Osella Engineering
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| Surname | Osella Engineering |
|---|---|
| Companies | |
| Company headquarters | Verolengo ( Italy ) |
| Team boss |
 Enzo Osella
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| statistics | |
| First Grand Prix | South Africa 1980 |
| Last Grand Prix | Australia 1990 |
| Race driven | 129 |
| Constructors' championship | - |
| Drivers World Championship | - |
| Race wins | - |
| Pole positions | - |
| Fastest laps | - |
| Points | 5 |
Osella Engineering is an Italian sports and racing car manufacturer that previously used the name Osella Corse . The company run by Vincenzo "Enzo" Osella goes back to the motorsport department of Abarth . Osella primarily manufactures competition vehicles for sports car and hillclimb races , which are among the most successful in their classes. In the 1970s and 1980s, Osella also had its own works teams in Formula 2 and Formula 1 under the name Osella Squadra Corse ; However, the company was unable to establish itself permanently in single-post sports.
history
The founder of the company is the Turin businessman Enzo Osella, who had worked for the sports car designer Carlo Abarth since the mid-1960s . Enzo Osella was also the Turin dealer for Abarth sports cars during this period. In 1971, Carlo Abarth sold his company to the Fiat group, which was primarily interested in the prestigious name and from then on used it for the sporty versions of its street sports cars. Abarth's inventory of racing cars and other material was taken over by Enzo Osella, who founded the Osella Corse company in the Turin suburb of Volpiano . In the period that followed, Osella Corse, in keeping with its roots, was primarily concerned with the construction and use of sports cars, which were used by its own works team, the Osella Squadra Corse, as well as by numerous private teams. At the same time, Osella appeared in formula racing between 1974 and 1990, both in Formula 3 and in Formula 2 and Formula 1 . Here, too, the works team, the Osella Squadra Corse , used racing cars they had designed themselves without exception. While Osella was a fixture in the sports car business for decades, it is one of the unsuccessful teams in Formula 1. Osella suffered permanent financial hardship in the 1980s and was rarely competitive.
At the beginning of the Formula 1 season in 1991, the Italian businessman Gabriele Rumi took over Osella's Formula 1 department and continued operations under the name Fondmetal for almost two years after he moved to Bergamo . From 1991 Osella concentrated again on the construction and use of sports cars. The company's headquarters had to be relocated from Turin to Atella in the southern Italian province of Potenza in the early 1990s . The reason for this was European grants: In the late 1980s, Osella received grants from the European Union that were intended for the development of industrial companies in structurally weak regions. Even after the abandonment of Osella's own Formula 1 program, the EU insisted on appropriately using the funds, so that Osella built a modern plant in Atella with a small wind tunnel, driving simulators, etc., in which numerous successful sports cars of the Osella brand from the mid-1990s were developed and manufactured.
At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, the company changed its name to Osella Engineering and returned to Piedmont. Osella opened plants in the municipality of Verolengo in the Turin area .
Sports car racing
Sports car races were and are the mainstay of Osella Corse. The cars were used by the works team and private customers in various classes, especially in the European sports car championship and in Italian and European hillclimb races . To distinguish them from Osella's formula racing cars, the sports cars have the designation PA, followed by a one- or two-digit number that specifies the respective type.
Osella's first in-house design, the Osella Abarth PA1 from 1971, was still largely based on components from Abarth. In 1973, the PA1 won their team ranking. The Osella PA3, released in 1975, was to shape the image of Osella's sports prototypes up to and including the PA9 model from 1989. The body shape was only carefully developed and remained up to date for almost 15 years. These cars dominated mountain races across Europe in the 1980s . Mauro Nesti won six European championship titles on an Osella PA9 from 1983 to 1988. Herbert Stenger was Vice European Mountain Champion in 1984 on Osella PA7 and 1985 and 1986 on PA7 / 9 .
Individual vehicles, especially some PA9 models, also found their way into the second CanAm series , launched in 1977 . Finally, an Osella PA8 with a 2-liter BMW Formula 2 was used by Scuderia Torino Corse for Mark Thatcher and Lella Lombardi in the 1980 Le Mans 24-hour race . The car retired after 157 of 338 laps.
After leaving Formula 1, Osella concentrated again on the sports prototypes. In 1990, with the Osella PA9 / 90, a fundamentally modified Group C3 mountain car was presented, with which Pancho Egozkue became European mountain champion in 1993 and 1994. The most successful Osella model is undoubtedly the PA20S. Fabio Danti (1996), Pasquale Irlando (1997–99), Franz Tschager (2000–2002), Denny Zardo (2003), and Giulio Regosa (2004) won the European Hill Climb Championship with this model.
In 2009 Osella offered the types PA20, PA21 and PA27 with different engines and equipment variants for various racing series. The vehicles are usually used in the CN class (production sports car). The latest model is the Osella FA30. This vehicle is powered by a Zytek eight-cylinder and is intended to represent a combination of sports car and formula vehicle. It is Osella's answer to the increasing success of Formula 3000 vehicles in hill climbs. From 2009 to 2013 Simone Faggioli won the European Hill Climb Championship in the racing car class five times in a row with the FA30 .
Osella in Formula 2
The sports car business turned out to be lucrative for Osella. The income from the factory team and from sales to customers made it possible to soon think about expanding the business into monoposto sport. From 1975 Osella built a number of racing cars for formulas 3, 2 and 1. They were designated as Osella FA3 (for formula 3), FA2 (formula 2) and FA1 (formula 1); in the case of Formula 1 cars, a further differentiation was made by adding letters (A – M).
Osella took the first step into formula racing with an in-house design for Formula 2. The car called FA2 was developed in 1974; The intellectual author is said to have been Enzo Osella himself. The standard BMW M12 engine served as the engine. There are different details about the tuner; some sources report that Osella prepared the engines himself.
1975
The Osella Squadra Corse first appeared in the 1975 Formula 2 season. Giorgio Francia and Diulio Truffo were hired as drivers . Truffo did not take part in the last four races; he was replaced by Arturo Merzario and Roberto Fillanino. Overall, the season was quite successful for the young team. In any case, until the late summer of 1975, both drivers regularly managed to reach the finish line in the points. In the first race of the year, the Gran Premio do Estoril, Francia crossed the finish line in the FA2 in fourth, and Truffo, who had to field a used March 742 once in this race, came fifth. Francia also came fourth in Enna, he finished the two races at the Hockenheimring and the race in Salzburg in fifth place, and there were also a few sixth places. Truffo's best position was a 5th place in Enna. Osella's substitute drivers Merzario and Fillanino, however, achieved less; they did not bring in any championship points for the team.
1976
The 1976 Formula 2 season was less positive. The car remained essentially unchanged, sometimes four drivers were sent into the race at the same time. The team clearly suffered financial hardship and more than once it was overwhelmed with the preparation of the numerous vehicles. Giorgio Francia, Francois Migault, Gianfranco Trombetti and Hans Binder were registered as drivers. After the sixth race of the year, the Osella Squadra Corse finished participating in the Formula 2 championship. In the following two years, the works team concentrated again on the use of sports cars. Osella cars were Chance driven even by private drivers, among them Roberto Filiannino for Scuderia Torino Corse in the 1976 edition of the Rome Grand Prix in Vallelunga and Charly Kiser for the team Swiss car racing at the Rhein Cup in 1976 on the Nürburgring and the Gran Premio di Misano 1977 .
1979
After a two and a half year break, Osella Corse returned to formula racing in 1979. The team registered a vehicle named FA2 / 79 for the Formula 2 championship. The vehicle was a revised version of the racing car first introduced in 1975. The FA2 / 79 had contemporary underbody aerodynamics and was significantly more successful than its predecessor. The team's only driver was Eddie Cheever . The American scored three victories with the red painted Osella, in the first race of the season, the Daily Express International Trophy at the Silverstone Circuit , at the Grand Prix Automobile de Pau and in Zandvoort.
