My career, like many people, started in Formula Ford, in 1971, before progressing to Formula Italy, and on to Formula 3—a championship I stayed in for about four or five years. Formula Three was a good experience for me and my team, Euroracing. In 1977 we won the European F3 championship in a March 773-Toyota, and the Italian F3 championship in 1979 in a March-Alfa Romeo. For me, F3 was a really good support for my career in motor racing to build on. Some say I stayed too long, but it gave me a chance to understand the development of the car and engine.
These experiences led to my first Formula One drive for Osella Squadra Corse, which was sometimes difficult as they didn’t have sponsors. In time I raced with other teams like Toleman, Ligier, and Zakspeed, but I drove most of my F1 races for Osella, a very small and underfunded team. Unlike today, 25 years ago F1 was much more of an open championship for everybody it was not as “closed” as it is now. Little teams had a possibility to race and compete with the big team, now it’s just the big teams backed by the major factories in the motorcar industry. Realistically, F1 must open its doors again to more teams to give everybody the opportunity of competing, if they are big, or, if they are small. For sure, today, F1 is more of a business than a sport.
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