| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | |||
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1987-89
2nd at Monaco F3 |
Born on 30 May, 1964, Italian Andrea Montermini had some admittedly excellent results on his profile before he made his jump into F1. He began his career late by comparison, winning three races in the 1987 Italian Formula Alfa Boxer series, coming 3rd overall.
He moved to Italian F3 in 1988, staying there the next year, in which he came 4th overall. He came 2nd in the prestigious Monaco F3 event, a result which probably caught the eyes of some F1 team bosses. |
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1990-92
Runner-up in F3000 championship |
Perhaps none more so than the heads of Ferrari, who signed Montermini up as a test driver in 1990 and 1991, during which he raced in F3000. In 1990 he came 8th overall with two podium finishes, but he dropped to 10th in 1991, recording 2 third places but also two pole positions.
It was in 1992 that he shone in F3000, taking three wins for the Il Barone Rampante team, coming 2nd in the series. He also won the World Cup F3000 event in Argentina. |
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1993-94
Races in the USA, tests for Benetton |
In 1993 he won the World Cup event again in Halifax, Canada, but his attentions were also focussed on testing for Benetton, and on Indy cars in America, where he drove for the Euromotorsports team.
He recorded an excellent 4th at Detroit. He began 1994 in the CART PPG series, but soon he had his eyes set a little higher. |
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| FORMULA ONE | |||
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1994 Simtek Continues F1's year of woe with big smash |
After Roland Ratzenberger's fatal accident, Montermini jumped at the chance to fill the breach at
Simtek for Spain and beyond. Unfortunately for him, there was no beyond. Suffering from fever and 'flu, he bravely flung the car around in qualifying, only to lose control at the last corner of his first flying lap, crashing into the pit wall and damaging his feet. Thus he failed to qualify and lost his seat to
Jean-Marc Gounon.
His injuries, though, were not particularly serious, and a few weeks later he was back in America. He scored more points at Detroit and Laguna Seca. Proving what a versatile driver he was, he proceeded to round the year off by winning the 17th Rally of Monza in a Lancia Delta. |
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1995 Pacific Makes the grid by default but always at the back |
Montermini got a second bite at the F1 cherry in 1995, joining the Pacific team with its Ford Cosworth ED engine. In short, while the chassis was decent, engine power was lacking, as was cash.
In 17 events, Montermini qualified for all of them in a year when non-qualification was non-existent. His best qualifying efforts were 22nd out of 26 twice, and 20th out of 24 (after Simtek folded) twice. That result at Suzuka requires some context, though: Mark Blundell's McLaren started from the back of the grid after crashing in practice, and recording only a time of 16 minutes 42 seconds. (See, I told you there was no such thing as non-qualification). |
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1995
Hopeless season, classified a mere twice |
The fact that Montermini proceeded to finish 9th in the season opener in Brazil gave the team false hope. He only finished three more times after that in France, Germany and Hungary. In France, he was not even classified as a finisher after completing the race 10 laps adrift, while at
Hockenheim he recorded his career best of 8th (last) in a race of attrition. Wow.
He was disqualified at Monaco after failing to come in for his stop/go penalty for jumping the start. In ten other races he retired, especially due to gearbox failures. |
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1995
Overtakes Mika Hakkinen in the wet at the Nurburgring! |
Twice he also ran out of fuel. The second time this happened was at the Nurburgring, in the most unfortunate circumstances. The race had started well enough; on a wet track, he even managed to pass
Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, struggling around on slicks. The delirious pit crew could not inform their man of his advantage, because they didn't have a 'Hakkinen' sign to put on their pit board!
When Montermini came in for fuel, refueller Paul Summerfield realised no fuel was going in, so he took the nozzle out, and without stepping away from the car, turned to look at the rig. The rest of the team thought the stop was complete and sent the Italian on his way. The rear-right wheel of the Pacific hit Summerfield, breaking his leg in two places. Inevitably, the car ran out of fuel. |
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1996 Forti On a roll: Simtek, Pacific and now ... Forti. Oh joy. |
Despite his 1995 setbacks, his ability behind the wheel meant that fellow-minnows
Forti were quick to choose him for 1996. Yet it turned out to be a year even worse than 1995, as the team did not have its new car for a number of races, and had to make do with its 1995 dog early on. When the new car did arrive, despite the skills of Cesare Fiorio and George Ryton, it too was a donkey.
Montermini was also out-driven by Luca Badoer. He qualified five times only, finishing only once in 10th in Argentina. A mysterious lot called the Shannon Group acquired ownership of the team but never paid up, and when Guido Forti could not regain control of the team, it collapsed after Germany, leaving Montermini unemployed. |
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1996
History repeats as Ferrari flirts with the rules? |
A quick note on his qualifying efforts in France in view of recent (this being written one week before Japan Grand Prix of 1999) debacles. He qualified 21st out of 22, with number 22 being Eddie Irvine. The Irishman's times had been disallowed after the barge-boards on the side of the car were found to be too high, and Irvine was forced to start last.
All this was after Michael Schumacher had set the pole time, and before Ferrari brought its cars in, closed its garage, and made some hasty modifications. Think what you like about that. |
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1997
Lola. Enough said. |
In 1997, it was reported that Montermini had signed to test for the new Lola team, but after drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset proved miles off the pace in Melbourne, the team closed doors to avoid further embarrassment. Montermini's involvement with F1 was officially over. |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | |||
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1997
Races brilliantly for Ferrari in WSC including 3 victories |
How do you climb back from morale-sapping F1 disaster? Montermini found the answer by renewing his association with the famous prancing horse, driving a Ferrari 333SP sports car in 1997 in both Italy and America.
He was quite a revelation! Taking victories at Colorado Springs, Sebring and Lime Rock, and taking fastest laps at the 1000km of Monza, Watkins Glen, the 12 Hours of Sebring and Mosport, not to mention several pole positions - he was a dominant force in the WSC (IMSA) Championship. However, it all seemed in vain when a low-key 1998 followed. |
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1998-2000
Eagle fails to soar as Andrea bombs out |
In 1998 he raced in a Nissan R390 GT1 in the Le Mans 24hrs, finishing 6th with team mates
Jan Lammers and Erik Comas. In 1999 he once again drove for Nissan at Le Mans, this time with two other ex-F1 men, Alex Caffi and
Domenico Schiattarella for team Betthenausen. Once again, he finsihed 6th.
In 1999, he also returned to Indy Car racing in America, or Champ Cars as they are now known, but his luck with equipment doesn't seem to have improved. Saddled with what is agreed upon as the worst package in the series, the Eagle chassis with the Toyota engine, at time of writing his best qualifying effort was 21st at Laguna Seca, and his only finish was 10th at Vancouver. He's currently desperately trying to negociate a 2000 CART drive for later this season. |
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