Mario Andretti warns against major changes in Formula One

Mario Andretti says he still enjoys watching Formula One. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Past F1 champion and American racing legend says Mercedes' dominance is a good thing

One the eve of planned massive changes to the speed and look of the cars in Formula One, 75-year-old Mario Andretti is warning the series against going overboard as it looks to the future. 

 

"Formula One is a great product," Andretti, the 1978 F1 champion, told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "It keeps its integrity because of the technology. That's the trademark.

 

"(The technology) is why the fans love Formula One. Motorsport in general is expensive, and sometimes (F1) goes too far, so every now and then the sport needs to adapt. But I say adapt, not do things differently just for the sake of change. No racing series is perfect. There is no magic key, so please don't try to reinvent the wheel. That would be the worst thing they could do. It's exactly the mistake IndyCar made. They betrayed their roots and introduced things that do not fit with the series."

 

Some, however, believe the racing is better elsewhere than in F1, such as in IndyCar, where Andretti's grandson Marco is now a race winner.

 

Andretti's son Michael, now an IndyCar team owner, raced in Formula One in 1993.

 

When asked if F1 has something to learn in that area from IndyCar, Mario Andretti said, "It's the opposite. Everyone is talking about Mercedes' dominance and that it is wrecking the sport, but I think it's produced some great stories. Now everyone is watching Ferrari to see if they can close the gap.

 

"The Grands Prix in Hungary and Singapore showed that Mercedes can no longer afford to make the slightest mistake, and as a fan I love that."

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Mario Andretti Biography

Mario Andretti is best known as one of car racing's most successful drivers.

Synopsis

Mario Andretti was born on February 28, 1940, in Montona, Italy (now Motovun, Croatia). The end of World War II brought changes to the Andretti family because their town became a part of communist Yugoslavia. Once the family secured immigration to the United States, Mario became deeply involved in car racing. Andretti became one of the most successful race car drivers of all time, winning multiple titles and races throughout his multiple decade career.

Early Life

Mario Gabriele Andretti was born in Montona, Italy (now Motovun, Croatia), on February 28, 1940. Over the course of his five-decade career, Andretti became one of car racing's best drivers. His resume includes three Driver of the Year awards (1967, 1978 and 1984), and he's the only driver to win the Daytona 500, Indy 500 and Formula One titles.

For Andretti, who has a twin brother, Aldo, childhood had its challenges. Family life was turned upside down not long after the boys were born and Mussolini sided with Hitler in World War II. The end to the conflict only brought more turmoil for the family, whose home became a part of Yugoslavia and fell under Communist rule.

The Andrettis quickly left, finding safety in a refugee camp, where they lived for seven years beginning in 1948. In 1955 the Andrettis secured a visa to the United States and in June of that year settled into their new home as best they could in Nazareth, Pennsylvannia. Nobody in the family spoke English and they had just $125 to their name.

Car Racing

For Andretti and his brother Aldo, car racing had become central to their lives before they had moved to the U.S. and Mario idolized the Italian driver Alberto Ascari. In their new country the Andretti boys continued to feed their passion. Mario took a job in an uncle's garage, and in 1959, along with his brother, began racing stock cars at a nearby track.

The young drivers claimed some early wins, though in the last race of that first season, Aldo suffered a bad accident and fractured his skull. He continued to race another ten years before another crash, this one causing significant facial injuries, forced him to retire.

Mario, however, could not be slowed. His father detested his racing—he only discovered his boys' affinity for the sport after Aldo's accident in 1949—and stayed away from Mario's races until 1964.
As quickly as he could Mario not only found new sprint and midget car races, but often times won them. He joined the United Racing Club in 1961, then two years later was racing with the American Race Drivers Club, racing midgets throughout the east. In 1964, the same year he officially became an American citizen, Andretti became a member of the U.S. Auto Club and started competing in some of the country's best races.

Commercial Success

Just a year into his tenure with the club Andretti raced in his first-ever Indianapolis 500, taking third and earning the Rookie of the Year title. The next several years would prove to be incredibly fruitful for the young driver. He captured NASCAR's Daytona 500 in 1967, then a year later, ventured into Formula One territory, taking hold of the pole position in his very first race.

In the late 1960s nobody was a better a Indy car racer than Mario Andretti. After two-straight second-place Indy car championship finishes in 1967 and 1968, Andretti earned top honors in 1969 with nine total victories.

In the mid-1970s, Andretti focused a lot of his attention on Formula One racing. The pinnacle of this period came in 1978, when he became just the second American (Phil Hill was the first, in 1961) to win that sport's world championship.

Later Career

Over the course of the final decade of his career, Mario Andretti was still a force in the world of car racing. In 1984, just two years after returning to Indy car racing, he won the championship, his fourth Indy title. Just seven years later, he nearly captured a fifth, narrowly losing out to his son, Michael.
It was a disappointment Andretti was more than welcome to accept. But others during his career have been harder to swallow. The most famous of those came in 1981, when a Bobby Unser victory at the Indianapolis 500 was overturned after Unser was accused of passing cars illegally while a yellow caution flag was in place. Andretti, who finished second, got the win, then lost it when an appeal board called the Unser punishment excessive and gave him back the title.

In 1994, after more than $11 million in winnings, Mario Andretti retired from Indy car racing. In the ensuing years he's been inducted into multiple halls of fame and was named "Driver of the Century" by The Associated Press and RACER magazine.

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Mario Andretti American race–car driver

Mario Andretti, in full Mario Gabriel Andretti (born February 28, 1940, Montona, Italy) Italian-born American automobile-racing driver who drove stock cars, U.S. championship cars, and Formula One cars.

Mario and his twin brother, Aldo, studied automobile mechanics, frequented racing-car garages, and participated in a race-driving training program in Italy. In 1955 the family came to the United States and settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania; Mario became a U.S. citizen in 1964. By 1958 the brothers were racing stock cars. After several serious crashes, Aldo gave up racing in 1969. In the early 1960s Mario raced sprint and midget cars and in 1964 began racing in the championship-car division of the United States Automobile Club (USAC); he won USAC championships in 1965–66 and 1969. He also won the Daytona 500 stock-car race (1967) and the sports-car Grand Prix of Endurance race at Sebring, Florida (1967, 1970).

Andretti won the Indianapolis 500 race in 1969 with a then-record speed of 156.867 miles per hour (252.11 km/hr). His apparent victory in the 1981 race was ultimately given to Bobby Unser (Andretti was penalized one lap for passing cars during a yellow flag). Andretti was the second American driver to win the Formula One world driving championship in 1978 (Phil Hill was the first, in 1961). He retired from competition in 1994. In 1999 a panel of experts in a tie vote named Andretti and A.J. Foyt the best drivers of the century. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000. Andretti’s sons, Jeff and Michael, also became professional race-car drivers.

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