In memory of Osella: The car that thrust a 1980s F1 backmarker into the midfield battle

At the age of 86, ex-Formula 1 team owner and racer Enzo Osella passed away on Saturday. A national-level rally and hillclimb driver in his own right, Osella started working for Carlo Abarth - founder of the eponymous performance and racing car brand - in the early 1960s as a test driver, soon taking on other responsibilities within the company. When Abarth sold the brand to Fiat in 1971, Osella took over the racing division and spun it off into his own business.

Building on what Abarth had already put in place, Osella enjoyed success with Abarth-designed sports prototypes, winning the 1972 European Sportscar Championship with Arturo Merzario. As the company expanded, Osella was soon developing cars for Formula 2 and Formula 3, albeit on an on-off basis throughout the second half of the 1970s.

By 1979, however, Osella had hit upon the right formula to challenge for F2 success. With its four-year-old FA2, the Italian squad almost carried Eddie Cheever to the title - but the American’s challenge petered out in the final rounds as his Pirelli tyres struggled to deliver grip in the warmer summer months, versus the more versatile Goodyears used by his competitors.

This proved to be the springboard to F1. Osella had accrued funding from Italy’s national tobacco board through its MS brand, and fragrance company Denim - a staple of the F1 grid across the 1980s. With Cheever behind the wheel, the bulky, overweight FA1 (penned by Giorgio Stirano) was soon fettled into a car capable of qualifying in the midfield.

But 1981 generally killed that momentum. The departure of both Cheever and Italy’s state money from advertising its national tabs of choice left the team to scurry about for pay-driver cash. Beppe Gabbiani was one such driver bestowed with great wealth, while Miguel Angel Guerra occupied the second seat  but on qualifying for his first race at Imola, the Argentine clashed with Eliseo Salazar at the start and subsequently crashed heavily. A broken wrist and ankle precluded him from racing in F1 again.

Piercarlo Ghinzani and Giorgio Francia took over for a handful of entries until Jean-Pierre “Jumper” Jarier was parachuted into the line-up and promptly demonstrated that the FA1B was capable of much more than the raft of DNQs it had racked up. Jarier exposed Gabbiani’s lack of pace to the point that, when the updated FA1C was made available for Monza, the Frenchman was immediately first in the queue.

Without a clear lead driver, Osella sponsor SAIMA funded Jarier's arrival at the team (pictured at Paul Ricard, 1982)

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Jarier stayed for 1982, which proved to be a wholly important acquisition for Osella. Thanks to the escalating FISA-FOCA war, the withdrawal of the FOCA teams from that year’s San Marino Grand Prix allowed Jarier to accrue Osella’s first F1 points with fourth – albeit out of 14 runners. Four rounds later, elation turned to tragedy at Montreal; newcomer Riccardo Paletti, in only his second grand prix start (and his first from the grid), was killed when he slammed into the back of the stalled Didier Pironi off the line.

Osella had to work its way through the tragedy, operating just the one car for Jarier for the rest of the year. As the Frenchman went back to Ligier for 1983, it opted to sign the all-Italian line-up of Corrado Fabi - brother of Teo - and recalled Ghinzani. The latter became something of an Osella stalwart over the next few years. Although making the grid was a struggle in the opening races of the year, the introduction of the gorgeous FA1E (the Tony Southgate-penned edition, rather than the earlier FA1D/Alfa Romeo 182 hybrid of the same name) soon began to bear fruit.

In the meantime, Alfa Romeo had started to supply Osella with its old V12 midway through 1983 (hence the change in car) before offering its 1.5-litre 890T V8 twin-turbo. While small, the engine was known for its predilection towards guzzling liquid hydrocarbons in great volumes, and penchant for self-immolation. With it in the back of its new FA1F, however, Osella enjoyed arguably the most successful of its 11 seasons.

“This is the best way for me to heal,” Ghinzani said at the time on his decision to jump straight back into F1 machinery, such was his keenness to not miss a race

While lacking the dart-like aesthetics of the 1983 car, made manifest by the ban on ground effects, the FA1F was certainly of its time; the longer sidepods versus its predecessor rather demonstrated that even a flat floor could have some aerodynamic benefit. The rear wing also came bearing the cluster of appendages usually seen around this time, as designers grasped for any avenues of downforce at the rear.

Indeed, Ghinzani labelled the FA1F as one of his favourite cars to drive across his career. While among the lower runners on one-lap pace, sitting around the Tyrrells, pre-turbo Arrows, RAMs, and the sole Spirit entry, Ghinzani found the car easy to handle in the races and could be depended on to keep the car in the race. Instead, the usual constraint was reliability; the 890T and its gearbox were frequent collaborators in the Osella running aground.