Osella in Formula 3
In the period between the two Formula 2 engagements, Osella developed its own Formula 3 car called the Osella FA3, which contemporary reports describe as a simple construction. Apparently, Osella was primarily interested in finding new sources of money in times of financial need by selling Formula 3 racing cars. In any case, there was no factory use of the Formula 3 car. The FA3 was not a commercial success. Most sources indicate a production of only three to four vehicles. Only a few private drivers dared to approach the car:
- In 1976 Jean-Jacques Wirtz drove an Osella FA3 with a Lancia engine tuned by Repetto for the Jolly Club Switzerland team . Wirtz appeared in two races of the Italian Formula 3 championship (the Lotteria di Monza in June 1976 and the Gran Premio di Campagnano on October 4, 1976), as well as two races in the German Formula 3 championship (at the ADAC Avus race the AVUS in Berlin and in the 1000-kilometer race on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring ), and finally he contested most of the races of the European Formula 3 Championship.
- Marcello Rosei fielded an FA3 with a Lancia engine tuned by Repetto in individual races of the Italian Formula 3 championship.
- Piero Necchi fielded an FA3 with a Toyota engine tuned by Novamotor at the Gran Premio di Campagnano .
- Giorgio Francia appeared in an FA3 with a Lancia engine in individual races of the European Formula 3 Championship.
The existence of an FA3 is currently known. The car is in Spain and is occasionally used in hill climbs.
Osella Corse in Formula 1
Osella started in Formula 1 from the 1980 season . By the 1990 season , Osella racing cars were entered for 172 Grand Prix, and they were able to qualify for the start at 131 events.
History of the Formula 1 project
After the Osella works team had been successful in the 1979 Formula 2 season and several private racing drivers had shown interest in Osella customer cars, Enzo Osella developed ideas for expanding his Formula 2 involvement, which also included expanding the plant . In search of sponsors for the following Formula 2 season, he turned to the Italian subsidiary of the Unilever Group, which, however, was not interested in Formula 2 due to the limited coverage in the reporting. Unilever offered Osella support in September 1979 in the event that the team were promoted to Formula 1; Unilever expected a far greater media presence from this. Osella responded and in three months built the basis for a competition in the 1980 Formula 1 World Championship, the first race of which took place on January 13, 1980. The beginnings of the team were therefore largely improvised.
vehicles
In the eleven years of his involvement in Formula 1, Osella Corse developed and built a total of three different generations of vehicles, each of which was reproduced several times in various different ways. The list of Formula 1 racing cars from Osella provides a detailed overview of the individual models .
1980
Osella started the first year in Formula 1 as a manufacturer team. Although it was still possible to use customer cars developed by a third-party plant in Formula 1 - RAM or Brands Hatch Racing still made use of this in 1980 - Enzo Osella decided to use his own vehicle in the first year.
The car, initially called FA1 (later FA1A), was developed by Giorgio Stirano in autumn 1979. Apart from the underbody profile, which was similar to the Formula 2 car FA2 / 79, the car was a new design. The design features were simple. The monocoque and body consisted of aluminum sheets. Long, rising side pods contained wing profiles, the front spoiler, which hung from the rounded nose of the vehicle, was small (and occasionally it was completely dispensed with). Used Cosworth DFV engines were used as the engine . Overall, the car was clearly overweight. Its weight was officially given as 600 kg; so he was 50 kg above the minimum weight. There are, however, numerous voices in the Italian press who stated that the FA1 / A was overweight at 100 kg in the first few races. At the South African Grand Prix , the team managed to reduce the weight of the car by 45 kilograms. The external impression of the car was characterized by an elegant white and blue paintwork. The cigarette brand MS and denim advertised as sponsors. Their large-scale billboards were supposed to suggest a healthy budget for the new team, but in fact the finances were a significant problem from day one.
The Osella Squadra Corse was the only new team in the 1980 Formula 1 season. Some racing teams that had competed last year had since withdrawn ( Wolf , Merzario , Rebaque and Kauhsen ), so that instead of 18, only 15 Teams competed in the world championship runs. Osella contested the first year in Formula 1 with only one car due to cost reasons. The American Eddie Cheever , who lives in Rome and who had already lived through the Formula 2 season with Osella the year before, was hired as the driver .
The races turned out to be problematic for the young team. Both the driver and the team lacked track knowledge in many places, and they were inexperienced with working on a Formula 1 car. Overall, Osella Corse was little more than an extra, the immediate competitors were teams such as ATS , Shadow or Ensign . After Cheever missed the qualification as the slowest in the first two races of the year, he was able to qualify regularly from the Grand Prix of South Africa # - with the exception of the Grand Prix of Belgium and Monaco . His best qualifying result was 18th place on the grid at the German Grand Prix , where he was able to leave Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo and even Jody Scheckter in the - albeit problematic - Ferrari behind. However, Cheever initially did not see the checkered flag at any event. Most of the failures were due to technical reasons: the transmission, suspension and engine were prone to defects.
For the home race, the Italian Grand Prix , Osella presented a new car. The Osella FA1B was essentially a new design that had been developed by Giorgio Valentini and Enzo Osella themselves. The new monocoque was narrower, so the wing area in the underbody could be significantly larger. Allegedly the FA1B developed five percent more downforce than the previous model. In fact, the car turned out to be noticeably faster. On his debut in Monza , Cheever qualified 17th on the grid and finished 12th (and last). It should be the only finish for Osella this year. However, the car had potential. During subsequent race in Canada Cheever shows the best performance of the year: from his 14th place on the grid, he went before the two Lotus , both Tyrrell and the only qualified Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve in the race. On Sunday, however, the fuel supply failed after only eight laps. In Watkins Glen, Cheever finally reached 16th place on the grid, but retired after 20 laps with a defective suspension.
After the final race of the year, Eddie Cheever signed a contract with Tyrrell for 1981 .
1981
The 1981 Formula 1 season was to be a year of unrest for the Osella Squadra Corse. In its second Formula 1 season, the team registered two cars for the Formula 1 World Championship for the first time. The move to a two-car team increased the costs and organizational effort considerably, so that teams such as ATS, Ensign and Theodore, Osella's direct competitors, continued to forego such a development. Enzo Osella, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity to increase the number of finishings: If a car at ATS broke down, the race weekend was over for the team. If, on the other hand, one Osella failed, the second car could still continue.
During the winter break of 1980/81, another FA1B vehicle was built in Volpiano. It differed from the first example produced in 1980 only in minor modifications, primarily through targeted lightweight construction, the initially considerable weight was gradually reduced. In view of the partial withdrawal of the tire manufacturer Goodyear , which only supplied Williams and Brabham in the 1981 season , Osella, like numerous other teams, had to switch to Michelin tires.
For the Italian Grand Prix in September 1981 then debuted a new model, the Osella FA1c. The responsible designer was Giorgio Valentini. Compared to the previous model, the new car was slightly shorter; a wheelbase reduced to 2,640 mm should make the car more manageable. The aerodynamics had also been revised; however, Enzo Osella later said that the body was not developed in the wind tunnel: the entire aerodynamics followed Valentini's inspiration alone. A Cosworth DFV motor served as the drive .
The second season was not very happy for the young team. With Toleman and RAM there were two new competitors in the starting field. In addition, Osella started the season with two drivers who had little or no experience in Formula 1: Beppe Gabbiani had previously only contested two races for Team Surtees in the 1978 Formula 1 season . At his side, the 33-year-old Italian Giorgio Francia , who had already been active for Osella's works team in Formula 2 in 1975, since then has preferred sports cars (also for Osella Corse) and a race for in the 1977 Formula 1 World Championship Brabham had driven. Shortly before the start of the season, however, Osella signed the Argentine Miguel Ángel Guerra in his place , who had good sponsorship contacts but had no Formula 1 experience himself. Gabbiani stayed with the team throughout the season (although he changed his starting number after a few races), while Guerra was successively replaced by several drivers.
