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As jet-man, or pilot, of his airline company and public-relation-man of BMW, Niki Lauda pays a quick visit to the Motor Show on Tuesday 22 April 1986. Accompanied by Gerard Berger, his natural heir as an Austrian, the three-time Formula 1 World Champion reviews the cars, with an obvious interest in the production of the German company he works for.
"They are very beautiful cars, faster and faster, but also safer. In just a few years, motoring has made a lot of progress and it will make just as much progress soon. The idea of the Thema-Ferrari is excellent: the market is now ready for a certain type of set-up, not least because the economy is booming at the moment. And then people who can, also want to gratify themselves".
Between helicopters (his great passion) and girls, Niki Lauda also finds some space to talk about racing, which he abandoned at the end of last year.
"For the time being I have no nostalgia, I am at most a reporter for Austrian TV".
Is it true that BMW, disappointed with Brabham, wants to enter Formula 1 with its own car and Lauda as official driver?
"No comment. For now, there is no news".
Let's talk about Ferrari then...
"You Italians. Always the same questions. At Maranello they still have to understand the new car. You have to wait. At the moment you can't make a judgement".
How come the majority of the other teams, with new cars, started off on the right foot?
"Maybe they planned their season better. Or they had more time to do it. And then you need the right men to win".
Niki stops at this point, then smiles. Perhaps he is referring to the technicians, perhaps to the pilots. So much so that moving on to another subject he says:
"Prost, for example, I don't see him in contention for the World Championship. In a team you also need good test drivers as well as good drivers. And then I don't think there is a great understanding with Rosberg when it comes to setting up and developing the cars".
So, who will win the World Championship?
"It is early to talk. In any case, I always see Nelson Piquet and Williams. It is the strongest pairing. The Brazilian has great experience and is a champion: he can drive well on all tracks; he has no shortcomings. The team is one of the best, very determined, despite the misfortune that befell its manager. After all, the presence of a guy like Mansell can also be considered stimulating for Piquet. In short, they have all the cards to win. I also see Benetton-BMW well, but it is an outsider".
But the start of the season was dominated by Ayrton Senna, who also led the World Championship.
"It cannot be denied that this boy has talent and courage. And a remarkable ability to concentrate. However, all this is not enough: you need a competitive car on every circuit. Pole positions give satisfaction, victories in certain conditions can also be grabbed by the teeth or by the mistakes of others, as happened in Spain. If Moliseli had returned to change the tyres a few laps earlier, Ayrton would not have finished ahead of the Englishman. At Imola next Sunday, for the San Marino Grand Prix, fuel consumption and engine reliability will be decisive as usual. So, I don't think Senna can repeat the exploit while the race should be particularly good for the Williams".
Niki Lauda gives another smile and then rushes off: the helicopter does not wait. In the city once called Little Leningrad, red does not go out of fashion. The Formula 1 World Championship presents for its third round of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix, a Ferrari mortified after the first two races of the season. Yet, on Thursday 24 April 1986, awaiting the Maranello team with its three vermilion-coloured single-seaters, the last to arrive in the circuit's paddock, is the usual small crowd of lovers. They are ready to criticized, and possibly booing if things go wrong again. But they are equally ready to roar if Alboreto and Johansson manage to rise again in qualifying and in the race. There is honestly no reason to think that Ferrari could have radically changed the performance of the F1-86 in a fortnight. However, miracles have not been lacking in the past on this track that bears the name of Enzo Ferrari's son. It is obvious that within the Maranello team there is no talk of supernatural interventions. Says Michele Alboreto:
"In Rio and Spain we did not achieve results. However, they were not useless or entirely negative experiences. We learned things. Hopefully we were able to translate what we understood, or believed we understood, into progress. Here at Imola, I unfortunately have a negative balance: only in 1982 did I place third, then I was never able to finish a race. I hope to make up for it in one go and win the race".