Having started 22nd in the Rio de Janeiro opener, Ghinzani completed 28 laps before peeling off-track - indeed, his gearbox had called it a day. This was the first in a difficult four-race spell in which Osella began the year; in South Africa, Ghinzani was due to start 20th, but instead was lucky to walk away from a horrific shunt in the pre-race warm-up session with little more than a burned hand. He’d clipped a kerb through Kyalami’s Jukskei Sweep and lost control, which precipitated a car-snapping crash with the grass bank that ruptured a fuel line. The FA1F was set ablaze and the smoke shrouded the downhill run to Sunset Bend.

Ghinzani hit gearbox trouble in Brazil, and then miraculously survived a horror crash at Kyalami

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Accounts from the time report that the rear half remained at the scene of the crash, and the survival cell a further 30-odd metres down the road. Ghinzani, somehow, got out largely unscathed, and the sole injury to his hand was a legacy of his decision to remove a glove to unbuckle his belts. The survival cell was blackened by the enveloping flames, but intact. Ghinzani was fine to drive in the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder.

Osella built up a new car for the Italian, which he reckoned felt more together than the chassis he’d left in a blazing inferno three weeks prior. “This is the best way for me to heal,” Ghinzani said at the time on his decision to jump straight back into F1 machinery, such was his keenness to not miss a race.

He qualified 20th, again surrounded by the usual suspects, but made an excellent start to sit 16th by the close of the opening lap, helped by the evasive action ahead when Keke Rosberg bogged down off the line. Soon, Ghinzani was up ahead of Nigel Mansell’s Lotus, and then got clear of Andrea de Cesaris’ Ligier to sit two positions away from the top 10 by the end of the 12th lap. Unreliability then chose to rear its head on the following tour - Ghinzani's fortunes again shifted with a gearbox issue.

Osella chose to run a second car for Imola, albeit the naturally aspirated 1983 FA1E as a second FA1F was unavailable. Formula Two driver Jo Gartner was hired to drive, having come with support from Austrian tobacco brand Milde Sorte, and duly bumped his more experienced team-mate - in the better car - off the grid during the second qualifying session.

Ghinzani was unable to set a time in that session, having missed the dry running with an ignition fault. This allowed Gartner, who had managed to rile some of the established order with his apparent lack of on-track manners in the Friday and Saturday sessions, to start a grand prix at the first attempt. At least Ghinzani kept good company; this was the only race that Ayrton Senna ever failed to qualify for...

In the old car, Gartner largely kept out of trouble at the back of the order before the Alfa V12 popped its clogs. After that quiet debut outing, the Austrian left the stage for the time being, but was called back into action once Osella had a second FA1F ready to go.

Ghinzani started to gather results as the focal point for Osella’s single-car entry. The FA1F was classified for the first time at the following French Grand Prix at Dijon, as the Lombard finished five laps down on race winner Niki Lauda in 12th, and then was within touching distance of a (half) points finish in torrential conditions in Monaco.

Prost shows Ghinzani the way around the Rascasse in Monaco's obscenely wet 1984 thriller

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It was the first time an Osella had ever made the grid in Monte Carlo, and Ghinzani managed to tiptoe through the sopping wet weather admirably until the race was red flagged on the 32nd tour. He crossed the line eighth, although this became seventh when Stefan Bellof’s third place was expunged through Tyrrell's complete disqualification from the 1984 results.

Canada and Detroit presented similar stories to Osella’s opening clutch of races in 1984; Ghinzani qualified in the bottom third of the field, and then retired after 11 laps in Montreal with a gearbox issue. Detroit, however, offered some variation as Ghinzani took advantage of starting dramas to rocket from last on the grid to 18th. He’d got onto the back of Francois Hesnault’s Ligier by the end of the third lap, but the two quickly came to blows and crashed out.

But the North American leg was not a complete bust – as the follow-up in Dallas subsequently proved. The Fair Park race was so unpopular that the race was never run again; the circuit was, for a 1980s street course, surprisingly fast - but dust and crumbling tarmac could easily nudge a driver into the wall if they strayed an inch too close to the imposing concrete walls. Add 38C weather into the mix, and the disintegrating circuit soon posed a gruelling 67-lap race. If a driver could keep going, they’d stand to benefit from the likely attrition.

On a day where myriad current and future champions put their cars into the wall - Lauda, Senna, and Nelson Piquet all finding the sinister embrace of concrete - Ghinzani made no such errors

Ghinzani plonked his FA1F 18th on the grid in Dallas, his best qualifying result of the season. Given the state of the circuit, which required repairs early in the morning as a CanAm race had converted a precarious track surface into an asphalt crumble, quick-dry cement (or, depending on accounts from the time, epoxy concrete filler) was hastily applied to the more egregious cracks.

On a day where myriad current and future champions put their cars into the wall - Lauda, Senna, and Nelson Piquet all finding the sinister embrace of concrete - Ghinzani made no such errors. In Nigel Roebuck’s Autosport report from the time, the Osella is barely mentioned aside from a botched tyre-change and the mid-race pick-me-up of a bucket of water being dispensed into Ghinzani’s lap to save him from boiling in the heat.