At the season opener, the US West Grand Prix in Long Beach , only Gabbiani (last) could qualify; in the race he retired after 26 laps due to an accident. In the two following races, the Brazilian and Argentine Grand Prix , both Osella missed the qualification. It was not until the fourth race of the season in Imola that both Osella drivers were able to participate for the first time. Gabbiani retired on lap 31 after a collision with Tyrrell driver Michele Alboreto ; Guerra, on the other hand, did not even get past the first lap: In the turmoil at the start, he let Eliseo Salazar push him off the track in the new RAM Racing car. He was replaced for two races by the Italian Piercarlo Ghinzani , who made his Formula 1 debut here and brought the FA1 / B home for the first time in his first race for Osella (13th place, four laps behind at the Belgian Grand Prix ). In Monaco , both drivers again missed qualifying. In the subsequent race in Spain , Giorgio Francia, who was announced at the beginning of the season, made a one-off appearance, but with almost six seconds behind Jacques Laffite's pole time in the Ligier, he clearly missed qualifying as the slowest. It should be said, however, that Francia hardly got to drive in qualifying. His team-mate Gabbiani had destroyed his own car in a serious accident at the beginning of the training, so Francia had to pass his car on to Gabbiani. For the subsequent French Grand Prix , the Osella Squadra Corse did not report a second car besides Gabbiani; the second FA1B, which was destroyed by Gabbiani in Spain, could not be rebuilt in time. From the British Grand Prix , Osella finally signed the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier , who had driven two races for Ligier at the beginning of the season and has since been without a cockpit. Jarier stayed at Gabbiani's side in the team until the end of the season and contributed to the fact that little by little something calm returned to the racing team. Jarier brought with him experience and gave the team the best result so far with an eighth place on his first outing. He immediately repeated this result in the subsequent race in Germany . Jarier also mostly crossed the finish line reliably in the remaining races.
From the Italian Grand Prix , Jarier received the new Osella FA1C exclusively, while Gabbiani had to move the old FA1B until the end of the season. Gabbiani thus more or less regularly failed to qualify.
1982
After the end of the second Formula 1 season, little happened in Osella's workshop. For a few weeks it was not clear whether Osella's works team would also be able to compete in the 1982 Formula 1 World Championship . In the end, the future of the team depended on whether Osella could find a driver with solid sponsor contacts.
Osella found this driver in January 1982. It was Riccardo Paletti , the son of the wealthy Milanese businessman Arietto Paletti. Paletti Senior bought his son from Osella for a rumored amount of one million US dollars ; In addition, he had his own construction company set up a small test track on Osella's factory premises. Riccardo Paletti had little experience in motorsport; he had only contested a few races in the Italian Formula 3 championship and in Formula 2 with the Onyx team and achieved no results that would have recommended him for higher things. He told the Italian press that he was approaching Formula 1 with a noticeable degree of fear, but his sponsors - meaning his father - would expect him to take this step.
With Paletti's donations, the third Formula 1 season for the Osella Squadra Corse was secured. However, there were no notable changes. The Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier was again signed as the first driver . A second FA1 / C vehicle was built for him; the first vehicle of this type produced last September was given to Paletti.
The quality of the races was mixed. Jarier was the noticeably stronger driver of the team. He could qualify more or less regularly. At the third race of the year, the US West Grand Prix in Long Beach , a sensation loomed: Jarier qualified his fragile Osella for tenth place on the grid with a full field and thus started ahead of John Watson's McLaren and Mario Andrettis Williams . Unfortunately, the power transmission collapsed on lap 26 on race Sunday, so that Osella could not use the good starting position.
At the subsequent Grand Prix of San Marino, both drivers were able to qualify for the first time. However, the starting field was very thin. Due to a dispute between FISA and FOCA , only 14 drivers started instead of the usual 31; most of the British racing teams (with the exception of the Tyrrell ) had stayed away from the race. Jarier started the race in ninth place and crossed the finish line in fourth (of five remaining drivers). It was the first time an Osella had finished in the points. Since the race was fully rated regardless of the boycott by the FOCA teams, the Osella Squadra Corse was able to score three world championship points. It hardly mattered that Paletti, who had qualified 13th, had to retire after seven laps with suspension damage.
It wasn't until the seventh race of the year, the US Grand Prix in Detroit , that both Osellas qualified again. Jarier started the race in 22nd, Paletti in 23rd. It was Paletti's first qualification with a full starting field. Paletti destroyed his car on the warm-up lap and Jarier retired from the race. His mechanically fragile car was not able to cope with the dirt road of Detroit, so that ultimately the suspension collapsed.
At the subsequent Canadian Grand Prix it came to a catastrophe. Paletti had again qualified for the race. When he was cleared to take off, he accelerated at full speed and overlooked the fact that Didier Pironi in the Ferrari had stopped a few rows ahead of him . Paletti pushed his Osella into the rear of Pironis Ferrari with unrestrained force. While Pironi was unharmed, the aluminum monocoque of the Osella was virtually folded up. The car caught fire, Riccardo Paletti died - 14 days after the death of Gilles Villeneuve - while still on the racetrack. Before restarting, Osella pulled Jarier's car back.
Out of piety - and because there was no money for a new car - Osella decided not to name a replacement driver for Paletti for the rest of the season. Jean-Pierre Jarier continued to struggle with the unreliable Osella and sometimes suffered from grotesque defects. At the German Grand Prix, for example, his steering wheel broke off. He only reached one more finish (14th at the Dutch Grand Prix ).
In the summer of 1982 the FA1C was slightly modified; it was now called FA1D. The car was created by Hervé Guilpin, who had previously worked for ATS. The new car largely corresponded to the previous model and was used for the first time at the German Grand Prix , but brought no improvements. He didn't finish in the last races of the season.
Osella finished the 1982 Formula 1 season with three points in twelfth place in the constructors' championship.
1983
A ground effect ban came into force for the 1983 Formula 1 season. Instead of the previous wing profiles, a flat underbody was now required. This resulted in a significant loss of downforce, which most teams tried to make up for with massive rear wings. That also applied to Osella. However, unlike with many competing teams, there was no completely new car here; rather, Osella initially used the already known F1D again in the new season. Giuseppe Petrotta, the responsible designer of the Turin team, only modified the underbody and installed a voluminous rear wing. The aerodynamic concept of the revised FA1D was again not developed in the wind tunnel; Petrotta's inspiration was primarily decisive.
It became clear early on that the rear wing impaired the aerodynamics considerably and thus cost top speed. While many other racing teams were able to compensate for this with the brute power of the emerging turbo engines, the small teams that - like Osella - still relied on the Cosworth naturally aspirated engine were at a disadvantage. Enzo Osella recognized early on that his team would need a new, more powerful engine, at least in the medium term. Therefore, in the spring of 1983, he entered into a relationship with Alfa Romeo , who had outsourced their Formula 1 involvement since the start of the season.
In Alfa Romeo's Autodelta racing department , headed by Carlo Chiti , only the development of the Formula 1 chassis and engines took place; the racing operation, however, has been managed by Gianpaolo Pavanello's independent racing team Euroracing since the beginning of 1983 . Alfa Romeo started using a new turbo engine for its own team in 1983; As a result, the old twelve-cylinder naturally aspirated engines of the type 1260 (twelve cylinders, 60 degree cylinder angle, sometimes also referred to as TT33-12), which had been used by Brabham in 1979 and in our own team from 1979 to 1982, were no longer needed . Osella received these old naturally aspirated engines from the European races of the 1983 Formula 1 season; a year later, Alfa Romeo delivered its own turbo engines to Osella. The relationship with Alfa Romeo lasted until 1988 . She was thoroughly ambivalent. On the one hand, the thirsty, weak, and fragile Alfa engines were largely responsible for Osella's poor performance in the mid-1980s; on the other hand, Alfa Romeo Osella's only possibility of getting a Formula 1 engine at a low cost. The fact that Osella still stuck to the no longer competitive turbo engines in 1987 and 1988 shows that the Turin team could not even afford the Cosworth naturally aspirated engines that were re-approved at the time and used by most of the small teams .
