The potential F1 champion who deserved much more

Over the years many people have not known what to make of the wild-haired bohemian character from Rome. Having won the F3000 championship while living in Littlehampton, he had his first taste of Formula 1 in a Brabham-BMW on the streets of Adelaide in November 1987. The word in the paddock was that he was a moody fellow, a bit weird, and scruffy, not a perfect fit in the sanitised world of suited sponsors and political correctness. But he was very quick, they said, and could spring a surprise.

His talent, and the raw speed, were never in question which is why Marlboro were persuaded to put him in a F3000 car. In the winter of 1986 Stefano found himself at Le Castellet where the potential of a crop of exceptional young Italians was to be assessed.

“The Onyx team owner Mike Earle was watching all this. I made some changes to improve his car, so I think he liked that. After this I went to Macau, got the pole, and when I got home Mike asked me to go to see him in Littlehampton.”

This was a defining moment. Earle had seen him race in Macau and put pressure on Marlboro to give him the F3000 seat at Onyx. The drive was a big prize but it also meant moving to England, leaving behind his girlfriend Sveva, an Italian princess whom he later married.

“At first it was difficult, suddenly I was on my own, cooking, washing, you know, in a flat in Littlehampton near the factory. So I spent a lot of time with the mechanics – they thought I was checking on their work – but it wasn’t that, it was to help me understand everything, to prove that Italians are not all the same, not all of them are unreliable, a bit wild, you know?”

Stefano Modena suffered another problem that was much discussed at the time. “I am very superstitious, so I took care to receive those ‘signals’. I always got into the car from the left hand side, ever since karting, putting my right foot in first. This was important for me, I didn’t care about being different, this was my character, and it was my results that mattered, not how much I smiled, not my superstitions.”

Back to that first Grand Prix. He was hot property, tipped as a future champion. The call came from Marlboro, they would put him in a Brabham –BMW for the last race of 1987 in Adelaide.

“I had Patrese’s seat, the overalls of De Cesaris, but Herbie Blash and the mechanics, they helped me so much, but I couldn’t handle the car, so much power, 900 horses, and on a street circuit. I just could not drive the car, so I stopped. Bernie Ecclestone comes to me, he says ‘what is the problem?’ and I say ‘I cannot drive the car’. He says ‘Why not?’ I look at him, I say ‘I have too much power!’ He says ‘OK, reduce the boost to 2.5’, I say ‘Where is it, the button?’ and the mechanic shows me. So out I went and immediately I am five seconds faster because now I can drive, now I can open the throttle, learn the car.

Then in qualifying they want me to go back to 4 bar on the turbo, I say no way, not for me coming suddenly from 400 horsepower to 900. Anyway, I stay with less power, get a new seat, change some springs and qualify 15^th which was good. On Sunday I was third in the warm-up, started well, switched the turbo to 4 bar to pass Warwick, went back to 2.5 bar, and was up to seventh behind Fabi when I started to get cramp in my leg. The throttle was so bloody heavy, and the brakes, so it was a big effort. I broke my leg in three places in karting, so I never had enough strength in it, and I had to retire. I was destroyed, and I told the truth, no point in making up something about the car.”

That same weekend Ron Dennis offered him a job as test driver, helping to develop the McLaren-Hondas that would later dominate the championship. “I told him, ‘thanks very much but I don’t want to be a test driver, to be testing engines, I want to race’. That was the beginning, and the end, of my story with Ron Dennis. Emanuele Pirro got the job.”

A return to Brabham began with some negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone. ‘Just relax Stefano, everything will be ok,’ he said, so I asked for an amount of money and Bernie said ‘You can ask for this when you are World Champion, but now I offer this, plus a part of your overalls to sell.’ This was OK with me, he was very straight, I signed a contract and stood on the podium in Monaco.

After a tough second year at Brabham, there was talk of Stefano going to Ferrari but they eventually took Jean Alesi. After some success with Tyrrell, the end came with Jordan. Things did not go well. The Yamaha engines were horribly unreliable and Stefano’s career ended where it began, on the streets of Adelaide, with sixth place and a single point. It did not help that the race was won by Gerhard Berger in... a McLaren-Honda.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.