The motoring legend talks about his career at the Sports Festival, then winks at Leclerc: “I support him a lot, if one day he really wanted to change teams I would take him straight away at Cadillac”
If there is a man of our era who fits the definition of “Hero of two Worlds”, that man is Mario Andretti. Usually, those who have a life like this are always foreigners, perceived as immigrants in the country where they went to live, and as foreigners from the one from which they emigrated. For him it has always been the opposite. Everyone has always claimed it, Mario. American for Americans, Italian for us. Born in Motovun, Istria, now Croatia. The first thing he said on the subject to Daniele Dallera, the head of sports services at Corriere della Sera who conducted the meeting, was: “The passport doesn’t change the blood”.
the story of mario andretti
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From the beginning, then. “My twin Aldo and I immediately fell in love with Formula 1 and Alberto Ascari. And I don’t know why, my family didn’t even have a car.” In 1954, the two boys were 14 years old, they were taken to Monza. And it was the spark. The family of friends, owners of a garage in Lucca, where the Andretti family was displaced from Istria in a refugee camp, allowed the kids Mario and Aldo to park their cars. “Many Alfa Romeos…”. “But the only possibility for our future was in America. From where an uncle of my mother invited us, to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Before boarding the ship Conte Biancamano my father said: “we’ll stay maybe five years…”. I still live in Nazareth. In America we immediately tried to enter the world of racing. Our father only saw the negative aspects, the accidents, the deaths. Our luck was the language: he didn’t speak English he knew shit. And we always managed to do what we wanted.”
the career of mario andretti
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Dallera, calling him “lei”, introduced him: 897 races, 111 victories, 109 poles. With kindness, the sweetness given by aura and age, he told the story. Of 1978, and the F1 World title: “My dream that came true”. Of the love, never dormant, for Ferrari. “Because it has always been like this, from the beginning. Because Enzo Ferrari, after Bandini’s death, swore that he would never have an Italian driver again, and with me he found a good solution.” With a nice anecdote too. “When it was time to replace an injured Pironi, in 1982, he looked for me. I told him: “I haven’t been in F1 for more than a year… Then I took the plane, I arrived, I had lunch with Enzo at the Cavallino. I went by car and did 87 laps at Fiorano. With the track record that lasted 8 years.”
Mario Andretti and the Ferrari
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So, again on the red, to reassure himself, a rival and yet a fan (“it’s easy my Cadillac will have a Ferrari engine…”), and all or almost all of those in the audience at the Trento Philharmonic: “Verstappen is very strong. I like Piastri for his determination, but it seems to me that in McLaren for some reason, I don’t know why, they favor Lando Norris. I’m a big fan of Leclerc, if he really wants to one day I would take a change of team to Cadillac immediately. Ferrari is Ferrari, and sooner or later it returns. Always.” Although when asked a specific question (“Have you lost faith in Vasseur a bit?”) he replied dryly: “Yes”. The truth, he said, is that “I don’t know why, but I was born for racing. Nothing else interests me.” And so it was time to introduce the current topic: the Cadillac which will debut in F1 next year and of which he will be the noble father, as well as the supplier of the know-how, through his widespread and very expert team. “The credit goes to my son Michael, because to tell the truth I never even had much interest in managing teams. Precisely for the reason I said before: I was only interested in driving.” And then Dallera asked him, “but even now, would you be tempted to drive?”. And Mario: “Always, always, always.” A marvel. With just one more question. Dallera: “Who is the driver today who is closest to Mario Andretti?”. And he: “Nobody.” A giant.
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