Marc Surer

The Brazilian Grand Prix in '81 was a very special race for me, because I shouldn't really have been in it. There was this Columbian guy, Ricardo Londono, who had brought some money to the Ensign team, and he was going to drive in Brazil. I went to Brazil knowing that I wasn't going to drive.

Anyway, the week before the race they had some testing, which of course they don't allow now, and I did a few laps. I climbed out, Londono got in, and I thought, "That's it..."

I hung around, seeing if I could get another drive somewhere, or be there just in case. Then I heard some rumours that Londono had some problems with his Superlicence, although I wasn't aware how big the problem was.

I still hung around, and I remember coming back to the Intercontinental Hotel around midnight on the Thursday night, having had a good time. Before I arrived at the hotel, a journalist had already told me that Morris Nunn was looking for me.

Morris was very nervous, running up and down and so on. Then I walked into reception and he was there. "Oh Marc!" he said, "You must drive my car tomorrow, he didn't get the licence!" And I said "Fine." I wasn't drunk, but it was a bit late...

So I got into the car for practice -happily driving with Londono's money! - and qualified 18th.

It was very nice working with the team. Nigel Bennett was a very good designer. We didn't have any money to improve the car; all we could do was move pick up points on the suspension. He was able, with my information, to improve the car, and later I was always missing an engineer like him whom I could work closely with.

And Morris Nunn was good too, because he was a driver himself; after telling him what the problem was, he could often help a lot.

I was very lucky at the start. It was raining very hard, and there was a crash in front of me. I passed it on the grass, and I was really lucky to stay straight. The Ensign was not a very good car in the dry, but in the wet it went quite well, and suddenly I realised that I could stay with much better cars.

I started to overtake one after the other, until I came up behind John Watson, who was very difficult. He was slower than me, but he didn't make any mistakes. I had no chance on the straight. All I could do was make him nervous, you know, try the left side, try the right side and so on. But still there was no chance. So I said to myself "You only have one chance". So I built myself up for one try, when Watson spun off anyway.

Then I had Elio de Angelis in front of me. I passed him, and started to catch Riccardo Patrese who was third.

I had also set fastest lap, which was my only fastest lap in a Formula 1 race. This was exactly the lap when I removed the tear-off visor. In the rain you always have problems, and my visor was really dirty. When I tore the strip off it was so clear!

I know it was that lap which was my best, because I changed gear later on the straight, right opposite the Ensign pit, and the mechanics made a mark on my chart saying that I had over revved the engine because I was hitting the limiter. That lap was my best lap, over a second quicker than the one before, just because I could see so much better.

For me, that fastest lap was much more important than my eventual fourth place, and it was good for career because after that I found some sponsorship from Switzerland which allowed me to do two more races with the Ensign; Zolder, and Monaco, where I finished sixth. Then Eliseo Salazar arrived with enough money to finish the year.

You know, this team was great. It was a shame that when they had enough money, they didn't do well. It is always a strange thing. We had no money, spare parts or spare engine - we were doing l000kms on one engine, you know, until they sounded funny - but we were still doing well.

It was probably my happiest season. I didn't get paid, just expenses, but I didn't mind. I'd rather it was like that than being with a team that had enough money, but was unhappy. I think I only had four mechanics, Nigel Bennett and Morris Nunn. A small team...

Because we had no money, after the race I invited the team for dinner. There was this nice restaurant in the hotel, so I said we'd eat there. However, Morris waited for me in the coffee shop, because he always ate there - it was cheaper! I was sitting in the restaurant waiting for him, while he was next door waiting for me. And we missed each other! It was funny really...