Osella built a new car for the Alfa engine, the FA1E. The car had been designed by Tony Southgate and took on numerous systems of the previous vehicle. British journalist David Hodges reports that the FA1E was basically nothing more than an adaptation of the FA1D to the Alfa engine. This made it the fifth variation on the theme started in 1980 with the FA1, and the European press repeatedly stressed that the car was showing its age. The FA1E was generally classified as non-competitive; it was unwieldy, difficult to adjust and fragile. In addition, he clearly suffered from the disadvantages of the “new” engine, which was actually five years old: the Alfa twelve-cylinder was large and heavy; this adversely affected the handling. He was thirsty too; this required a larger tank or a reduction in engine power in order to reduce consumption a little. Ultimately, there was a performance advantage of perhaps 30 hp compared to a passably tuned Cosworth engine. A big leap was therefore not to be expected with the overall package.
The first FA1E was completed for the San Marino Grand Prix . At first it remained a one-off; It was not until the British Grand Prix that the second driver was able to use an Osella with an Alfa engine. The FA1E models were short-lived constructions. They were only used in the 1983 Formula 1 season (with one exception).
In the 1983 Formula 1 season, Osella set up a two-driver team again. The team's first driver was Piercarlo Ghinzani ; next to it was Corrado Fabi obliged the younger brother of the active also in Formula 1 Teo Fabi .
Overall, the 1983 Formula 1 World Championship was sobering for Osella. The previous sponsors Denim and Pioneer had given up their support; They were replaced by the pharmaceutical company Kelémata from Turin , which advertised extensively on the now light blue painted car, as well as some regional sponsors. All of this was apparently only with difficulty enough to finance the racing operations. Osella Corse was obviously short of money and had to improvise a lot. Then there was the lack of efficiency and the terrifying unreliability of the cars. After all, none of the drivers had any significant Formula 1 experience. Fabi, who won the Formula 2 championship for the March factory team in 1982 and was Italy's beacon of hope in the winter of 1982/83, drove a Formula 1 car for the first time at Osella, and Ghinzani also had two Formula 1 attempts from 1981 no further single posto experience gained. All of this meant that no convincing race results could be achieved in the course of the year. Qualifications and non-qualifications were balanced; in 15 races of the season there were only three finishings.
In the first three races of the season, both Osella drivers competed with the modified FA1D models powered by a Cosworth engine. Ghinzani couldn't get on with the car at all; in the first three races he regularly missed the qualification. That didn't change at first with the new FA1E with Alfa engine. It wasn't until the seventh race of the season, the US Grand Prix in Detroit, that he qualified for the first time. He started the race in 24th place (ahead of Mauro Baldi in the factory Alfa-Romeo ), but retired from the race due to an overheated engine. In the following races, Ghinzani qualified more or less regularly, but never got past the last three rows. His best qualifying result was 23rd on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix . Ghinzani qualified for a total of seven races. He only crossed the finish line once - eleventh at the Austrian Grand Prix ; otherwise it failed again and again with technical defects.
Corrado Fabi was the more successful driver overall. He managed a total of nine qualifications; best starting position was the 22nd position at the Brazilian Grand Prix , where he a. a. was able to leave the turbo-powered ATS with BMW engine behind. Fabi also suffered from the lack of reliability of the car. He only crossed the finish line twice, once 10th at the Austrian Grand Prix and another time 11th at the Dutch Grand Prix . Otherwise a lot broke with him too; the most common source of damage was the engine.
Corrado Fabi moved to Brabham after the last race of the year .
1984
In its fifth Formula 1 season, Osella Corse was able to consolidate its sporting achievements. The situation improved; Osella's cars were reasonably competitive and scored a total of four world championship points.
The trigger for the upswing was the switch to turbo engines. Since the beginning of the year, Osella Corse has been able to fall back on the eight-cylinder Alfa Romeo 890T turbos designed by Carlo Chiti , which have already been used in the Alfa works team for a year. In Osella's case, of course, it was used, reconditioned engines of the 1983 generation that still had mechanical fuel injection; recent developments such as For example, Alfa Romeo reserved an electronic injection system for its works team until further notice.
There were also significant changes in the chassis area. The previously used Osella model, the FA1E, which was ultimately a modification of the FA1A designed in 1980, could no longer be converted for operation with turbo engines. Osella therefore had to set up a completely new chassis. Here, too, Alfa Romeo helped. Osella received a ready-to-drive T183 racing car from Autodelta and Euroracing, which was tailored to the Alfa turbo engine and had been used by Andrea de Cesaris and Mauro Baldi the year before . Osella took over the T183, installed some of its own components and referred to the car as the Osella FA1F. This vehicle, based on Alfa components, was used by Piercarlo Ghinzani in the first race of the season and was destroyed in a serious accident in the second race. From the third race onwards, Osella fielded a new FA1F. This second vehicle took over the main design features of the Alfa T183, but, unlike the first FA1F, was modified in some details specifically for Osella. The changes were primarily aimed at the use of inexpensive parts and design principles; the FA1F was therefore in some ways a simplified Alfa Romeo T183. In the course of 1984 a third FA1F was added, which largely corresponded to the second copy. The FA1F was the basic model of the second Osella generation, which was used in various modifications until the Formula 1 World Championship in 1988 .
Osella started the Formula 1 World Championship in 1984 with just one driver. Piercarlo Ghinzani went into his second full season for the Turin team. For the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, one of Osella's two home races, the young Austrian Josef “Jo” Gartner was also hired, a successful monoposto driver who had his own Formula 2 team and considerable financial support from the Milde cigarette brand Brought the variety to Osella. After that, Gartner stopped; only from the tenth race, the British Grand Prix , was he back in the boat and then regularly drove the second Osella until the end of the season.
In the first race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix , Ghinzani qualified the Alfa Romeo T183 converted into the first Osella FA 1F for 21st place on the grid. In the race he retired with a gearbox failure; a defect that should occur a few more times this season. At the subsequent South African Grand Prix , Ghinzani crashed his car into a wall at high speed during free practice. The car broke in two and caught fire. Ghinzani was pulled out of the car by a marshals, the car burned out and was completely destroyed. As Osella did not have a replacement vehicle on site for cost reasons, Ghinzani, who had suffered several burns to his hands, was unable to take part in qualifying training and the race. For the subsequent races, Ghinzani received the newly built FA1F, which was actually intended for Gartner.
In Imola at the Grand Prix of San Marino Osella competed with two drivers for the first time. Ghinzani drove the new F1F, while Jo Gartner had to fall back on last year's FA1E with Alfa Romeo naturally aspirated engine for his debut race in Formula 1 due to the lack of a second turbo car. During the qualification training it came to a sensation: Gartner was faster with his outdated, underperforming car than Ghinzani in the turbo Osella. Gartner qualified for 26th place on the grid, while Ghinzani clearly missed the qualification with 1.8 seconds. The fact that he was still faster than Ayrton Senna in the Toleman , who - due to tire problems - also missed the qualification (and for the last time in his career) was little consolation. Gartner held up bravely for 48 laps in the race, then the old Alfa engine collapsed.
In the months that followed, Ghinzani repeatedly indicated that the turbo-powered Osella had potential. Qualification was regularly secured, and with a twelfth finish at the French Grand Prix and a seventh place in Monaco there were promising finishes. Ghinzani achieved the best result of the year under the most difficult conditions at the spectacular Dallas Grand Prix , where he started the race in 18th place (ahead of Nigel Mansell in the Lotus , Corrado Fabi in the Brabham and Niki Lauda in the McLaren ) and finally finished fifth. It was noteworthy that Ghinzani and Osella withstood the considerable exposure to dust and heat, while Nigel Mansell, for example, suffered a circulatory collapse. At the subsequent British Grand Prix , Ghinzani was ninth again, and in Monza he finished seventh. Ghinzani dropped out at all other races; frequently collapsed components in the vicinity of the engine.