No major changes are apparently visible on the cars. But the engineers claim that many small jobs have been done that could pay off. From aerodynamics to suspension and shock absorbers to brakes. In short, they are starting off with cautious optimism, with the minimum objective of at least regaining the reliability lost recently. If the fans (in any case a full house is expected at Imola, the 40.000 grandstand tickets have been sold out for a fortnight and well over 100.000 people are expected for Sunday) are thinking above all, of the Ferraris, or at least of the Italian drivers: the insiders continue to indicate Piquet and Mansell as favourites with the Williams, with Prost and Rosberg's McLarens in second place. Not many are betting on Ayrton Senna, leader of the World Championship standings, second in Brazil and winner in Spain. Not because the South American driver's talent has waned, but because the Imola track is very strict with fuel consumption. The Lotus' Renault engine is said to be particularly fuel-hungry. But even this fact needs to be verified, because the surprises so far have come from the French engine, which made it to the finish line six out of six cars in the first race and won in the second, taking pole position in both cases. Regarding Lotus, disparaging rumours are circulating: some claim that the British team uses canisters of compressed air to increase performance. Others insinuate that the flat bottom of the cars would be raised in qualifying, causing a ground effect similar to that obtained with the infamous miniskirts. Engineer Cadringher, FISA's technical manager, denies everything. Among the most important novelties to be recorded was the debut of Ford's new 120° V turbo 6-cylinder engine. Since 1983, the American manufacturer, in collaboration with Cosworth, has been working on this very small engine. Some fifteen of them have already been built: nine electronics engineers work in Dearborn, near Detroit, while some thirty technicians work in England, linked directly to a computer for data transmission. A very important investment that Ford managers justified at a press conference on Thursday, as a very valid experiment for future series production, in order to make small engines with high power and reduced consumption. With due proportions, of course.
The new Lola with Ford engine will be entrusted to Alan Jones, while Patrick Tambay will continue to use the Hart four-cylinder engine for the time being. The choice was made with the Australian being a former World Champion. But the Frenchman, until now, had always been more competitive than his teammate. On Friday 25 April 1986, the public elected Ayrton Senna as the new idol of Formula 1, while the other teams' engineers and the Federation's stewards checked whether the British team was really resorting to strange solutions to make its cars run faster. The fans - an unbelievable crowd, with people camped everywhere - are not disappointed: the Brazilian driver takes to the track, makes a perfect lap, and sets a new circuit record. The others are forced to surrender. Three thorough examinations later confirm that the Lotus are perfectly regular. Ayrton Senna, applauded at every appearance, sets a time of 1'25"050, the new absolute record for the 5040 metre track, at an average speed of 213.333 km/h. He is followed by Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Michele Alboreto, Nigel Mansell, Keke Rosberg, and Stefan Johansson. As can be seen, Ferrari set the fourth and seventh best times. The best result since the beginning of the year, even if limited to the first qualifying session only. Maranello's team has then made some progress. But Michele Alboreto is not too risky:
"I honestly did not expect to get this 1'26"428. It is a sign that we are working in the right direction. But these are only small improvements. We have to wait for the big ones".
The Italian driver does not specify what that is. The F1-86 still has to undergo considerable evolution. Data in hand shows that Ferrari has regained engine power and, at least for now, reliability. Alboreto was clearly the fastest on the finish line, i.e., in acceleration (271.057 km/h against Piquet's 266.433 km/h) while Stefan Johansson reached the exceptional peak of 324.130 km/h on the longest straight, before the Tosa. Ferrari therefore once again had a competitive engine, but not an equally effective chassis. Michele Alboreto himself admits this:
"The car still has limitations".
In this period the men from Maranello (there are many technicians in the pits from the Englishman Postlethwaite to the Frenchmen Migeot and His, to the Italians Renzetti, Caruso, Tomaini and Carniglia, to the electronics specialists) think above all about solving contingent problems. The other teams, like Lotus, take care of the set-up of the cars in every detail, warming up the tyres in qualifying, for example, and working on the weight (549 kg for Senna's car, 574 kg for Johansson's, who still has problems with the brakes...). Ferrari's commitment is admirable, this will to fight, to try to get back to the top, without having any illusions. It cannot be said that the moment is particularly positive for the Italian colours in Formula 1. After Alboreto the best is Teo Fabi with the Benetton, twelfth, struggling with a BMW engine that does not work properly. All in all, a good performance by Alessandro Nannini, sixteenth with the Minardi, between a broken turbine and a gearbox to be reviewed. The Italian driver is starting to make a name for himself. Debuts are however difficult for everyone, even for those who do not lack means. Like the Lola equipped with the new Ford-turbo engine. The big American company is still in the experimental phase and Jones is seventeenth, behind Minardi's handcrafted Motori Moderni. In this way at least Tambay took a satisfaction: with the old Hart engine he is exactly halfway down the field. Behind the facade of pure sporting agonism, of the struggle between the drivers conditioned by the performance of the cars, an exasperated technical and industrial battle continues in Formula 1. From the search for ever more advanced and sophisticated materials to space aerodynamics, to tyres that are genuine masterpieces of engineering and calculation, to computerised electronics, there is also, and always has been for some years now, the battle of the petrol. There are many manufacturers engaged in these fields of experimentation: Agip, Mobil, Shell, Elf, to name the best known. But some teams also make use of specialized laboratories to produce special fuels, within the limits of the regulations that stipulate the use of petrol with a maximum of 102 octane. On Saturday, 26 April 1986, Elf, the French company that supplies petrol to teams using Renault engines, is likely to announce the production of a new fuel with secret characteristics. These petrol have very high production costs.
