Gerhard Berger, his next teammate, and hugs him, then exchanges some words with Michele Alboreto:
"I am sorry".
The Italian driver replies:
"Who knows, maybe you are not sorry for yourself".
Alboreto still seems quite calm despite losing out on the chance of being in front of his teammate as well as taking a precious pole position:
"I did three very good laps but, on every occasion, I found a slow car in the chicane. But it is what it is. The race is long, and it is not a matter of one lap. The car is almost perfect: unfortunately, there is the sword of Damocles of fuel consumption but we are making progress, even though we will need to work hard on it because starting from the next German Grand Prix, McLaren will probably regain their supremacy in qualifying back after seven consecutive races that we interrupted".
With regards to Michele Alboreto, it seems that his move to Williams is not going to happen as Thierry Boutsen has signed with them. Consequently, the Italian would go to Tyrell. There is a seat at Benetton but apparently, it is reserved for the Brit Johnny Herbert.
Sunday, July 10, 1988, the British Grand Prix unfolds under the pouring rain. Ayrton Senna makes a great start and chases Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto. At first, the Italian driver takes the lead, but the Austrian manages to retake the first place at the entry of the Copse corner. Then, Ayrton Senna overtakes Michele Alboreto and moves closer to Gerhard Berger. Alain Prost has a bad start; the French moves down to ninth place. During the third lap, Ivan Cappelli also moves back due to an electrical issue. On lap 14, Ayrton Senna takes the lead of the race after overtaking Gerhard Berger at the Bridge chicane while lapping a slow Alain Prost, as Mauricio Gugelmin, Alessandro Nannini and Nigel Mansell are fighting for the third place. Taking advantage of his skills on the wet, Ayrton Senna is able to pull ahead and create a gap. On lap 20 Nigel Mansell overtakes Alessandro Nannini and moves up into fourth position, after which the Italian spins out at Club corner, letting Mauricio Gugelmin pass. After two laps, Nigel Mansell passes Michele Alboreto for third place. On lap 24 Alain Prost retires due to handling issues on his McLaren. Looking for wet patches on the track to cool down his tyres, Nigel Mansell sets the fastest lap of the race at the end of lap 48, with an average speed of 206 km/h. On lap 50, the British driver catches up and overtakes Gerhard Berger, then maintains the second position until the end of the race, about a 23-second gap from Ayrton Senna. The car driven by Gerhard Berger suffers from a lack of fuel, therefore the Austrian driver rapidly drops positions. In the end, the Ferrari driver runs out of fuel at the last corner, going from fifth to ninth place behind Nelson Piquet, Derek Warwick, Eddie Cheever, and Riccardo Patrese. Michele Alboreto has the same issue and runs out of fuel on lap 63. Ayrton Senna wins the British Grand Prix, followed by Nigel Mansell, and Alessandro Nannini, who despite two spins, takes his first podium in a Grand Prix, then Mauricio Gugelmin, obtaining his first points in the World Championship, and finally Nelson Piquet and Derek Warwick that complete the classification of the first six.
At the halfway point of the Formula 1 World Championship, with eight races done out of sixteen, McLaren is set to have a record season. In fact, the British Grand Prix is the eighth consecutive win of the British team. Under a pouring rain that made cars seem like motorboats leaving their wakes on track, it was Ayrton Senna who took the win, king of acrobatics, and sliding magician. The Brazilian evens the score with his teammate, Alain Prost, who had an unbelievable retirement: 4-4 counting the first places. But now Ayrton Senna is much closer in the standings and the fight for the title is still on. Behind the champion of the rain, comes unexpectedly Nigel Mansell, with the first of the cars with a normally aspirated engine, third Alessandro Nannini, who did a great job and with an eventful race, he was definitely the most flamboyant, a showman. Then, another Brazilian, Mauricio Gugelmin, then the usual Nelson Piquet and Derek Warwick. To find Ferrari you have to move down to ninth place with Gerhard Berger, lapped, and seventeenth place with Michele Alboreto, who was lapped three times. It was already known that the cars from Maranello, after their stellar performance in qualifying with an amazing 1-2 locking the first row, could not stand a chance to win the race, except for unforeseeable troubles of their opponents. They were worried about fuel consumption. Then again, when they saw that it was going to rain consistently throughout the day, they thought that with a slower pace, the inconvenience would be over. However, the Ferrari on the wet started to consume even more fuel. From the start, Gerhard Berger, who had a great start and had managed to stay in the lead for 13 laps, had to use only half of the throttle. The same goes for Michele Alboreto, who was using a larger front wing so as to have better traction, and despite an incredibly slow race he ran out of fuel one lap before the end of the race. The slow sign, go slowly, was the main character in one of the darkest and most disappointing days of the team from Maranello. A situation that is illustrated perfectly by Michele Alboreto himself, who after the race says:
"It seemed like I was a Sunday driver, I was driving without pressure in the turbo, practically with a 1500 cc engine, so much so that I could have held my arm out of the cockpit, outside the car, like a tourist".