From the Grand Prix of Great Britain , Jo Gartner drove for Osella again; now an FA1F with turbo engine was also available to him. Gartner qualified as well as Ghinzani regularly, but did not get past the last three rows. On his first appearance he was only timed 27th in the qualification, but was allowed to start with the approval of all other teams. Gartner crossed the finish line for the first time in his fifth race for Osella, the Dutch Grand Prix ; he was twelfth. He fought the race in pain; Due to a defective fuel line, fuel had collected in the cockpit, which attacked the overalls and ultimately the skin. Osella let him drive on anyway. To prevent chemical burns, the gasoline was diluted by pouring water into the cockpit during a pit stop. At the following race in Italy , Gartner showed that he too could get an Osella into the points: Started from 24th place, he finished fifth in front of his home crowd in Monza. However, this result did not benefit Osella in the constructors 'championship: Because Osella had only started the season with one - Ghinzanis - car and only used the second car sporadically, Gartner's points were not included in the constructors' championship.
Overall, Osella Corse finished the season in eleventh place with two (evaluated) world championship points. This left the turbo-driven competition from RAM , Spirit and ATS behind; The Tyrrell team, which at the end of the year was deprived of all championship points due to irregularities in the weight of its cars, had also been overtaken. The 1984 Formula 1 season, however, should be the last year in which Osella was able to achieve world championship points at all.
1985
In the 1985 Formula 1 World Championship , a period of suffering began for Osella Corse. Despite the relative successes of the previous year, the Turin team was extremely short of money, and in the winter of 1984/85 it initially looked as if Osella would have to discontinue its Formula 1 program. Ultimately, however, Osella found enough capital to register a single car for the new world championship.
The technical basis of the team remained unchanged compared to the previous year. On the drive side, Alfa Romeo's turbo engines were retained. These were still the units built in 1983, which were now serviced by Osella itself. In the first two races of the year Osella competed with the hardly changed model FA1F. The Osella FA1G then made its debut at the Grand Prix of San Marino . Contrary to what the new model name suggested, the FA1G was not a completely new car. Rather, it was a modified FA1F, which was distinguished from the original model primarily by a shortened wheelbase and a slightly bottle-shaped rear end based on the current McLaren . The journalist David Hodges reports that the suspension has also been modified (all around push struts instead of - as before - front struts); Finally, the body underwent some changes: the side pods now extended almost over the entire flank, and the rear wing was visibly more compact. Apart from that, the FA1 / G took over the essential structural elements of the FA1F. Overall, the car was very heavy. The team stated an overweight of 37 kilograms, Ghinzani spoke behind closed doors against 50 to 60 kilograms.
The driver question was clarified shortly before the start of the season in favor of Piercarlo Ghinzani. Enzo Osella initially wanted to hold on to Jo Gartner, as Piercarlo Ghinzani negotiated with Toleman in the winter of 1984/85 . Gartner, for his part, tried to get a cockpit with Arrows and delayed his commitment to Osella. When Arrows finally decided in favor of Gerhard Berger , Gartner contacted Osella again and, according to some Austrian sources, also passed on his sponsorship money to Osella. A little later, however, Ghinzani's Toleman dream initially burst, so that the Italian was again in conversation with Osella. Osella then gave Ghinzani his only car for the 1985 season, as an Italian driver also opened up the opportunity for national sponsors for a small Italian team. Jo Gartner was not given a cockpit in Formula 1 in 1985. He then drove sports car races and died on June 1, 1986 at the Le Mans 24-hour race after a serious accident.
With the outdated, improvised technology package, the 1985 Formula 1 World Championship was a disappointment for Osella. There were only two non-qualifications in 16 races (at the Monaco Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch ), but you never got beyond the last three rows (with one exception). In qualifying, the car of the new Italian Minardi team was mostly under control, as was the Tyrrell , as long as they competed with Cosworth naturally aspirated engines. Later, when the British also used turbo engines (from Renault ), they passed Osella. Occasionally Osella managed to position itself in front of a RAM or a Zakspeed ; but nothing more could be achieved. In the races themselves, the results also left a lot to be desired. There were only six finishes, all of them outside of the points. The Osella was terrifyingly slow; repeatedly the boost pressure had to be reduced considerably in order to get the gasoline consumption under control and not to put excessive strain on the old engines. The lack of performance was shown by the fact that the Osella, if it even crossed the finish line, had been lapped several times.
At the opening race in Brazil , Ghinzani, who had actually qualified for 22nd place on the grid, was put back in last place by decision of the race management because his rear wing was positioned 5 millimeters too far back. He finished the race in twelfth place, four laps behind. In Portugal he finished ninth, six laps behind, and in the first race with the new FA1 / G he was classified twelfth. With 15th place at the French Grand Prix , Ghinzani reached his last finish for Osella; here he was four laps behind. In all other attempts he either failed with an engine failure or - which happened twice - had an accident that ended the race on the first lap.
Ghinzani was obviously dissatisfied with his situation at Osella. When the Toleman team, which had to temporarily cease operations at the beginning of the year due to a controversy with the tire manufacturers, was able to use a second car from the early summer of 1985, Ghinzani took the opportunity to switch to the British team. His place at Osella was replaced by Huub Rothengatter from the Netherlands , who had driven for Spirit in the 1984 Formula 1 season (the team that sold its tire contract with Pirelli to Toleman in May 1985, thereby enabling Toleman to continue racing). Rothengatter drove extremely carefully - possibly on Osella's instruction to avoid major damage to the FA1G - and hardly achieved anything. Rothengatter crossed the finish line three times in seven attempts, but once - at the Belgian Grand Prix - the finish was not counted because the distance covered was too short. He achieved his best result in the last race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix . Here he showed himself with the seventh place (of eight remaining vehicles) close to the points. Rothengatter was again four laps behind, and even the sixth - Gerhard Berger in Arrows - had lapped him three more times.
1986
In the course of 1986 Osella Corse was repeatedly faced with failure. Even at the beginning of the season, the continued existence of the team was critical. Most of the sponsors last year, especially the patient company Kelémata from Turin , which advertised extensively on the Osellas in 1985, dropped out after the last race in 1985.
During the winter break of 1985/86 there were repeated reports in Italian newspapers about a merger between Euroracing and Osella. The external reason was the fact that Alfa Romeo had finally withdrawn from Formula 1 at the end of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1985 and Euroracing, which was Alfa’s Formula 1 commitment, was thus deprived of an essential pillar. The project associated with the - freely invented - name “Eurosella” in the Italian press did not in fact get beyond the initial talks between Enzo Osella and Euroracing boss Gianpaolo Pavanello.
The prospects improved when it turned out in the first weeks of 1986 that Piercarlo Ghinzani's services were no longer needed with his previous team, Toleman. In the absence of other alternatives, Ghinzani signed with Osella for 1986 and brought some new sponsors into contact with the team, so that Enzo Osella could finally dare to tackle another - the seventh - season in Formula 1. Further financial support came from Germany from March 1986: Christian Danner , the first champion of the 1985 Formula 3000 , bought money from BMW at Osella in order to gain further experience in Formula 1 after initial attempts at Zakspeed in 1985. Danner was later replaced by Canadian Allen Berg , who in turn had to temporarily make room for Alex Caffi . This enabled Osella to compete again with a two-car team in the 1986 Formula 1 season.
The generator manufacturer Mase was the main sponsor for 1986 , with local donors such as Orizzonte Piemonte joining in . The jeans brand Edmondo also temporarily posted posters on the Osella. The material requirements, however, remained very difficult. Osella Corse was heavily in debt, and Enzo Osella himself was also affected. At the Hungarian Grand Prix , Mase and Edmondo had said goodbye again, so that the blue-white Osella drove almost without sponsors on the Hungaroring. Before the Italian Grand Prix of Italy, Osella was nearly insolvent; the closure of the racing stable was imminent. The young racing driver Alex Caffi , who acted as sponsor for the Swiss energy company Landis & Gyr , brought the rescue . At the same time, large stickers from the rim manufacturer Fondmetal were seen for the first time and Osella was to remain loyal to them for the next few years. In the meantime, the cars, which had previously been painted white and light blue, were colored in a uniform dark blue, which optically emphasized the clumsiness of the clunky cars.