There is now talk of around 40 dollars per litre: an incredible price, but one must also consider that the quantities used by the teams are still limited. The biggest problem to be solved is that of engine detonation, but there are many parameters that must be considered. For example, there are fuel system injectors that open and close in 0.007 seconds. And the petrol has to meet special requirements to enable the lowest consumption, offering the highest possible calorific value. In short, a challenge within a challenge. Be that as it may, at Imola almost as at Rio (Brazil) and Jerez (Spain), three of the first four drivers on the grid are the same, in the same order. In the San Marino Grand Prix the top two rows are occupied by Senna, Piquet, Mansell and Prost. This also means that the Brazilian of Lotus takes his fourth consecutive pole position, the tenth of his career. And finally, behind this poker of aces, a Ferrari: it is the best result since the beginning of the year. Alboreto scores the fifth best time. Johansson the seventh. No miracle, no illusion of success, but at least a little progress, some steps forward. A stimulus for the fans present at Imola. The autodrome is invaded by fans with red and yellow banners. The cheering for the Scuderia Ferrari drivers is great. Ayrton Senna in the last qualifying session was one of five drivers who could not improve on the time set on Friday. But the lap record of 1'25"050 was enough to withstand the onslaught of his rivals, who were unleashed until the last minute of practice. The skills of the Brazilian driver and the competitiveness of the Lotus and Renault engine managed to beat the ambitions of Nelson Piquet and the rest of the group of competitors, perhaps due to the crowdedness of cars on the track. Only a few competitors manage to complete clean laps without encountering traffic. But perhaps even a perfect lap would have been pointless. The situation is best summed up by Nelson Piquet:
"I was lucky. I did four perfect laps, but it was not possible to go faster. I was driving and thinking about that damn Senna. I was trying to charge myself mentally. We hope to beat him at least in the race".
The Imola circuit is spectacular and allows easy overtaking, but there is the problem of petrol consumption (we must not forget what happened in 1985). The winner will be whoever is able to set up a tactically sound race and solve the equation between engine power and the 195 litres of petrol available in the best possible way. And then there will be the usual uncertainties about the tyres (a pit change is possible) and the brakes, which on a track like this are stressed to the max. Another unknown factor is the weather: rain is forecast. In the event of bad weather, Ayrton Senna could have an additional advantage, unless there are surprises from the rear of the field from cars with Pirelli tyres. It should not be a boring race, however. Last year there was no shortage of twists and turns. Alain Prost's disqualification for McLaren underweight by a kilo, Ayrton Senna and Stefan Johansson mortified after a spectacular race for running out of petrol, Elio De Angelis' victory. What role can Ferrari play in these complicated games? The F1-86 still have problems with the brakes, which overheat and cause air bubbles in the circuit. The ideal temperature of the discs should be around 170 °C, but it seems they go up to 240 °C. If the Maranello engineers manage to overcome this drawback and if no other problems arise, Alboreto and Johansson should be able to fight among the leaders. However, their cars are still not well balanced and suffer from considerable understeer. With a full tank of petrol, however, the performance of the Ferraris could be a positive surprise. The Benettons of Fabi and Berger are also expected at the gate, on which BMW bets, given the total failure of the Brabhams (on Saturday, among other things, they damaged three clutches). A pity for the sponsors of the English team, Carlo De Benedetti and Giorgio Armani, who came down to the pits to galvanise the now sad Riccardo Patrese and Elio De Angelis. However, the San Marino Grand Prix has several important tasks to fulfil. It has to say whether Ayrton Senna is really a candidate to win the World Championship, whether Nelson Piquet is still the biggest favourite and whether Alain Prost's star has to be considered dimmed for the moment. But the 100.000-plus people at Imola are above all waiting to know whether the Ferrari is on the right track, the road to resurrection, or whether they will have to wait a long time to find a Maranello car at the top of the Grand Prix.