The issue catches everyone by surprise, both drivers and technicians alike. There are talks about engine mapping, i.e. the data entered into the electronic control unit of the car for optimal engine management. But it could be a mix of many things: aerodynamics, chassis, an engine with an inconsistent performance. In short, a Ferrari that gets drunk on petrol. And it is a real pity because at the same time the car, in terms of performance, would be competitive. In the words of Gerhard Berger:
"If I could have maintained the pace of the first laps without looking at the computer on board telling me I was crazy for stepping on the gas, I could have won. For the first time, McLaren was vulnerable. But we were not able to take that opportunity".
They will have to do it all over again. Everything is as before. The World Championship is along the lines of a fight between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. McLaren-Honda, and this is the pride of the Japanese company, beat an old record set by Ferrari in 1953 when the team from Maranello obtained seven victories in a row in the same season. Of course, Scuderia Ferrari, if it is of any consolation, still holds many records in Formula 1, for example, 14 consecutive successes in the 1952-1953 World Championships, apart from Indianapolis, a race in which they did not take part. But that is not the point. The British Grand Prix, held under the pouring rain, is a significant turning point for Ferrari, unfortunately, a negative one. After the good performance in qualifying, the team from Maranello sank during the race due to excessive fuel consumption, clipping their drivers’ wings. It was a hard blow for Professor Prost as well, who took part in a disconcerting episode reminding us of the famous tale of the champion of Enzo Ferrari, who maintains that a satisfied driver is less and less willing to take risks. In difficult circumstance, with a very slippery track that is full of pitfalls, with a car that was not as perfect as usual, the French decided to give up. Overtaken by seven opponents at the start, he had to engage in a pursuit he did not feel, Alain Prost retired on lap 25, when he was already lapped after almost pushing his teammate off the track who had taken advantage of a moment of hesitation by Gerhard Berger to take the lead. Like Niki Lauda in Japan in 1976.
"I had problems from the beginning. In the formation lap the clutch was stuck. The same thing happened at the start. Anyway, the car was not good. Therefore, I retired because I didn’t want to take useless risks. Everyone does whatever they think best with their lives or with their cars. I will go back home now. It may be that I can still afford the luxury of staying ahead in the standings, or it may be that I lost the title today. We will see".
All in all, the race was spectacular. Gerhard Berger managed to hold onto pole, despite the swift attacks by Ayrton Senna. The Austrian, with the help of his Ferrari that was going very well, fuel consumption aside, steadily held onto the lead for thirteen laps. Then, he had to step aside and make room for the Brazilian who went solo from that moment on. Behind them, in unbelievable clouds of water, great fighting ensued. Berger held onto the second place until lap 49, when he had to slow down even more and in a few minutes, he was sucked into ninth place. With one lap to go, the Austrian was still sixth, in the points, but a couple of hundred metres from the finish line he was overtaken by Derek Warwick, Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese. Michele Alboreto, with the fuel indicator always saying that he was never going to make it to the end, slowly slipped away. At one point the Italian driver even played his wild card: seeing as the rain was easing off, he went into the pits for slick tyres. People from other teams in the pits were shuddering because it was impossible to drive with smooth tyres. And, of course, moments after Michele Alboreto had to retrace his steps, getting lost at the back, stuck with one lap to go, being two laps down, with an empty fuel tank. It was Nigel Mansell with his Williams without active suspensions and Alessandro Nannini who put on a show. The two did not go easy on each other. The Italian Benetton driver went deep, trying to overtake Michele Alboreto.
He found himself in between the Ferrari and Nigel Mansell, who in turn was trying to overtake both and to avoid a collision he spun out. Then, he chased them down again, angrily, and this time, after having caught up and overtaken Nigel Mansell, up into third place, the skillful Alessandro Nannini had another spin. But in the end, the Benetton driver reached the lowest step on the podium, the first of his career. As fresh as a daisy, at the end of the race Ayrton Senna is glowing in the media centre. The Brazilian is certain not only of having won a good race but also that it was a harsh blow on his teammate, Alain Prost. Nonetheless, the McLaren driver is gracious with his teammate, but he still gives the impression of being a bit too diplomatic and closer to teasing.