Despite all support, Osella was unable to get any new cars up and running at the start of the season. The races therefore had to be contested with the known material. The FA1G, still a one-off, was given to Ghinzani, while Danner, the newcomer, had to make do with an old FA1F that was already in its third season.
Osella initially continued to use Alfa Romeo's turbo engines . The engines were prepared by Osella itself.
At the beginning of 1986, Enzo Osella could hope for a new engine. His choice fell on the six-cylinder turbo from Carlo Chiti 's Motori Moderni plant , which had been in use at Minardi since 1985 . Apparently there have been initial talks between Enzo Osella and Carlo Chiti about this. Ultimately, the Motori-Moderni engine did not come to Osella. There has been much speculation in the Italian press about the reasons for this. Sober commentators attributed this to the fact that Osella could not pay the asking price for the new engines; Others reported that the deal only failed because of Minardi , who wanted to keep the Motori Moderni engines he (co-) financed exclusively for his team and also wanted to replicate Enzo Osella's behavior with his veto, who in 1984 wanted to pass on Alfa turbo engines had refused to Minardi.
Even before a final decision was made about using the Motori-Moderni engine, Osella began building a new car that was specifically tailored to this engine. The originator of this car called FA1H was the engineer Giuseppe Petrotta, who still had to use many components of the Alfa Romeo structure, but implemented independent solutions in numerous details. The FA1H was shown as an unfit model for the first time at the Grand Prix of San Marino , with express reference to the future use of Motori Moderni engines. After Motori Moderni's negative decision, the FA1H was ultimately converted to use Alfa turbo engines. It remained a one-off that was only used in two races; then it was destroyed in a racing accident. For 1986 there was no other copy of the FA1H; Osella contested the rest of the year with the well-known FA1G and FA1F. A successor to the FA1H only appeared in 1987 under the name FA1I.
The course of the races and their results gave no cause for joy in 1986 either.
The environment was unhappy for Osella. 1986 was the only season in the history of Formula 1 in which all teams had to compete with turbo engines. The teams that had used Brian Hart's fragile engines in 1985 and were thus occasionally within striking distance of Osella either had ceased operations ( RAM and Spirit ) or they were now using more competitive engines (in the case of the Toleman successor, Benetton Formula den) BMW engine, Team Haas received the new Cosworth turbo). The young competition from Minardi and Zakspeed was also in the process of establishing itself to some extent.
Overall, Osella was the most unsuccessful racing team in 1986. Ghinzani, who mostly drove the FA1G, only crossed the finish line once. His eleventh place at the Austrian Grand Prix was also the team's best result this year. The second car made three more finishings. When the Osellas crossed the finish line, they were each lapped several times. In Austria , Ghinzani was six laps behind the winner, and at the other finishings (in Germany, Portugal and Mexico) it was even seven laps each. Otherwise, everything about the cars failed. Often it was the engine; In the course of the season there were no fewer than twelve defects on the engine, seven of them in the area of the turbocharger. In addition - especially on the old FA1F - the electronics or the gearbox. At the French Grand Prix of FA1H debuted as a single piece. Ghinzani drove the car in practice and in the race, but retired on Sunday after a collision with Alessandro Nannini's Minardi . In the remaining events Ghinzani moved the well-known FA1G again.
Christian Danner , Osellas second pilot, drove the three year old FA1F the Brazilian Grand Prix to the Canadian Grand Prix . He didn't finish on any of the six attempts. After the race in Montréal , he managed to switch to Arrows , where he replaced Marc Surer , who had previously had an accident .
He was replaced by the young Canadian Allen Berg , who had previously mainly competed in smaller classes in North America and Australia. Berg drove extremely carefully and regularly only qualified for the last place on the grid. According to Berg, he was given little opportunity to drive during training because material had to be saved. After all, he managed to finish three times, each seven laps behind the winner. In his third race, the British Grand Prix , Berg received the FA1H. After the start, Christian Danner in the Arrows, Piercarlo Ghinzani with the Osella FA1G and Jacques Laffite in the Ligier collided on the first lap ; with some delay, Berg also participated in the accident. The new FA1H was so badly destroyed in its second race that it could not be rebuilt.
At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza , Berg was replaced once by the Italian debutant Alex Caffi . Caffi qualified in 27th, but was allowed to participate in the race with the approval of all teams. He crossed the finish line, but was not classified as the distance covered (45 of 51 laps) was too short.
1987
In the eighth Formula 1 season, Osella Corse continued to struggle to catch up with the competition. Just taking part in the World Cup was a remarkable achievement for the Turin team. Landis & Gyr , Edmondo and some smaller sponsors made it possible for them to appear regularly; a sustainable leap in development was still not possible. In 1987, Osella's Formula 1 team consisted of 16 employees.
Osella Corse contested twelve of the 16 races in 1987 with just one vehicle. The regular driver was Alex Caffi . A second car was also used at four events for the debutants Gabriele Tarquini ( Grand Prix of San Marino ) and Franco Forini (Grand Prix of Italy , Portugal and Spain ).
At the start of the season, a new car appeared, the Osella FA1I. The car corresponded by and large to the FA1H, which had been destroyed by Allen Berg the previous year and which had remained a one-off; compared to the FA1H, however, the suspension of the FA1I had been modified and the aerodynamics revised. The latter primarily concerned the side pods, which, according to an Italian press release, are said to have been developed in the Dallara wind tunnel . As with the previous model, the main engineer was Giuseppe Petrotta. On the drive side, Osella remained with the well-known turbo engines from Alfa Romeo even though naturally aspirated engines were again approved for the first time in 1987 . With funding from Landis & Gyr , Osella acquired some of the younger engine blocks from Alfa Romeo. Admittedly, these engines were not rebuilt: they were engines that had been used in the Alfa factory team at the end of 1985. After all, unlike the engines previously used at Osella, they were now equipped with fully electronic petrol injection and had a few other innovations.
The FA1I was driven by Alex Caffi throughout the year . Some representations report that Caffi used a new model called the FA1L in the overseas races at the end of the season. This information is not confirmed in the official entry lists; the FA1L model was then used for the first time at the 1988 San Marino Grand Prix . There is also no picture available of an FA1L in 1987 livery. Osella built two FA1I copies in 1987. Gabriele Tarquini , who drove only once for Osella, had no access to it; moved a 1985 FA1G. Franco Forini, however, received the second FA1I for his three missions in the second half of the year, according to some sources; other sources assume that he had to use the old FAG just like Tarquini before him.
The 1987 Formula 1 season was disappointing overall. It is true that there was one or the other pleasing qualification achievement; In the races themselves, however, this could never be implemented.
Up until the summer, the Formula 1 starting field consisted of a maximum of 26 vehicles. So qualifying for Caffi was not a problem at first. At least in the first half of Caffi had one or both suction motor Tyrrell , the AGS by Pascal Fabre and the Turbo-driven cars from Minardi and Zakspeed reasonably under control. Caffi achieved the best qualification result at the Monaco Grand Prix , where he qualified 16th - ahead of the Ligier , the Lotus - Honda of Satoru Nakajima and the (albeit problematic) Brabham - BMW of Andrea de Cesaris . Otherwise he reached the starting position three times (in San Marino, France and Great Britain) and four times the 21st starting position. The situation became more difficult in late summer. From the Hungarian Grand Prix , Larrousse reported a second vehicle, and shortly afterwards the new Coloni team was also at the start, so that the qualification was now a real elimination. In Spain both Osella failed to qualify for the first time - even Nicola Larini in the not yet completely finished Coloni was faster - and in Australia , where the committed Roberto Moreno at AGS had replaced the reticent Pascal Fabre, Caffi did not qualify for the race either.
