Mario Andretti

Born: 28th February 1940, Montona, Italy.

One of the all-time greats of American motorsport, Mario Andretti arrived in the USA from Italy with his family in the years following the Second World War. He began racing with his brother Aldo on local dirt tracks before making his USAC debut in 1964, before winning the title the following year and finishing third on his Indy 500 debut. He retained the title with eight wins in 1966, and the following year proved his versatility by winning the NASCAR Daytona 500 and taking the Sebring 12 Hours, sharing a Ford GT40 with Bruce McLaren.

USAC success continued, but in 1968 Mario was offered his Grand Prix chance by the Lotus team at Monza and Watkins Glen, and he stunned the establishment when he qualified on pole for his debut having been unable to start at Monza due to a clashing USAC commitment. His phenomenal career continued in 1969 with his first victory in the Indy 500 and a third USAC title before more Grand Prix appearances with Lotus and March, his first points coming with third place in the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix.

Ferrari had spotted Andretti’s huge talent and signed him to their sports car team the same year, where he took victory at the Sebring 12 Hours (with Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella) and for 1971 the Scuderia gave him the Grand Prix drive he craved. He won first time out in South Africa, but with only one other points scoring finish in Germany he could only take eighth in the standings, possibly hindered by his US commitments which included both USAC and sports cars.

The latter category provided much of Andretti’s success in 1972 as he shared a 312P with Jacky Ickx taking four victories, but he only picked up four points in F1. For 1973 he headed back to the US full time to race for Parnelli Jones in both USAC and Formula 5000, finishing runner-up in each series he contested. For 1975 the Parnelli team had a crack at Grand Prix racing without much success for Mario, but following their withdrawal Lotus took on the American. Initially disliking the new Type 77, Andretti soon gelled to the black and gold machine and at the end of 1976 scored victory in the famous wet Japanese Grand Prix to take sixth in the championship.

Ground effect arrived for 1977 and Andretti was among the pre-season favourites for the championship, but despite winning the Long Beach, Spanish, French and Italian Grands Prix, a spate of Cosworth engine failures frustrated the team and Mario could only take third in the points. There was to be no mistake the following year, however. Andretti and team mate Ronnie Peterson dominated the season, Mario taking victories in Argentina, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, most often with Peterson behind him on the podium. The team were all set for another success at Monza, but tragedy struck when Peterson was seriously hurt in a pile-up at the start. Mario kept Lotus morale high by taking the win on the restart, only to be hit with a one-minute penalty for a contentious jumped start – many being of the opinion that the race had been started before most of the grid was ready. The penalty dropped Andretti to sixth, but despite no points in the final two races of the year, he had done enough to become America’s second World Champion after the great Phil Hill in 1961.

With a switch of sponsor to Martini came a downturn in performance for Lotus in 1979, the new 79 and 80 models simply too unreliable and Andretti was not even able to record a victory. Indeed, his best finish of the year was third place at Jarama, and he could only muster equal tenth place in the World Championship.

It’s all new at Lotus for 1980 – a new car in the shape of the 81, a new sponsor in Essex Petroleum, a new team manager in Ryan Ferris, and a new team mate in Frenchman Didier Pironi. Surely the only way is up for the American superstar in 1980.