On Sunday, 27 April 1986, at the start of the San Marino Grand Prix, spared by the rain (a few drops fell half an hour before the start, then a downpour immediately after the end of the race) Nelson Piquet goes wild in the first laps. With Alessandro Nannini leaving the scene immediately due to a collision with Laffite's Ligier, the Brazilian driver's Williams sustains a prohibitive pace for his rivals. Nelson Piquet immediately passes Ayrton Senna, who is subsequently attacked by the McLaren drivers. First, he passes Alain Prost and then Keke Rosberg. The Finn overtook his teammate and tried to catch up with Nelson Piquet's Williams, while Michele Alboreto approached the #12 Lotus to threaten the fourth position of Ayrton Senna, who was already in obvious difficulty. After eight laps, meanwhile, Nigel Mansell was already out of the race, betrayed by his car's electronics, and Johnny Dumfries, with one wheel of his Lotus locked. During lap 12 Ayrton Senna is also forced to slow down and stop in the pits. The fault blocking one of the possible protagonists is the same as his teammate's. Also out were Alan Jones in the Lola-Ford (lap 29, overheating), Patrick Tambay in the Lola-Hart (lap 5, engine) and Elio De Angelis (lap 19, engine), Nelson Piquet remained in the lead, followed by Keke Rosberg, Alain Prost and Michele Alboreto with rather large gaps between them. Behind were René Arnoux, who was then betrayed by the loss of a front wheel, and the two Benetton, battling it out. On lap 29, with Nelson Piquet already being chased by the McLarens, the carousel of pit stops to change tyres began. The first to enter is Michele Alboreto (who stops in the pits for 8.44 seconds, a record for the day, always good work by the Ferrari mechanics) then it is Nelson Piquet's turn, who had slowed down and thus loses first position. For three laps it is Keke Rosberg who takes the lead, but the Finn (14.80 seconds into the race) is forced to give way to Prost (8.62 seconds) on the attack. The race restarted with Alain Prost in first place, Keke Rosberg at 9.6 seconds, Nelson Piquet at 15 seconds and Michele Alboreto at 26.5 seconds. It is clear that the Brazilian driver's car has some problems. One thinks of fuel consumption, but instead it is the clutch, almost burnt out, that causes the slowdown. With Teo Fabi stopped with no pressure in the turbines, on lap 39, Alain Prost gains a lead of more than 20 seconds over Keke Rosberg and around 40 seconds over Nelson Piquet. When everything seems to have been decided, here at last are a few eventful laps.
Nelson Piquet miraculously resumes running at a high pace, fending off a slight attack attempt by Michele Alboreto. The Ferrari of the Italian driver, after having excited the spirits of his fans, is again sucked back until he is forced to make a final stop, caused by a broken turbine, on lap 56. The grand finale is at least spectacular. Keke Rosberg slows down and stops with two laps to go without petrol, losing second position, overtaken by the very regular Riccardo Patrese. The Italian driver, however, in turn stops along the track and Gerhard Berger, who in the meantime has passed Stefan Johansson, struggling with malfunctioning brakes, climbs to third place. On the last frantic lap Alain Prost was almost caught up by Nelson Piquet, but with a bit of luck he managed to take advantage of the last drops of petrol to precede his rival by a hundred metres on the finish line. Alain Prost thus won the San Marino Grand Prix, followed by Nelson Piquet, Gerhard Berger and Stefan Johansson, both one lap behind. Keke Rosberg and Riccardo Patrese finished fifth and sixth, despite running out of fuel before crossing the finish line. Shaking his McLaren down the Rivazza downhill, while the fans were all on their feet convinced, they were witnessing a sensational twist, Alain Prost recovered a few drops of petrol from the fuel channel and won the San Marino Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula 1 World Championship. It was a race that somewhat betrayed expectations, lively and exciting in the early stages, boring and uninteresting throughout the central part, which became uncertain in the final laps only because of the fuel consumption issue. The reigning World Champion preceded Nelson Piquet on the finish line by 7 seconds and 26-year-old Gerard Berger, the Austrian of Benetton, for the first time on the podium, already a lap down. In fourth place was Stefan Johansson in the Ferrari: the first positive result for the Maranello team. Not such as to excite the many Ferrari fans, but still an improvement over previous tests. Instead, Michele Alboreto was forced to retire due to the failure of a turbine, when with four laps to go he could theoretically have gained third position. Behind the Swede Keke Rosberg and therefore the first of the Italians, a diehard Riccardo Patrese, who suffered driving a car still full of troubles and finally returned to the points zone after two years of complete abstinence. Alain Prost took his revenge.