As nice as the qualification results were, at least in part, they did not produce countable results. In the entire year, Osella did not reach a single finish. In the second race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix , Caffi dropped out five laps before the end due to a lack of petrol. Because of the distance covered, he was ranked twelfth. There were no further ratings. Apart from one task at the opening race in Brazil , where Caffi had to park the car because of escaping gasoline fumes, the breakdowns were largely due to the considerable unreliability of the Osella. Caffi alone failed six times due to engine or turbo damage, three times the electrics went on strike and the transmission just as often. At Forini, the suspension broke in both races in which he participated. And if suddenly everything stopped at the car, then Caffi ran out of gas shortly before the end. If Osella wanted to save gasoline, the boost pressure had to be reduced considerably - usually enough to level the performance advantage of the turbos over the naturally aspirated engines.
At the end of the disappointing season, Alex Caffi switched to the Italian rival team Dallara / BMS (Scuderia Italia), which was significantly better positioned than Osella. Enzo Osella signed Nicola Larini , who had previously started at Coloni, for 1988 , while Gabriele Tarquini was hired by Coloni. Forini, on the other hand, did not get another chance in Formula 1.
1988
The 1988 Formula 1 World Championship was a great challenge for Osella. There were regulatory changes in the technical area that further limited the performance advantages of the turbo engines. In addition, the competitive situation intensified again compared to the previous year. After March , Larrousse and Coloni made their debut in 1987 , three other new teams, Dallara / BMS (Scuderia Italia), Rial and EuroBrun , signed up for the Formula 1 World Championship, so that in 1988 a total of 18 teams competed.
At the beginning of the year, Osella faced difficulties with the engine issue. The external reason was the fact that Alfa Romeo no longer wanted to see its own turbo engines in Formula 1 in the future. There were many reasons for this. On the one hand, Alfa Romeo had been taken over by the Fiat group a year earlier , which already had a (successful) mainstay in Formula 1 with Ferrari and saw no point in taking part in Grand Prix racing with another brand. On the other hand, the performance of the Alfa engines was now so limited that they were hardly suitable for promoting the Alfa Romeo brand in a positive sense. Accordingly, at the turn of the year 1987/88, Enzo Osella looked for an alternative and made serious efforts to get Cosworth naturally aspirated engines. For many reasons - including financial bottlenecks - Osella did not want to resort to Cosworth or an external tuner licensed by the manufacturer such as Hart , Langford & Peck or the like for the preparation and revision of the engines ; rather, this work should be carried out inexpensively in Osella's own workshop. However, Cosworth did not agree with this, so that the deal ultimately did not materialize. In the absence of other alternatives, Enzo Osella had to turn to Alfa Romeo again. In the end, they generously approved the re-use of the 890T engines - on the condition that they were no longer referred to as Alfa Romeo. The engines were then reported for the 1988 season as "Osella 890T" engines; but essentially they still corresponded to the Alfa designs from 1985.
Osella had a new chassis built for the new season. The author was Antonio Tomaini, a companion of Enzo Osella's time together at Abarth , who had meanwhile worked for Ferrari and returned to Turin in early 1988. The new car was surprisingly called the Osella FA1L (the FA1J and FA1K models did not exist). It made a slim impression, but it was deceptive; In direct comparison to the competition, the FA1L was still a massive car. That may have been due in large part to the fact that the FA1L still had to use the FA1I's monocoque. The low engine cover without an air scoop benefited the line of the car clearly. The body with its flat side pods and the pointed front section - a novelty at Osella - had been thoroughly tested in the wind tunnel . During the season there were some technical modifications; the most important was the introduction of a self-developed six-speed transmission at the Mexican Grand Prix , which replaced the old five-speed transmission. There were also some changes to the pop-off valve, which had repeatedly prompted FISA to intervene. Overall, the FA1L was Osella's most radical new development in many years. Osella made two copies of the FA1L; the second chassis was ready for use for the first time (as a replacement car) at the French Grand Prix , and it served as an emergency vehicle from the Hungarian Grand Prix until the end of the season.
There have been some changes financially. Landis & Gyr no longer supported Osella, and neither did Edmondo. Instead, Stievani and Rosa, as well as a considerable number of smaller and smaller sponsors, advertised the car, which now also stood out from its predecessors with a black and yellow paint job.
The team's only driver was Nicola Larini , who went into his first full Formula 1 season here. At the opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix , Larini had to use the old FA1I again. With the heavy machine he missed qualification by a good three seconds; his gap to the pole held by Nigel Mansell in the Williams was ten seconds.
For the second race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix , the FA1L appeared. The team was disqualified before qualifying. The reason for this was the position of the pedals that were placed in front of the front axle. While this was still permissible without further ado in 1987, the regulations stipulated a further setback position for 1988 - but only if it was a new car. Osella pointed out that the FA1L was a mere modification of the previous year's model - in this case the pedals could still have been in front of the front axle as in 1987 - but the commissioners found that the FA1L was different in terms of the pivot points of the engine, position and size of the tank and some other details differed from the 1987 FA1I, so that it was not accepted as a modified model from the previous year. Osella therefore had to make some changes to the FA1L for the following race. In the qualifying runs of the subsequent Grand Prix, Larini showed extremely changeable performances. In Mexico , Canada , Hungary and Australia he missed the qualification. Otherwise he usually started the race from the last row or the penultimate row. Exceptions were the German Grand Prix , where he qualified 18th, and the Italian Grand Prix , where 17th place on the grid was achieved. The best qualifying result, however, came from the Spanish Grand Prix : Larini started the race in 14th place.
As in the previous year, the Osella only rarely crossed the finish line this time. At the Monaco Grand Prix , the first race in which the properly retrofitted FA1 / L participated, Larini qualified for 25th place on the grid, and he finished ninth. It was the best positioning in three years and should also be the best result for Osella this season. In Portugal , Larini reached the only other finish this year. He finished twelfth, seven laps behind. At the rainy British Grand Prix , the Osella did not cross the finish line - Larini had previously rolled out without petrol - but was still classified as 19th because of the distance covered. All other races were canceled due to a wide variety of defects. The half-wave designed by Osella broke repeatedly, the engine also collapsed again and again, and in Japan a wheel even fell off in the middle of the race.
Overall, Osella finished the ninth Formula 1 season with no world championship points ahead of EuroBrun and Zakspeed, third from bottom of the constructors' championship. From Osella's point of view it was particularly annoying that the similarly minimalist competitor Coloni , who had achieved eighth place in Canada, took a better position in the constructors' standings.
1989
The 1989 Formula 1 World Championship was a turning point in Formula 1 history: for the first time since 1977 , all vehicles were again powered by naturally aspirated engines. Not least because of the general expectation that the ban on turbo engines would significantly reduce the costs of a Formula 1 involvement, the starting field had grown to a level that had not been known for a long time: After the Onyx Grand Prix registered as another new team and the traditional racing team Brabham (with unclear ownership) returned to Grand Prix racing , a total of 20 teams competed in 1989, all of which (with the exception of EuroBrun Racing ) fielded two vehicles.
For Osella, the 1989 Formula 1 World Championship was a new beginning in many ways. After five and a half years, the relationship with Alfa Romeo inevitably ended , so that Osella needed a new engine supplier. This was found early in Cosworth , and Osella was in good company: of the 20 teams in 1989, no fewer than ten racing teams used the classic British engine. From a technical and organizational point of view, Osella also used the considerable rule changes to upgrade: the previous sponsor, Fondmetal, a wheel manufacturer from Bergamo managed by Gabriele Rumi , took over shares in the racing team at the beginning of the year and thus (initially) became a minority owner of Osella Corse. With Rumi's support, a completely new car was built in Volpiano during the winter break in 1988/89, the Osella FA1M. The vehicle no longer had anything in common with its predecessors based on Alfa Romeo components. The aerodynamics of the entire vehicle had been developed in a wind tunnel, and thanks to the use of lightweight materials, the FA1M was an underweight car - neither of which had previously existed at Osella. An original detail of the FA1M was its spring / damper unit, which was installed horizontally under the driver's legs for reasons of space. However, it proved to be a hindrance in practice and was removed again at the end of the season. Another advantage of the Osella were the new tires from Pirelli, which in any case were far superior to competing products from Goodyear in terms of qualification. The bright white paintwork of the FA1M symbolized the new beginning.
