|
Sitting on the front row of the grid for the USA GP
in Phoenix was the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini. In recent
months the Italian has emerged from the shadows and built
himself the reputation of being one of the fastest
competitors outside the big name teams of Grand Prix racing.
Few remember that in 1985 Pierluigi had been consigned to
F1's scrap heap as a no-hoper.
Back in 1983 Pierluigi was the bright young star of
European racing. In October of that year at Thruxton Ayrton
Senna and Martin Brundle fought out the British Formula 3
title. On the same day at Croix-en-Ternois in northern
France Pierluigi took the European title. He had beaten the
likes of John Nielsen, Tommy Byrne, Emanuele Pirro, Roberto
Ravaglia and Gerhard Berger.
A few weeks earlier he had tested a Brabham Formula 1 car
and, driving a Minardi, had finished second on his Formula 2
debut at Misano.
He was 22 years old and, quite clearly, a man who was
going places in Grand Prix racing.
And yet it all went wrong. Pierluigi did scarcely any
racing in 1984, but the following season he was picked as
Minardi's first F1 driver when Alessandro Nannini was
refused a superlicence by the FISA.
The 1985 season was a disaster, the fledgling Minardi
outfit, using Motori-Moderni turbo engines, was hoplessly
off the pace. By the end of the year Martini was being
written off by F1.
"It was mainly the engine," he explains, with disinterest
in his voice. "We couldn't do more than a handful of laps
each time and it wasn't letting us develop. Whatever we had
-- and we didn't have the best -- couldn't be developed.
"Generally-speaking the team was inclined to blame others
and did criticise itself. For many of them the driver was at
fault.
"I have nearly totally forgotten 1985," he says now, "but
I know that it was good for me in the sense that I had to
understand that one must always fight, without ever losing
hope, and without ever stopping that fight. I really try and
get positive experience from the past."
Had that disastrous year been a case of too much too
soon?
"No, I don't think so. If I had had a competitive team or
a competitive car I would not be the Martini I am today."
"The positive thing was that this was never the case with
Gian Carlo (Minardi) himself. He has always admitted his own
mistakes."
"I had a very good relationship with Gian Carlo which did
not break even when I left in not a very nice manner.
Between us everything continued to be quite friendly."
Friends or not, Pierluigi's career lay in ruins. There
was no chance of another F1 drive, so Pierluigi decided to
go backwards -- to Formula 3000 -- in an attempt to rebuild
his reputation. He rejoined Luciano Pavesi Racing, for which
he had won the European F3 title.
"I really wanted to go back to race for Pavesi. I was
sure that that team knew me. At least they knew what I was
worth and believed in me the same as I believed in myself.
That let me take it easy. I didn't have to prove anything to
them, because they knew me. I was fighting against everyone
else, but at least I didn't have to fight in my own house.
"The results came right away and therefore I started to
get even more confidence in myself and more enthusiasm that
I nearly lost in 1985."
Pierluigi ended 1986 as the runner-up to Ivan Capelli in
the International F3000 Championship.
He stayed with Pavesi for 1987, but nothing went right
and, at the beginning of 1988, he joined Lamberto Leoni's
First Racing. At the same time he was contracted to Minardi
as the team's test driver.
In the course of the summer Martini's fortunes took a
turn for the better. Minardi's Adrian Campos quit the team
and Pierluigi was called in to replace the Spaniard. In his
first race, the Detroit Grand Prix, he finished sixth,
scoring Minardi's first World Championship point.
Within a matter of weeks he was a winner again in F3000
at Enna-Pergusa.
Surely, he must have been wary about going back to
Minardi after the experiences of 1985?
"I didn't think too much about it, Within myself I knew
what happened and knew what was changing and I had no reason
not to have confidence.
"I knew, or I believe I knew, the motives and reasons for
which Minardi was what it was in 1985. They had gained a
little experience since then and the whole team was wanting
to progress and recognise their own errors. The team's
policy had changed completely.
"With Gian Carlo and me there had always been a
reciprocal knowledge of each other's competitiveness. The
proof was that when he could choose a driver, he chose me.
That was proof enough. When I realised that the whole thing
could be handled by Gian Carlo instead of leaning on other
people, I took my decision and that was it."