It rather suggests the otherwise trouble-free nature of his race, and Ghinzani upgraded sixth into fifth when he passed Mansell - who attempted to push his Lotus over the finish line before collapsing due to heat exhaustion - at the very end. Ghinzani had claimed two valuable points for Osella, the team’s final scoring finish in F1.

Ghinzani navigated the tricky Dallas circuit perfectly; Tambay, ahead, hit the wall on lap 26

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That’s not to say that an Osella never finished in the top six again - it did, in that year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. After the Dallas race, Gartner was back in the team in a second FA1F, and had been allowed to start at Brands Hatch despite missing the top 26 cut as the Tyrrells raced under appeal (its lead-shot ballast trick having been exposed at this point).

Gartner then got caught up in a first-lap incident of Riccardo Patrese’s making, as the Italian spun at Graham Hill Bend trying to pass Jacques Laffite (which then caught out Eddie Cheever, Stefan Johansson, and Philippe Alliot - then, later, Gartner), while Ghinzani got ninth. Both drivers retired at the German and Austrian races; at his home race at the Osterreichring, Gartner then outqualified Ghinzani, and then finished 12th next time out at Zandvoort.

Monza, however, was an attritional affair. 10 drivers had retired after 15 laps, all but two as the result of engine, gearbox, or turbocharger issues. The Osellas, which qualified 22nd and 24th, Ghinzani from Gartner, plodded along - the 890T in the back had been somewhat well-behaved.

There was, however, a rule change in 1984 that rather set the cat among the pigeons: the turbo cars were given a maximum fuel capacity of 220 litres per race, with no refuelling permitted. This was problematic for the overall spectacle at the time - if fans today were upset by tyre management, then the economy runs of the mid-80s would certainly infuriate most. For Osella, this was a problem - its Alfa 890T engine might have been small, but it was also incredibly thirsty.

Many of the top teams had managed to get around that 220-litre maximum by increasing the fuel’s density. By supercooling the fuel, teams could effectively squeeze more into the tank - furthermore, the fuel suppliers also focused on increasing the energy density to ensure that any leaner fuel mixes would not hinder performance as much.

But Osella, as a tiny team with limited resources, was likely not able to stretch to such excesses. Ghinzani and Gartner continued to circulate while the 890T tried to avoid necking the entirety of the Agip fuel in the tank - but Ghinzani’s engine ultimately consumed too much. While running in fourth, the Italian dropped out a couple of laps from the end with a dry fuel tank - promoting Gartner to fifth. The Austrian preserved his place until the end, running on fumes, but was sadly ineligible for points thanks to a quirk in the rules.

Gartner ran out of fuel moments after finishing fifth at Monza - he scored no points as his car was ineligible

Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch / Getty Images

Osella’s decision to register as a one-car team for 1984 meant that any second cars could not claim the points available; ATS driver Gerhard Berger, who followed his compatriot home in sixth, faced a similar fate as the German team also started as a one-car operation.

Ghinzani retired from the final two races of 1984, while Gartner at least took the chequered flag one more time with 16th in Portugal, to cap off a season where the little Italian squad had at least been semi-competitive. The FA1F was pressed into service again for the start of 1985, before the FA1G started its first race in that year’s Canadian GP.

It had sporadic returns thereafter; Huub Rothengatter, who had replaced the Toleman-bound Ghinzani mid-season, used the car at Spa-Francorchamps that year and was one lap short of being classified 14th. It was also reprised in 1986 and 1987, although accounts vary over its usage through that season; the F, G, and later, FA1H, were all used across the season. (This Autosport forum post does a very good job of attempting to untangle the Osella chassis confusion).

While Enzo Osella’s little team only left a small mark on F1, it nonetheless remains an indelible one - and his contribution to motorsport should be lauded for its success and longevity in multiple disciplines

The follow-ups, the FA1I and FA1L, were significantly less successful, but it would be remiss not to mention the amusingly apt chassis designations – and a near-miss payday in 1989, as Nicola Larini fell prey to electrical issues while running fourth in Canada.

Enzo Osella’s time in F1 came to a close after the 1990 season by which time the Fondmetal alloy wheels business, owned by Gabriele Rumi, had bought a majority stake. Rumi took full control of the F1 entity for 1991, indeed rebranding the team as Fondmetal.

Meanwhile, Osella continued beyond F1 as a constructor of racing cars, returning to its hillclimb roots - and has done so for the past 35 years, as Osella cars have taken myriad victories across Italy’s various national championships. While Enzo Osella’s little team only left a small mark on F1, it nonetheless remains an indelible one - and his contribution to motorsport should be lauded for its success and longevity in multiple disciplines.

Osella's team lasted in F1 for 11 seasons before he decided to return to the hillclimb scene

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