S4 E8: The ridiculous story of Andrea Moda
Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories
The Race Media Ltd
4.9 • 764 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2021
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We revisit how the team ended up joining F1, why it was thrown out of the first race it turned up to, having to change cars for just its second race, failing to get to that event in time to take part, sacking its first two drivers, signing McCarthy and Roberto Moreno as its new line-up, how Moreno miraculously qualified for the Monaco Grand Prix, why Andrea Moda then missed the following two races, how it got in more trouble with the authorities as the season wore on, before its tale came to an abrupt end when team owner Andrea Sassetti was arrested in the paddock in Belgium and the team was banned from F1 a week later.
McCarthy gives his account of several haphazard moments from his time with the team, including losing his licence seven hours after he'd been given it, how Bernie Ecclestone helped him get it back, arriving for his first pre-qualifying session after a mad dash out of the centre of Barcelona, nearly being set on fire, then breaking down as soon as he crossed the pit exit line, barely running at most GP weekends as the team focused on Moreno, the team failing to tell him it hadn't made it to the French Grand Prix, being made to run used wets on a dry track at his home race, having to be held back from attacking Sassetti after the team sent him out too late to complete a lap in Hungary, how that cost him an opportunity with Footwork-Arrows, nearly crashing into Nigel Mansell at Spa, and a terrifying experience when he realised there was something wrong with his car as he got to Eau Rouge - which it turned out the team knew about in advance...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Whenever there's a debate about the worst F1 team of all time, the shambolic Italian |
| 0:10.0 | Andrea Moda team is thrown into the conversation. |
| 0:13.0 | This was a team hopelessly out of its depth, just as F1's pre-qualifying era of Plucky Minnows was running out of steam. By 1992, F1 was already |
| 0:23.0 | progressing rapidly towards a huge step forward in professionalism and the teams that we |
| 0:28.0 | look back now and consider charming were already in the process of being left behind. |
| 0:32.9 | But Andrea Moda has an achievement to its name that suggests it couldn't possibly be the worst team of all time, |
| 0:39.3 | as unlike some others in that conversation, remarkably one of the Andrea Motor cars qualified for a race. |
| 0:46.5 | The more you hear of this story, the more amazed you'll be that that ever happened. |
| 0:51.4 | I'm Glenn Freeman, and regular listeners to bring back V10s will not be shocked to |
| 0:55.3 | hear that joining me for this look back at one of F1's most infamous teams is backmarkers |
| 1:00.8 | officinado Ed Straar. Ed, you've been desperate for us to do an episode about Andrea Moda. So what |
| 1:08.0 | is it about this story that first springs to mind for you, now you've been granted your wish? |
| 1:13.7 | Well, for a specific moment, it is something I'm sure we're going to get on to later, which is Roberto Moreno, not only pre-qualifying, but also qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, just a genuinely great achievement. |
| 1:23.9 | But in general terms, I think as you alluded to in your introduction, Andrea Moda for me, it's the gold standard of misguided Mino F1 teams, which as you know is |
| 1:32.7 | my absolutely favourite type of team. So, yeah, it just stands in history as a wonderful monument |
| 1:39.3 | failure and over optimism, which is why it's brilliant to spend an hour or so with us talking about it. |
| 1:44.9 | Only you could come up with the phrase gold standard and attach it to Andrea Moda. |
| 1:50.6 | But anyway, Ed could talk for a full episode about this on his own, I'm sure, but he will have |
| 1:56.2 | some support shortly from one of the men unfortunate enough to have to drive for Andrea Moda. |
| 2:02.2 | Before we go any further, though, remember to get your questions in for our season finale, |
| 2:06.4 | where you can ask us anything about F1's V10 era from 1989 to 2005. |
| 2:11.7 | Submit your questions using the hashtag Bring Back V10s on Twitter, |
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