The 1989 Formula 1 World Championship was mixed up for Osella. There were a few achievements that caused a stir; they were faced with repeated failed qualification or pre-qualification results and countless technical incidents.
Like almost all the other teams, Osella ran two cars in 1989. One vehicle was reserved early for Nicola Larini , the second went to Piercarlo Ghinzani , who, after some poor performance in the past few years at Zakspeed and Ligier, had not received another cockpit for 1989 and therefore returned to his old employer Osella for one last season.
Unlike the Italian rival teams Minardi , BMS / Dallara and Coloni, Osella had to prequalify both cars from the beginning of the season. Piercarlo Ghinzani in particular had considerable difficulties with this. He was only able to pre-qualify three times out of 16 attempts (in Hungary , Spain and Australia ); at the races it was then regularly canceled.
Nicola Larini showed significantly better performances. He made the preliminary qualification in eight out of 16 attempts and then regularly the actual qualification. Already in the second race of the year, the Grand Prix of San Marino , he surprised with the 14th place on the grid, leaving the cars of the established competition from Benetton , Brabham or Tyrrell well behind. He finished the race in tenth. This should be the only finish for an Osella in the 1989 season. In the course of the year, the team did not succeed in converting the sometimes very positive qualification results into racing successes (or even reaching the finish line). This was annoying at the Japanese Grand Prix , where Larini started the race in tenth place - the best starting position of an Osella so far - before braking problems were out of the race for him. The most tragic race, however, was the Canadian Grand Prix , in which Larini started from 17th place and temporarily fought his way up to third place. It was the first time in Formula 1 that an Osella driver was on the podium. On lap 34, Larini was still fighting for a solid fourth place when the engine suddenly collapsed, preventing a minor sensation. On other occasions the gearbox broke or the electronics failed.
These technical defects were known in the community as "Osella diseases". They showed how much Enzo Osella still had to save despite his new partner. And they also showed that it was essential to put the racing team on a sound financial footing in the future in order to increase technical performance. Enzo Osella, now heavily in debt, could not do this alone. Therefore, in November 1989, he was forced to sell 51% of the shares in his racing team to Fondmetal. Enzo Osella was only an employee in the racing stable he founded.
1990
Gabriele Rumi, the boss of the new majority owner Fondmetal, provided the Turin team with adequate financial resources for the 1990 Formula 1 World Championship . For the first time in many years, the budget for the entire season was secured before the first race. Osella first used these resources to increase its staff - the team now had around 40 employees and thus roughly reached the level of Minardi - then work began on a new, but modified vehicle. For the first two races of the season, the US Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix , Osella once again reported the unchanged vehicles from the previous year, which were now called FA1M-89; From the San Marino Grand Prix , the team had a revised version called FA1ME. It is doubtful whether the FA1ME was a newly built car or whether it was just a car made in 1989 that was retrofitted. A French source assumes the latter. The main difference between the FA1ME and the FA1M was the position of the spring-damper unit: It was relocated from the inner area of the cockpit back into the nose of the vehicle. In addition, there were new air intakes. The rest of the package, including the Cosworth DFR engine tuned by Mader and the Pirelli tires, which initially continued to be superior in qualifying, remained unchanged. The car appeared in an attractive livery of dark blue, red and orange and had a few other (mostly Italian) sponsors in addition to Fondmetal.
After Piercarlo Ghinzani had ended his active career at the end of 1989 and Nicola Larini had switched to Ligier after three years in Italian teams , Enzo Osella and Gabriele Rumi had to look for a new driver. Their choice fell on the German Bernd Schneider , who had fought a losing battle at Zakspeed the year before . At the turn of the year, Osella and Schneider were essentially in agreement, but Schneider was still contractually bound to Zakspeed. In view of the uncertain future of the German team, he tried to get Erich Zakowski released ; Zakowski, however, was still hoping for a miracle in January 1990 and held on to Schneider for a long time. Zakowski's miracle did not occur; one team had to close in February 1990. Then, however, it was too late for Bernd Schneider: In the meantime, Osella had decided on the Frenchman Olivier Grouillard , who had been replaced by Nicola Larini at Ligier and who was fully available to interested teams. Osella did not want to use a second car this season.
Grouillard and Osella achieved remarkable things, especially at the start of the season. Unforgettable is the season opener, that breathtaking US Grand Prix in Phoenix , where teams like Tyrrell , Minardi , BMS / Dallara or EuroBrun Racing set off veritable fireworks - short-term, but still those that were likely to cause the top teams to worry prepare: Pierluigi Martini , for example, started the race in the Minardi from the front row, which was then led for a long time by Jean Alesi in the Tyrrell. And Osella also managed a small miracle in Phoenix: Grouillard qualified for eighth place on the grid, just 1.3 seconds behind Gerhard Berger's pole time in the McLaren . An Osella has never started so far ahead in Formula 1 (and it shouldn't happen again). Grouillard was only three hundredths of a second slower than Alain Prost , who started one place in front of him, in a Ferrari , while Nigel Mansell's second Ferrari was 1.5 seconds slower than the Osella. In the race itself, Grouillard did well; in the 40th lap he was still in a decent tenth place before he collided with Gregor Foitek in Brabham and retired.
These achievements could not be repeated in the following races. Both the top teams and Goodyear , their tire supplier, gained ground so that the teams' usual ranking was gradually restored. Overall, Grouillard was able to qualify for nine of 16 races; twice he missed the pre-qualification and five times the main qualification. While Osella initially had the national competition of Minardi and BMS / Dallara more or less under control, these teams gradually regained the upper hand in the course of spring. In the summer, Osella had slipped so far that not a single race participation could be realized between the French Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix . The reason for this was the poor handling of the car, which only improved (but then significantly) when a new underbody was installed for the Belgian Grand Prix . After that Osella was able to qualify regularly in the second third of the starting field, but the car still suffered from a lack of reliability. The wheel bearings alone broke in three races and forced an early end. There were only four finishings in total; the best result was two 13th places in Canada and Australia .
At the end of the season, when EuroBrun Racing , Life Racing and Onyx-Monteverdi had given up and Coloni was about to close, Enzo Osella saw that further survival in Formula 1 was only possible with a solid financial basis and a longer-term strategy. After a long period of reflection, he finally decided to sell the remaining shares in the racing team to Fondmetal and to turn his back on Formula 1 after eleven years. The racing team then moved from Turin to Bergamo during the winter break in 1990/91, where it was continued under the name Fondmetal Corse in 1991 and 1992 .
Results
| year | run | vehicle | Driver 1 | Driver 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 6 hour race of Pergusa | Osella PA7 |
Enrico Grimaldi
|
Lella Lombardi
|
| Vallelunga 6 hour race | Osella PA7 |
Giorgio Francia
|
Lella Lombardi
|
|
| 1981 | Mugello 6 hour race | Osella PA9 |
Giorgio Francia
|
Lella Lombardi
|
literature
- Gianni Tomazzoni: Enzo Osella , Schena, 2011, ISBN 9788882299217
- Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing. Cars, tracks and pilots. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
- David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
- David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars. Crowood Press, Marlborough 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English).
- Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. Chronosports, St. Sulpice 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7
- Doug Nye: The Big Book of Formula 1 Racing Cars. The three-liter formula from 1966 . Publishing house Rudolf Müller, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-481-29851-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gianni Tomazzoni: Enzo Osella , Schena, 2011, ISBN 9788882299217 , pp 108th
- ↑ Gianni Tomazzoni: Enzo Osella , Schena, 2011, ISBN 9788882299217 , pp 112th
- ↑ a b Motorsport aktuell, issue 21/1987, p. 37.
- ↑ Successes in the sports car world championship in 1979
- ↑ Successes in the sports car world championship in 1981