Franco Forini

Franco Forini

Nation:	Switzerland
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1987 Italian Grand Prix
Last start:	1987 Spanish Grand Prix
Constructors
1987  Osella
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 2 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Franco Forini (born September 22, 1958 in Muralto ) is a former Swiss automobile racing driver . After he was Italian Formula 3 champion in 1985 , international racing became aware of him.

Formula 3000

In the 1986 season, Forini drove several races in the Formula 3000 championship. His first Formula 3000 race was the Gran Premio di Roma in Vallelunga . Here he was reported by the Coloni team, which was newly established in this class , but could not qualify in a used March 85B. From the fifth race of the season, the Tropheo Elio de Angelis in Imola, to the ninth race, the Halfords Birmingham Superprix, Forini started for the Italian team San Remo Racing . In the first two attempts he was able to qualify; the best result was a sixth place in Imola, which earned him a championship point. In the second race for San Remo Forini finished 14th again, followed by three non-qualifications. The team then separated from Forini; he was replaced by Alessandro Santin for the last two championship races. With one championship point, Forini finished the Formula 3000 season as 21st in the drivers' standings. For the 1987 season he was not given a cockpit in Formula 3000.

formula 1

In the 1987 Formula 1 season , Franco Forini contested three Grand Prix for the Italian team Osella , namely the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Grand Prix. In 1987, the financially troubled Osella team mostly only used one vehicle for which Alex Caffi was registered as a regular driver. For the last three European races of the season, however, it was decided to enter two cars. Forini brought along some sponsors who financed the use of the second car. Forini received a vehicle from the FA1G series . The cars were powered by old Alfa Romeo turbo engines, maintained by Osella itself , whose overall performance barely reached the level of the naturally aspirated engines that had been registered again since 1987. The immediate competitors of the small Italian racing team were the Tyrrell team, which was poorly positioned this year , as well as AGS and the Coloni team, which has been active since September 1987 , all of which drove with Cosworth naturally aspirated engines.

Franco Forini's races for Osella were disappointing. Forini had fought a few years earlier in Formula 3 at a comparable level of performance with Alex Caffi, but in Formula 1 he could not match the performance of his teammate. The time differences between the two Osella drivers were striking. Some observers from Italy attributed this to the fact that Osella was overwhelmed with the preparation of two Formula 1 cars and Forini's car was not treated with the care that Caffi was given as a regular driver.

In his first Formula 1 race, the Italian Grand Prix , Forini was the last to qualify. He was 10 seconds behind pole time, 2.5 seconds behind his team-mate Caffi. His times were still higher than those of Nicola Larini , who competed for the Coloni team that was registered for the first time, and of Pascal Fabre in the AGS . In the race, Forini dropped out after a defect in the turbocharger on lap 27.

The subsequent Grand Prix of Portugal brought no improvement: Here the Osellas occupied the last two places, Forini 9 seconds behind the pole time and almost 3 seconds behind Alex Caffi. On the 32nd lap, Forinis Osella's rear suspension collapsed, causing him to retire.

Both Osellas did not qualify at the Spanish Grand Prix ; this time Larini in the Coloni and Fabre in the AGS were significantly faster.

For the remaining three Grand Prix of the year in Mexico , Japan and Australia , Osella did without a second car for cost reasons, so that there was no more space for Forini in the team. No Formula 1 team showed any interest in signing Forini in the following years.

According to Formula 1

From 1988 to 1989 Franco Forini again contested a few races in Italian Formula 3 , but was only able to convince to a limited extent. Until 1992 he drove a few kart races; then he gave up active racing. Today Franco Forini runs several petrol stations and a mineral oil trade in Bellinzona and various neighboring towns.

statistics

Race results

year	team	dare	engine	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	WM	Points
1987	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1G	Alfa Romeo V8 ( T )	BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	United States	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA DNF	POR DNF	ESP DNQ	MEX	JPN	OUT	-	0

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Nina and Hans Treml : The outsiders. Swiss in international motor racing 1950 to today. Verlag Baeschlin (Glarus) 2006, ISBN 978-3-85546-166-0 .
• Motorsport aktuell : weekly Swiss trade magazine with various articles about Franco Forini and Osella in the 1987 issues.