"I am sorry for Alain because I know he had some issues. Obviously, I am happy about my win, which can improve my chances of fighting for the championship. Now I am only six points away, he has got a positive result, that is the second place in Montecarlo, under his belt. Anyway, I am convinced that the number of wins will decide the title. It seems to me that this is quite a good season given that at every race the situation changes".
On the race.
"I had a bad start, spinning his wheels. But Ferrari was not much better. I tried to surprise Berger but the Austrian had a pace that was too fast and so I let him go. Or better I tailed behind. I preferred waiting for the right moment which came when he was lapping Prost. I didn’t make contact with Alain. In some occasions, however, due to lack of visibility I almost went off. There was also some negative feedback for us. For the first time, the McLaren had issues during a race".
Inside the Ferrari garage you can notice a weird euphoric atmosphere, perhaps trying to hide the discontent and bitter disappointment. But the drivers are not putting their criticism aside. Gerhard Berger says:
"I am discouraged as from the very first laps the computer warned me that I was not going to make it until the end. Then, halfway through the race when I had already slowed down, they told me from the pits that I had to go even slower. For a driver racing only with half the throttle is too much. At some point I was even 5 laps behind with fuel. Yet, the car was great and I could have won if I had maintained a decent pace. When I had to make room for Senna, I knew that it was over".
Michele Alboreto is even tougher, and acrimoniously says:
"Together with the technicians, I wanted to change the tyres and put on the slicks. It was a desperate try to consume less fuel, but it was all for nothing. I started with a larger front wing to have greater traction but it was a huge mistake because I was consuming even more fuel than Berger. At the end I had the boost, turbo pressure, everything closed, like for normally aspirated cars. It was pitiful. I hope that something went wrong with the fine tuning of the engine, otherwise we will be in big trouble for the next races".
Both John Barnard and the Sporting Director, Marco Piccinini, fully share this analysis:
"I don’t understand the issue with fuel consumption, it is crazy. We knew we were going to be in trouble if the race was normal, but we found out only later on that with the rain it was even worse".
Marco Piccinini adds:
"I am sorry for the drivers who deserved something more after the pole position and second place. Mansell? I felt sorry when he overtook our two cars, then I was satisfied with his race. He does not seem like an unmotivated driver to me, as some have said after it was made public that he will be at Ferrari for the 1989 season".
The Englishman seemed to be on cloud nine.
"It is the first finish in the points this year. A second place in front of my home crowd is like a victory to me, given what I had. It was an extremely tough race, especially from a psychological point of view, also because we couldn’t see anything. At some point my visor fogged up, I opened it and a piece of rubber hit me near the eye. When I overtook Berger I almost went on the grass, it was a miracle keeping the car on track. It was a good overtake on Nannini when he was distracted attacking Alboreto. I want to thank my mechanics and Williams for having taken this decision to get rid of active suspensions".
Last, but not according to the classification, Alessandro Nannini, who is so happy that he even starts speaking in fluent English, proving to be as nice and sincere as always:
"I made so many mistakes that in the end I didn’t know in which position I was in. I found out with 15 laps to go when they told me from the pits. In that moment I calmed down. Jokes aside: for the first spin it was not my fault. I had to take action to avoid colliding with Alboreto. And I was going too fast. But this is still an important result. Now I am more relaxed".
As expected, Thierry Boutsen signed a two-year contract with Williams and he will replace the Brit Nigel Mansell, who is going to Ferrari. This is what Frank Williams has announced. Michele Alboreto is then moving away from Williams and he may find a seat at Tyrrell. Thierry Boutsen leaves Benetton for financial reasons. Williams promised him a 2.000.000 dollars contract: Benetton makes clear that they will not take part to these billion-dollar auctions anymore, but it would rather invest in a new workshop. The team will choose its second driver in September but it will rely on a young talent with lower demands. In the aftermath of the resounding and bitter defeat at Silverstone, Scuderia Ferrari uncovers Barnard’s base to journalists, the infamous technological antenna at the centre of the operation which led the British designer to become the technical director of the Formula 1 team from Maranello in 1986. The building is located in the suburbs of Shalford, on the banks of a small river, in a modern complex of offices and warehouses. Red bricks and mirrored smoked windows, a typical architecture in the area, almost a small castle from the 2000s, well protected from any prying eyes. It is Dr Pier Giorgio Cappelli who does the honours, the current head of the team from Maranello and Sporting Director, Marco Piccinini. Everything is functional, control and alarm systems, with a reception worthy of a big hotel, equipped with a computer, behind which a girl, Rossella Panseri, almost hides. Another Italian, Pasquale Russo, handles the management. They are the only Italians working in Guildford, where currently 24 people are working, but a further expansion of the workforce has been planned. The other make up a foreign contingent, with experts coming from the aviation industry, British Aerospace, such as Arthur Webb, head of materials control, and from other racing teams, such as Ligier, the American Penske, Lola and arrows. These are all men who have had to deal with advanced technologies and possibly with motor racing. The interior of the Guildford centre is soft, muffled. Carpets, metal structures painted in light grey, some cars and a grant to choreography: the stairs leading to the offices are adorned with shiny brass and evergreen shrubs.
