Do Look Back

Quitting when you’re ahead has always been a difficult decision to take.  Jackie Stewart managed it in 1973, but how many other drivers have hung on too long, meandering down grid order and shedding much of the lustre they’d worked so hard to establish in the early days of their career?  Alfa Romeo did bow out at the top, in 1951, having won the F1 World Championship that, and the preceding, season.  But 10 years later, having stepped up its production capacity, the company was in need of the marketing momentum provided by successful association with top-flight motor sport.  At the same time, a group of people were quitting another famous Italian car manufacturing house - Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse . . . i.e. Ferrari.  Several key engineers were fired by Enzo Ferrari for insubordination in a dispute over management authority.  Two of these men, Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, would be of the utmost importance in the process by which Alfa Romeo would achieve its s

Today the general perception that Formula One is the be-all and end-all of motorsport is more marked than ever, with recent other-category innovations having failed to really grab headlines.   Formula E does not command very much interest and Sportscars/Prototypes in the hybrid era have failed to impress, having none of the aesthetic/technical/competitive charisma that we saw in the eras of Jaguar and Aston Martin at Le Mans, Ford vs. Ferrari in the 60s, 917 vs.512, 956 vs. Lancia and Sauber in Group C.   At the same time, ‘junior’ formulae such as F3 now lack pizazz, being spec formulas, with little of interest in technical developments/differing car capabilities.   So, from a contemporary perspective, we would expect that a F1 seat would necessarily represent the pinnacle of any driver’s career.   On that basis, I’m showing below the Williams FW06 that Giorgio Pianta piloted in 1979: And although Pianta scored an excellent 5 th place at Nogaro in that car, his career highlights can