Episode 9 of this series explores the legacy of the Coloni Motorsport, or Scuderia Coloni name in Formula One. Founded in Italy in 1983, the team raced in several feeder series before breaking into Formula One when turbos were banned in the late 1980s, thus making the sport more affordable.

Coloni was one of many teams to break into Formula One during this time, but unfortunately, like many others, they failed to make it past the Friday pre-qualifying sessions most of the time. These sessions were necessary as upwards of 35 cars were entered for each Grand Prix by 1990.

Pre-Formula One Career
Coloni was founded by Italian Formula Three Champion, Enzo Coloni. In its early years, the team ran in Italian and European Formula Three Championships for drivers such as Ivan Capelli who took both crowns in 1983; winning the Monaco F3 Grand Prix in the process. Coloni also guided his compatriot Nicola Larini, who won the Italian Formula Three title in 1986.

Formula One Career – 1987 to 1991
Between titles, results were underwhelming. Nevertheless, Coloni made the jump to Formula One for round 11 of the 1987 season – Monza. The FC187 chassis was a predominantly yellow Roberto Ori design and was powered by a Ford Cosworth DFZ engine in conjunction with Novamotor. With Italian Nicola Larini at the wheel, the team failed to qualify at Monza but made the grid two races later in Spain. Mechanical problems caused Larini’s retirement there, so Coloni called it a season.

Italian driver Gabriele Tarquini drove the sole Coloni FC188-Ford DFZ V8 for the 1988 season. He started the season well in essentially identical equipment to the previous years, by qualifying in the first 5 races of the season. Although his efforts ended in retirement in Brazil, San Marino and Monaco, the Italian finally recorded a race finish with 14th in Mexico and 8th in Canada – the latter of which was to be the team’s best result in Formula One.

However, a lack of development mid-season meant Tarquini failed to pre-qualify 6 times out of the remaining 11 races. They failed to classify in the World Constructors’ Championship table, finishing only ahead of Osella, EuroBrun and Zakspeed.  

Coloni fielded 2 cars for 1989, driven by Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Frenchman Pierre-Henri Raphanel. They drove the FC188B-Ford until the C3 chassis was ready at the Canadian Grand Prix. The C3 was the work of former AGS designer, Christian Vanderpleyn. Both drivers qualified once a piece in the FC188B whilst Moreno qualified a further 3 times in the C3 – every time towards the back of the grid and resulted in retirement.

Raphanel was replaced by Italian Enrico Bertaggia from round 11 in Belgium, but the incoming driver failed to pre-qualify at all six of the remaining races. Moreno failed to pre-qualify on almost every occasion and once again, Coloni failed to classify on the World Constructors’ table. None of the drivers returned for the following season.

Surprisingly, the stricken outfit continued into the 1990 season. Belgian driver Bertrand Gachot drove a Subaru-powered C3B for the first 8 rounds; failing to pre-qualify every time. From round 9 at Germany, the team reverted to Ford power and Gachot only failed to pre-qualify on 2 more occasions. He failed to qualify for the remaining 6 rounds.  

Despite disastrous results and financial worries, the team limped into 1991 and ran a single car. The C4 was terrible and was driven for the first 13 rounds by Portuguese driver, Pedro Chaves, who left the team after his 11th consecutive DNPQ of the season at his home race of Estoril.

The team did not race in Spain as Coloni had decided enough was enough. He sold the team to Andrea Sassetti and it was renamed Andrea Moda. Naoki Hattori drove for the last two rounds of the 1991 season – adding 2 more DNPQ’s to an unfathomably poor season. The Andrea Moda cars endured even more spectacular failures in 1992 until the team was banned eventually by the FIA.

Final Years
The team remained in the Italian F3 series until 1996 with little success. They switched to the International Formula 3000 in 1997. They enjoyed some success in 2003 where driver Giorgio Pantano finished runner up.

In 2005, the team continued in the rebranded GP2 series but abruptly dropped out part way through the 2012 season. No clear reason was given for this, but the Coloni name finally disappeared from motorsport after a painfully poor career.