Mario Andretti was born in Montona, Italy (now Croatia) just outside of the city of Trieste. He remains an ambassador for Ind圜ar racing and has also supported the development of the Circuit of the Americas.Biography of Formula 1 legend Mario Andretti The 63-year-old was fortunate to escape unhurt. He made four appearances at Le Mans, the last in 2000 with Panoz, but wasn’t able to add victory in the classic race to his stunning record of success.Īndretti returned to Indianapolis in 2003 but suffered a horrifying aerial crash after hitting debris on the straight.
He raced on into the 1990s, partnering Nigel Mansell at Newman/Haas in 19, the latter his final season of competition. His comeback included a celebrated pole position and podium finish at Monza.Īndretti returned to Ind圜ars winning that title for the fourth time in 1984. In 1981 he switched to Alfa Romeo but as ground effect technology made the cars less rewarding to drive and lethal in the event of an accident, Andretti returned to Ind圜ars.Ī brief postscript to his F1 career came in 1982: he drove for Williams at Long Beach when Carlos Reutemann abruptly left the team, then returned to Ferrari for a few drives for Ferrari after Didier Pironi’s crash. Lotus went into decline and Andretti never won another Grand Prix. But it was scant comfort after the death of team mate Ronnie Peterson at Monza. In 1977 he was third in the championship and in 1978, with the devastating ground effect Lotus 79, he was champion. When Parnelli folded he joined Lotus and by the end of 1976 he and Colin Chapman had restored the team to winning ways. But it wasn’t until 1975 that he completed a full season, with the under-funded Parnelli team. He joined Ferrari in 1971 and the relationship got off to a great start when Andretti won on his debut in Kyalami, South Africa. But for many years the allure of racing in America kept him from competing regularly in F1. He made waves by taking pole position for his first F1 start at Watkins Glen in 1968.
He won the Ind圜ar title in 1965 after just two years in the sport and won NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in 1967.
0 kommentar(er)