Disqualified last year because the McLaren was 1 kilo underweight, the Frenchman won the San Marino Grand Prix, a deserved victory, as the reigning World Champion drove with great skill, without making any mistakes. He attacked when the time was right, he was able to contain himself without accepting dangerous brawls, he made the most of the car's possibilities and returned to the top. In the end he was also a bit lucky, when he managed to run the last five hundred metres in slow motion, now out of petrol (half a litre of fuel was found in the tank at scrutineering). The Formula One World Championship thus finds another protagonist. After three races we have three different winners: Piquet in Brazil, Senna in Spain and now the Frenchman. Great uncertainty then, with the prospect that the rest of the season will be hard-fought, uncertain. And the hope that the fight for the title will continue until the last race, scheduled for Sunday 26 October 1986 in Australia. French champagne for Alain Prost, once again on the top step of the podium after a not particularly brilliant start to the season. The McLaren driver took his 22nd Formula 1 victory. Not a bad record. But above all, the reigning World Champion is happy with the recovery highlighted by McLaren in the confrontation with the rival teams.
"Victory aside, I am satisfied because in this race we have shown that our Tag-Porsche engine is no longer far behind Honda and Renault. It was supposed to be a computer race and instead we were a bit betrayed by the sophisticated electronic systems we have on board. My gauge still showed three and a half litres in the tank and instead I was practically out of fuel".
What did you think when you felt the engine was about to shut down?
"I thought I had thrown everything away. Luckily, I was downhill and shook the car to catch all the petrol that was in the gutter. I was fine".
Now the championship is particularly open...
"Of course. A very good World Championship. I still see Senna as the protagonist in Monte Carlo and maybe in Detroit but for the title my opponent will be Piquet. We at McLaren always struggle in qualifying because you can't take pole position with a hundred less horsepower. But that doesn't matter in the long run. On almost all circuits, like this one at Imola, you can overtake quite easily and when you have a superior car there are no problems".
Keke Rosberg, ranked fifth, despite having to stop, precisely because he used up all his petrol, with two laps to go, is also very happy:
"McLaren is now on a par with Williams, for the first time since I changed teams, I am convinced I made the right move even though Piquet and Mansell's cars are very good. This result gives me confidence and I am sure I will take many satisfactions during the season. At the beginning I pulled a lot because the usual computer was telling me to do it. But it was faulty and misled me. Too bad".
Even Nelson Piquet does not hide his joy after being on the podium.
"I was afraid I wouldn't finish the race, because after fifteen laps I was practically out of clutch. I had to slow down the pace noticeably because I was afraid of breaking everything or maybe not starting again when I had to stop in the pits to change the tyres. Later I was heartened and realised that the problem was not so serious, and I was able to accelerate. Alboreto was never a danger to me. He was practically driving a truck. When I saw him coming in the rear-view mirror, all I had to do was push on the accelerator and I left him far behind. At the end, when I realized that the others were having problems with fuel consumption, I tried to get to the front of the race but by then it was probably too late. In any case, I am fully convinced that without the clutch problem I could have given everyone a lap. I don't particularly like the track of the next Monaco Grand Prix, but last year I had to drive the BMW, which was certainly not easy to drive on certain types of tracks because of its abrupt response. Prost is the most difficult opponent to beat".
Also on the podium, for the first time, was Benetton driver Gerard Berger. Again, an Austrian after Niki Lauda. The young driver drove a very intelligent race, he had chosen a very balanced set-up for the car, but he too was slowed down by the clutch that gave out in the first part of the race.