There is a lot of order which gives an impression of efficiency. The GTO (Guildford Technical Office, an acronym reminiscent of the famous Ferrari Gran Turismo which has been revisited in modern perspective) takes up 1500 metres squared. A space that is not enormous but where all the advanced technologies needed to conceive, design and partially build a race car are concentrated. A centre that is meant to complete and perfect the workshops in Fiorano. The smaller departments are reserved for quality control of the materials, an aseptic area with a constant temperature reminiscent of a tailor’s shop where the chassis and various parts are fabricated with special fiber fabrics and resins all in the same way, an incredibly well-equipped mechanical workshop and the most complex room where a huge autoclave is located, essentially an oven, the most advanced in Europe. Here everything passes through the oven in order to acquire the desired rigidity. There are precision instruments all around, from the infrared microscope to specific equipment which function is difficult to understand for those who are not professionals in the field. Then, computers, electronics and systems for the simulation of certain solicitations to which, for example, suspensions are subject, and sophisticated machines to control the resistance of metals. Building a race car nowadays is not just about having a good engine and a trellis frame. Techniques are almost space-based and it does not seem farfetched to say that cars are actually planes or missiles marching on wheels. In Woking, a few kilometres from Guildford, is the McLaren headquarters. The offices are on the first floor, where Barnard’s space for thinking is as well as the design offices with drafting tables. There are also Cad-Cam system monitors which allow to directly translate the designer’s ideas from the drawing to the shaping machine. It is connected with the tools on the ground floor. Another, being installed now, through a sophisticated electronic brain will allow an interchange with Maranello in real time. Anyhow, the new Ferrari with an electronic gearbox and a normally aspirated engine seen on track a few days ago in Balocco was born here. The Ferrari of the future, and seeing the dedication and means spent, will hopefully be better than the current one. Journalists exchange a few words with John Barnard after a visit to the Guildford centre. The British designer explains in a few words the purpose of the offices, then he asks:
"Are there any questions?"
Of course there are: what happened to Ferrari at the British Grand Prix?
"I was surprised we were having that kind of problem with the rain. And I did not understand much. It is clear that we are to analyse the engine’s accessory systems to find a solution".
Does the negative performance, meaning the excessive fuel consumption seen on Sunday, coincide with some modifications?
"There is a new mapping of the engine, that is to say that the data provided to the the computer managing the engine was different than usual. Theoretically, everything should have worked out for the best allowing us to save fuel".
Was there a human error in the setting of the programs?
"No comment. Computers too are built and designed by humans. We have to find which part did not work".
The Tifosi of Ferrari, still, are wondering what happened, they do not understand why on Saturday you were on pole position and on Sunday you were going at a snail’s pace.
"We did not have enough fuel. If the track had been dry, it would have been better. Our gap from McLaren would have been smaller. It was incredible to see how much fuel we were consuming: and we were lapping ten seconds slower than the previous day. It is clear that something caused all of this. We will analyse the problem in Maranello".
The chat is over. Sporting Director, Marco Piccinini, shifts the focus from the engine to the drivers, making official what Radio-Box had already leaked:
"Ferrari hired Roberto Moreno as a test driver".
The Brazilian, born on February 11, 1959, is currently leading the Formula 3000 Championship. He is an eclectic driver, good at fine-tuning cars, given that he is getting pole positions and wins with a team without resources. Moreno will test the new car with a normally aspirated engine on a tight schedule and maybe he will take part in the potential evolution of the turbo single seater if Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto are busy. At the end of the last season, Roberto Moreno was called by the French team Ags to stand in for Pascal Fabre, who was never able to qualify, for the last two races. In a few days of testing, he made the car improve so much so that he surprisingly finished sixth in Australia. A good-natured man, when he is on track, the Brazilian puts together his talent with a remarkable determination. In his career he has won races in every category, even beating champions like Nelson Piquet who he beat at a Tasmania Cup. Marco Piccinini concludes:
"If he proves to be talented enough, it cannot be ruled out that in the future he will race for Ferrari".