Andrea Moda Formula facts for kids
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| Full name | Andrea Moda Formula |
|---|---|
| Base | Civitanova Marche, Italy |
| Founder(s) | Andrea Sassetti |
| Noted drivers |  Alex Caffi Enrico Bertaggia Roberto Moreno Perry McCarthy |
| Previous name | Coloni Racing |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1992 South African Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 9 (1 start) |
| Engines | Judd |
| Constructors' Championships |
0 |
| Drivers' Championships |
0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Final entry | 1992 Belgian Grand Prix |
Andrea Moda Formula was a Formula One racing team that competed in the 1992 Formula One World Championship. The team was owned by an Italian shoe designer named Andrea Sassetti. He named the team after his company.
The team tried to race in nine events but only managed to qualify for one. Because of its many struggles and poor results, Andrea Moda is often seen as one of the least successful teams to ever join Formula One.
Contents
Starting the Team
In September 1991, Andrea Sassetti bought the Coloni F1 team. Coloni had struggled a lot, failing to even get their car ready for most races that year. In its four years, the Coloni team only started 14 races out of 82 attempts. They hadn't qualified for a Grand Prix in over two years.
Sassetti hired some of the old Coloni staff. He also made a deal with a company called Simtek to use a car design from 1990. This car was named the Andrea Moda S921. It used Judd V10 engines. However, the cars were not ready when the 1992 racing season began.
The 1992 Racing Season
The 1992 season started in South Africa. Andrea Sassetti arrived with an older car, a modified Coloni C4B, for his drivers Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia. But the team was not allowed to race. This was because Sassetti had not paid a $100,000 fee required for new teams. He argued his team wasn't new, but the FIA (the sport's governing body) disagreed. Caffi did a few practice laps, but the team couldn't take part in any official sessions.
In Mexico, the team brought all its equipment. However, the cars were still being built and were not ready to run.
Driver Changes and Early Struggles
After these problems, Caffi and Bertaggia were replaced because they had criticized the team. For the Brazilian Grand Prix, Andrea Moda brought in experienced drivers Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy. McCarthy later became famous as The Stig on the TV show Top Gear. Moreno was able to try out the S921 car for the first time, but he couldn't pre-qualify (meaning he wasn't fast enough to join the main race). McCarthy was not allowed to race at all because he didn't have a special racing permit called a Super Licence.
McCarthy finally got his Super Licence for the next race in Spain. But his car broke down almost immediately. Moreno again failed to pre-qualify. Around this time, Enrico Bertaggia wanted to return to the team with $1 million in sponsorship money. Sassetti wanted him back instead of McCarthy, but the FIA stopped any more driver changes. Because of this, Sassetti started to ignore McCarthy and focused all the team's efforts on Moreno.
A Moment of Success and More Problems
At the Monaco Grand Prix, McCarthy's car was very slow and didn't make it past the pre-qualifying stage. But Roberto Moreno did something amazing! He successfully pre-qualified and then qualified for the main race. He started the Monaco Grand Prix from 26th place. Sadly, his engine failed after 11 laps, and he had to stop.
After this small success, the team faced more problems. In Canada, the team had no engines because Sassetti hadn't paid Judd. They borrowed an engine from another team, Brabham, which allowed Moreno to do a few laps. But he still couldn't pre-qualify, and McCarthy couldn't run at all. Many people started leaving the team.
The team then missed the French Grand Prix completely. Their truck was stuck in a roadblock caused by French truck drivers. All the other teams managed to get through, but Andrea Moda did not. At this point, the few sponsors the team had left, and Sassetti had to pay for everything himself.
The second car, meant for McCarthy, became a spare for Moreno. McCarthy was treated very poorly by the team. At his home race in Britain, he was sent out on wet weather tires when the track was dry. At the Hungaroring, he was only allowed out of the pitlane 45 seconds before the end of the pre-qualifying session. This made it impossible for him to set a lap time. The team was warned by the FIA to make a proper effort with McCarthy's car, or they would be removed from the sport.
The End of the Team
For the Belgian Grand Prix in late August, both Andrea Moda cars were allowed to enter qualifying directly because another team had withdrawn. This meant no pre-qualifying session was needed. In qualifying, the Andrea Moda cars were the slowest. Moreno was much slower than the fastest car, and McCarthy, who had an accident, was even slower. Neither driver qualified to race.
During the same weekend, Andrea Sassetti was arrested in the paddock due to issues with how the team was being run.
A week later, on September 8, the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided to remove Andrea Moda Formula from the rest of the 1992 season. They said the team failed to operate "in a manner compatible with the standards of the championship." After this decision, the team was not allowed into the paddock at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Andrea Moda name later appeared in CART racing, sponsoring a team called Euromotorsport in 1993.
Docufilm
In October 2023, a documentary film about the team was shown at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. It is called Last and Furious - The true story of the Andrea Moda Formula.
Images for kids
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The Andrea Moda team logo.
See also
In Spanish: Andrea Moda Formula para niños