"I had to drive very carefully, then at one point a splash of oil got into my helmet and soiled my visor on the inside. I couldn't clean it and so I preferred to go back to the pits to perform the operation and at the same time, for safety, I also changed the tyres. But it wasn't necessary. The Pirelli went very well and I am very optimistic for the rest of the season in which we will take a lot of satisfaction".
Riccardo Patrese could not take third place due to lack of petrol. The Italian driver is furious when he gets out of the car. Then he recovers and accepts with philosophy the sixth position that allows him to win his first point after almost two years of waiting:
"This is a confidence boost for the team and for our sponsors, especially Olivetti who gives us a lot of support. I hope that this is the first step towards further improvement and finally reaching the top. We have every chance".
Ayrton Senna, who was leading the World Championship and was now joined by Nelson Piquet, was blocked by a failure of the left rear wheel.
"I did not expect such a trouble, but that is the game of Formula 1. In any case my car in the race was not as competitive as the Williams and McLaren. For the title I see Piquet and Prost as favourites, quite narrowly, although on certain tracks like Monte-Carlo and Detroit we will stand up for ourselves".
Senna insists that Lotus does not use systems, which are irregular for qualifying. The explanation is given, only partially, by technician Gérard Ducarouge:
"We don't have a sloping floor, but another solution that is state-of-the-art and that I had already studied in the past. If any team tries to make a sloping floor they will be on the wrong track".
It seems that in fact the British team has an advantage in qualifying mainly due to the power of the special Renault engine for time trials, and an electronically controlled hydro-pneumatic suspension system, which would allow the car to stay very low on the asphalt in all conditions. This also explains all the sparks caused by the Lotus when it hits the ground. At the top of the championship standings there are now two paired drivers, the Brazilians Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet with 15 points, and a third wheel, Alain Prost, with 13 points. Encouraging, though not extraordinary, are the small progress of Ferrari, the return to the top zone of Brabham with Riccardo Patrese, and the performance not to be underestimated of Benetton. In short, everything points to a very interesting championship. If the situation is favourable in terms of numbers and competition, the same cannot be said of the show. The Imola race made one forget the spasmodic finish at Jerez. It was a rather boring race, in which the importance of the computers that regulate petrol consumption was decisive and had an absurd influence on the result. The issue is now well known. In order to reduce the speed of these beasts, it was decided to increase the capacity of the fuel tanks to a maximum of 195 litres. On a technical level, the challenge is interesting, but on a sporting level it is mortifying for the drivers, who are not only forced to act as taxi-drivers on certain occasions but are also betrayed by the on-board computers that all too often report wrong data. This regulation shows obvious limits, because if its aim was to reduce speeds, the objective has not been achieved. This year, all records have been broken at busy tracks.
This means that other rules would have to be devised to achieve what the Federation had set out to do. Unbelievable excesses were reached in qualifying. Tyres that last one lap, special fuels, engines that only run a few laps at most before exploding. Mechanics forced to work in forced gears to constantly change engines. But the most serious fact concerns the drivers themselves, who have to keep their eyes on the dashboard displays to set the pace of the race. At this point, radio-controlled cars could be built. And, as if that were not enough, these very small computers, strained by a thousand problems, make mistakes. They indicate litres that are not there, sometimes they say there are still many laps to go and the single-seaters stop suddenly, out of fuel. In this total confusion there is also the problem of the tyres. To gain a few tenths per lap, the manufacturers make splendid tyres that last half a race at most, when two or more changes are not necessary. How nice it would be, instead, to see a race done in its entirety, fought to the end without sparing any effort on the part of the racers, who instead feel mortified by this technology that no longer leaves room for the human factor. Formula 1 is a good show in all respects, from image to racing. However, the sporting authorities and manufacturers must be careful not to reduce it to a toy that can break down at any moment, disillusioning above all the fans who are the driving force behind every sport. All it would take is goodwill and a certain amount of far-sightedness to find valid solutions capable of satisfying everyone, without depressing the show and above all without humiliating the skills of those who, despite everything, are still the protagonists of Formula 1: the drivers, who have become the victims of a highly advanced but ruthless technology. The San Marino Grand Prix also highlights the slight progress of the Scuderia Ferrari. Stefan Johansson's fourth place is a content that is not enough for the Maranello team. Much more was hoped for from this race, although undoubtedly compared to the two previous ones the F1-86 went better. Much bitterness above all for Michele Alboreto, who was stopped four laps from the end, when he could have taken a good third place. And the Italian driver does not hide his disappointment:
"I haven't been able to finish since August last year. Eight consecutive retirements are a bit too many for me. It has become a nightmare. By now my goal, my fixation has become that: to finish a race. I had a pretty good start; I was trying to get on Piquet although I don't know if I could have caught him when suddenly the turbo pressure dropped completely. Maybe I could have continued for a few more metres at 30 km/h, but I preferred to stop in the pits. It was a particularly dark period for me, but I am happy in any case for the team that is working hard and maybe in the next Grands Prix they will give me the right means to have greater satisfaction".