Pierluigi signed for the team fulltime for the 1989
season.
"Minardi is my work desk. I am doing my job and I am paid
for it like everyone else but, of course, there is a special
kind of feeling. We come from the same part of the country
and we've known each other for a long time."
The team started to work with Pirelli and as the season
progressed so did the competitiveness of Minardi. At
Silverstone that hard work was rewarded with an emotional
fifth-sixth finish for Pierluigi and his team mate and
friend Luis Sala. It came on the day that Minardi was
threatened with a future of pre-qualifying unless there were
points on the board.
"It was not a day that I can easily forget. It was one of
those days that stay with you because it makes you think how
hard it is to work and how rewarding it can be when you get
the result you have been chasing. In Italian there is an
expression 'Dalla stalla alle stelle' -- from the stables to
the stars. That is what really happened to us.
"That is what really makes this sport nice, but it also
teaches you that something that is very important: never
over-estimate yourself. It's difficult enough to get up
there to the front, but its very easy to fall back down
again. You always need to work hard and be on the ball. The
most difficult thing is not to get to the stars, it is
remain there..."
Pierluigi has managed to achieve that. By the end of last
year, he was challenging McLarens and Ferrais for pole
positions and mounting a serious threat in the races.
"We worked a lot with Pirelli during the winter and
probably the reason for our success is that not only did
they developed their own product but also that we developed
alongside them. Minardi was building the way Pirelli wanted
and the same vice-versa. Without even thinking about it we
met in the middle and solved our problems together. The
results have been the fruit of that relationship."
At the end of last season Pierluigi's name was being
linked to bigger and more celebrated teams, yet he stayed on
with Minardi.
"I had many contacts with other teams," he explains, "but
the programme that Minardi had put in front of me, was
better than the offers I received. So I did think about it,
but not for long, because I knew this was my way -- at least
for the time being.
"It is an immense satisfaction to realise that you are
showing others what you believed you were anyway. I believe
that the people around me are the thermometers for what
happens outside. I am very happy about the satisfaction,
but, at the same time, I am very conscious and responsible
that I have to do it again next weekend. In other words, I
am keeping my feet on the ground and not running away on
horses.
"It is even more important because I am not fighting
against a crowd of incompetents -- all my adversaries are
very competent -- possibly some are better than I am, or
more experienced that I am. I just have to work harder and
harder and harder. Not only me, but the whole team.
"And even if sometimes I do forget about keeping my feet
on the ground, it doesn't last long because I immediately go
back and say 'Yes, okay, I've had fun and vented my
feelings, I have to go back now and work on my line'.
Talking with Pierluigi you get the impression that he has
built a wall around himself, to protect himself from the
kind of hurt he experienced in 1985. He is not unfriendly,
but he is reserved. He is doing a job and the real Pierluigi
Martini is not available for everyone to see. Does he feel
that?
"Yes. I have my friends and my fun in very simple ways.
In doing those things I'd rather that no-one recognises me
and they let me do whatever I am doing.
"It has to change when I am at the track, but that is my
profession.
"I don't like to be involved in too much chaotic
activity. I like to take a walk in the country or play golf.
My family and private life is one thing, my profession is
another one. I like to keep them separate."
It seems, looking back, that Pierluigi is much changed
from the delighted, emotional, youngster of 1983. F1 has not
been kind to him in the past and he is guarding against the
same happening again. He will not let his hopes and
ambitions run riot.
Does he feel that change?
"Possibly," he says without a smile. "It happens."
While he is cautious, there is no doubt that the same
fire still burns as did in 1983. His ambition then was to be
World Champion and this has not changed.
"I will try to be World Champion with whatever team takes
me up to the standard necessary," he says.
"I do not want to imagine the future. I want to try to
give my best at the moment. If I lose my concentration I can
easily fall back -- with the team -- to where I was before.
"I don't believe in planning too much. You never know
what might happen. You are really planning without all the
necessary information, so it's not very intelligent. You
know what direction you want to go, but you shouldn't plan
with too much detail because things might change.
"It is not in my plans to think about the future until I
reach the future."
Published with kind permission of
www.grandprix.com
|
