Ivan
Capelli

Ivan Capelli was born in Milan on 24 May 1963 and grew up in the city. He started karting at the age of 15 and moved up to Italian Formula 3 four years later. In 1983 he won the Italian title with nine victories, and in 1984 he took the European Formula 3 crown with the Coloni team. In 1985 he won a Formula 3000 race driving a March for Genoa Racing. He also won a title in International Formula 3000.

Capelli made his Formula One debut in 1985 for Tyrrell at the European Grand Prix and finished fourth in Australia. He had no full-time seat for 1986, but he did two races for AGS. In 1987 he became a regular driver for March and finished sixth at Monaco. For 1988 March ran a car designed by Adrian Newey with a Judd V8 engine, and Capelli's team-mate was the Brazilian Maurício Gugelmin. Capelli took third place in Belgium and second in Portugal behind Alain Prost. At the Japanese Grand Prix he led one lap, and three laps later an electrical failure ended his race. He finished the year seventh in the championship, his best final position.

In 1989 Capelli started all 16 races but reached the finish only once, in twelfth place in Belgium. In 1990 he drove for Leyton House. He failed to qualify in Mexico, but in the next race in France he ran ahead of his team-mate Gugelmin for much of the distance, with the two Leyton Houses leading the race. Prost's Ferrari passed him with three laps to go and Capelli finished second, the team's best result of that season. In 1991 he voluntarily left Leyton House before the end of the year because he had already signed for Ferrari, and Karl Wendlinger finished the season for the team.

In 1992 Capelli became the first Italian since Michele Alboreto in 1988 to be a regular Ferrari driver. The F92A was not competitive, team-mate Jean Alesi gained the upper hand, and Capelli had to leave the team before the end of the season. He finished the year 13th in the championship. In 1993 he joined Jordan alongside Rubens Barrichello. After failing to qualify in Brazil, he left the team by mutual consent and Thierry Boutsen replaced him. He never raced in Formula One again. In total he made 93 starts and took three podiums, with no wins or pole positions. From 1994 to 1996 he raced touring cars, including a Nissan Primera in the German Super Tourenwagen Cup. He also won races in the Italian GT Championship and the Trofeo Maserati. From 1998 to 2017 he commentated on Formula One for the Italian broadcaster Rai 1.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ivan Capelli”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.