Alboreto's retirement created a small case in the Maranello team. Some people did not believe that Michele's sudden stop had been caused by the failure of a turbine. It was suspected that the #27 Ferrari had run out of petrol. Instead, after the official technical checks, the mechanics dismantled the systems and realised that the impeller, i.e. the fan of the supercharger system to the left of the car, had broken. A trouble that had already been repeated on other occasions in an even more traumatic manner with smoke and fires. This time the Italian driver's stop prevented greater damage to the car. When Alboreto arrived in the pits someone controversially remarked that he could have continued. But Michele did not want to hear a fuss and went to the motorhome where he immediately changed and, getting on his motorbike with his wife Nadia, headed back to the hotel. For Ferrari now begins another period of testing, which will probably always take place at the Fiorano track. They have to prepare for the Monte-Carlo race, which is very difficult, because the current single-seater seems better suited to fast circuits than to slow ones. Explains Michele Alboreto, before leaving:
"Our car does quite well in the straights and fast corners, but it loses a lot in the slow parts of the tracks. We have to insist on tuning the suspension and chassis to find these tenths that we are missing".
Piero Lardi Ferrari adds:
"Losing a good placing four laps from the end puts one in a bad mood. Alboreto would have deserved to be on the podium, but he couldn't continue because with the engine practically aspirated, he would have gone to 100km/h and then - as we learned later - he would have risked doing even more damage. However, we went better than in the previous two races. Before we could see the best from a long way off, now we are a little closer. That doesn't mean that we have caught up with Lotus, Williams and McLaren completely, but at least that we are on the right track".
Instead, Stefan Johansson achieved a fourth place that managed to make the Swedish driver happy:
"I had terrible brake problems right from the start, which is why I could not force the pace in the first part of the race. At the end I took a few more risks to gain some positions but it was quite useless. I had to pump the pedal three or four times in every corner and that was really terrible".
Ferrari does not know whether to rejoice for the three points won by Johansson (first placing of the season) or whether to recriminate for the third place that Alboreto would have been able to conquer if he had not been forced to retire because of a broken turbine. In this period of little satisfaction every result is welcomed with positivity, thinking of a better future. With the World Championship now in full swing, there is no time to stop and draw up budgets. Work is needed. And very quickly. On Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April, rain permitting, Stefan Johansson will be on track at Fiorano to carry out some experimental tests. The brakes that gave so many problems in the first three courts, causing three retirements, will be tested. In addition, set-up and aerodynamic solutions will be studied for an atypical circuit such as Monte-Carlo, where the fourth round of the World Championship will be held. Basically, Ferrari is forced to move forward in forced stages. Not least because you cannot just try to solve the problems that have occurred so far, but you have to implement a continuous development of the cars. The other teams are not standing idly by, and from one race to the next are continually coming up with new features, big and small. The Maranello team, among other things, is developing - as has already been mentioned - a completely new single-seater, starting with the engine, which should make its debut around September. At the start of the season Enzo Ferrari had declared that he would be happy to repeat last year's second place. In the light of the facts this top target is now quite far away. But the results of the first three races showed a balance (three different winners) that could favour a recovery in the second half of the championship. Michele Alboreto, after eight consecutive retirements, a genuine record also due to bad luck, declared that his current goal is to finish one race. But knowing the Italian driver's stubbornness, we know that he will leave no stone unturned to try to get into the title fight between Piquet, Senna, and Prost. Ferrari's task is to provide him as soon as possible with a single-seater that can not only defend itself, but also attack.