With almost 50 years in journalism dedicated to sports motoring and 777 large formula 1 awards on their backs, Fernando Tornello It is the voice (now by Disney +) of the queen category for much of Hispanic America. And with the appearance of Franco Colapint in the last nine appointments of 2024 with Williams -what here quad the audience -Tornello became an unavoidable reference when entering the world of the “maxim”, to understand the Colapint phenomenon and to evaluate the chances of Argentina to have a date again in the World Cup in the specialty.
News: How was your passion for car races born?
Fernando Tornello: I lived part of my childhood and my adolescence in Palmira, a town in Mendoza, where my father was from; And there, at 10, I started reading the sports magazines of the time, which lent me a neighbor who had a newspaper kiosk. Thus my vocation for sports journalism was born. And my first car race also saw her in Mendoza, in the streets of San Martín Park.
News: Did you never want to be a runner?
Tornello: Never. I only like cars, journalism and football; I am an independent fan.
News: But he started studying right …
Tornello: Yes, because the most frequent races at that time were law, medicine and architecture, things like that. But between that I realized that the law did not like it very much and that in those years – ’70s – the faculty was very politicized, I decided to start studying in the circle of sports journalists.
News: Where mostly most were soccer players.
Tornello: Yes. We were 42 students only two we liked motoring. At that time, what was not football, motoring and boxing, were “weird sports.” Tennis and basketball were at the limit.
News: What was your first media work?
Tornello: I started in “Champions”, Carlos Legnani’s program, which was just beginning a daily strip by radio. Then I participated in the road tourism broadcasts at six in the morning from a stall on the route, in a service station that had a phone, which honestly was not what I liked the most. The best thing was when I began to tell F1, when Carlos “Lole” Reutemann spent Brabham to Ferrari.
News: Did you always like formula cars?
Tornello: Yes. The first time I saw F1 was in ’73, here in the autodrome. I also went to the ´74 Grand Prix, when “Lole” was winning and ran out of gasoline in the last round. For several years, in January, I spent the whole salary to see the race from the best place: the stalls, above all, because from there I saw the start, arrival and work in boxes. There began this disease (laughs).
News: What was your first F1 Grand Prix as Rapporteur?
Tornello: That of Argentina of ´77; And the first outside, 15 days later, in Brazil, Reutemann’s first victory with Ferrari. That year I also transmitted from Zandvoort and Monza.
News: What was F1 to transmit at that time?
Tornello: In Zandvoort there were not even cabins. It transmitted outdoors, above the boxes, with an audio console on a table, the microphone, the headphones and a stopwatch in hand. Nothing else.
News: Now he doesn’t go to all the big prizes. Because?
Tornello: IR has another flavor, but now there are 24 dates and you spend the year above a plane. When I started, there were 14 and in the ’90s, 16. Today, in addition, with all the graphic information on the screen, the onboard cameras, the boxes in boxes, the Live Timing to know the times, the differences, the averages, the temperature on the track, you find out of everything even if you do not go.
News: Did he imagine everything that happened with Colapinto?
Tornello: No not at all. Luckily it exceeded all my expectations.
News: What does Colapint have that made now the pilot they all speak of?
Tornello: In addition to being very fast and charismatic, Franco is a boy with a head that seems to have 10 years of experience in F1. We had already noticed that in F3 and F2, where after each race – and beyond how he would have gone – he analyzed with success and depth what had happened. That is very important in a pilot, because it takes away a lot of pressure. To get to F1 three things are needed: talent, support and a quota of luck. For Franco, that luck was the early departure of Logan Sargeant de Williams for breaking several cars. There he began to align everything, because if he had not secured 100% of the budget to finish the year in F2, with that possibility that arose, his sponsors decided to put what was needed to make the leap to the F1. Then Franco did the rest, taking that opportunity. Above all, in the first five races. Then, with that wave of successism that was generated here – and perhaps pressed for not having a seat for 2025 – it began to paste. Franco is very talented, but to things, so as not to waste them, you have to give him time.
News: What do you think of this new stage of Franco as Alpine Reserva pilot, sponsored by the controversial Flavio Briatore?
Tornello: I think it’s a step forward, because Briatore is looking at it – as before he did with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso – it is a chance that other pilots do not have. But I insist, you have to be patient.
News: Briatore is not James Vowles, that almost paternal figure that Colapinto had in Williams. Can Franco handle the pressure involved in being next to Flavio?
Tornello: Briatore is a hard, but Franco is not a boy who scares himself, who alters in a certain situation or environment. I think you can handle it.
News: In the ’90s, when you and Felipe Mc Gough were on Telefe, they were the promoters of the Tour of F1 to the country. What possibilities do you see that the category returns in a few years?
Tornello: With Colapinto and the companies that support it, I see it possible, perhaps in 2027 or 2028, not before. I don’t think the government should put money. It should be done with private investors, plus the institutional support of the government and the ACA. The business model that created Liberty Media, currently owner of the F1, is much more interesting for companies than Bernie Ecclestone, which in our time took most.
News: What did you think of the new installment of “Drive to Survive”the F!?
Tornello: I must confess that, of the seven seasons, I only saw the first chapter of season one and the final chapter of the 2021 season, because I wanted to see how they had treated the incredible definition between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
News: Why didn’t the rest see?
Tornello: Because it is made for the public. For F1 it was good, because it is novel and many people attracted, but nothing gives me. The real things that happen in F1 are much better than what is seen in the series.
News: Speaking of Verstappen, there are people who criticize being a fan of him.
Tornello: It doesn’t worry me. They also said he was a fan of Alonso, Schumacher and Ferrari. Of course I like Max, but I like it because it is the best of the current ones. Verstappen is the new Ayrton Senna.
News: Of all the pilots you saw, which one considers the best?
Tornello: Senna, who was a great up and down the car. With Ayrton, I also had a very fluid link. He invited me to the inauguration of his karting track; And with Felipe we put together the famous dinner with Fangio in the Sheraton, because Juan was his idol. They admired each other.
News: Your favorite Argentine pilot?
Tornello: For a chronological issue, Fangio did not see him run. But those I saw, Reutemann. “Lole” was not champion for those things of destiny, although it was better than many champions: Keke Rosberg, Damon Hill, Jacques Villenueve …
News: How do you see the 2025 season?
Tornello: The favorite team is McLaren, and from its pilots I prefer Oscar Piastri. But the season is long and I think it will be very interesting. In 2024, Red Bull won seven of the first 10 races, but then Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes started. Each one had its moment.
News: I read that he is writing a book.
Tornello: Yes, it is already in print and comes more or less in a month. He is focused on F1, of which he has a thousand anecdotes, but I also talk about other categories. Remember that with Felipe we also did the F2 Codasur, the South American F3 … the title is “Friends of America”, the phrase with which the transmissions started.
News: Going back to that boy who wanted to tell F1, what do you think?
Tornello: That my whole life did what I like; And I have nothing to reproach myself.
By Sergio Nuñez
