Alex Caffi

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Alex Caffi

Nationality	Italian
World Championship Career
Active years	1986 - 1991
Team(s)	Arrows/Footwork, Dallara and Osella
Races	75
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0

Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1986 Italian Grand Prix


Last race	1991 Australian Grand Prix

Alessandro "Alex" Caffi (born 18 March 1964) is a former Formula One driver from Italy. He participated in 75 grands prix, debuting on September 7, 1986. In 2006 he will race in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers.

[edit] Biography

Caffi was born in Rovato (province of Brescia), in Northern Italy.

He spent three years in Italian Formula Three from 1984 to 1986, finishing runner-up in 1984 and 1985, then 3rd in 1986. 1986 also saw him land a one-off drive with the Osella Formula One team, and Caffi scored a rare finish for them, coming home 11th.

The small Italian team were impressed by his sensible approach, and signed him for a full season for 1987. The Alfa Romeo powered car was uncompetitive and unreliable, Caffi never finishing once, though he was classified 12th at the San Marino Grand Prix. Nevertheless, the quiet Italian drew good notices for his attitude and skill in such a poor car (notably qualifying 16th for the Monaco Grand Prix).

For 1988, he switched to the new Scuderia Italia team who were running a Dallara chassis, again drawing good notices and peaking with 7th place at the Portuguese Grand Prix. 1989 saw the team expand to two cars, with Andrea de Cesaris taking the other, and a switch to Pirelli tyres. Caffi impressed, finishing 4th at the Monaco Grand Prix, and running 2nd at the United States Grand Prix before de Cesaris knocked him off. The second half of the season was less impressive as Pirelli struggled to find consistent race tyres, but was distinguished by Caffi starting 3rd at the Hungarian Grand Prix (though the aforementioned race tyres saw him finish 7th).

Caffi was noted as a promising talent, and was tempted to Arrows for 1990. The team had been bought by the Japanese Footwork Corporation, and were planning a major championship assault in 1991 with a new Porsche V12 and Michele Alboreto, while 1990 was to be an interim year. Caffi injured himself in a pre-season cycling accident, missing the first race of the season, retiring from the second with exhaustion and failing to qualify for the third. However, he bounced back with 5th place at the Monaco Grand Prix, and generally gave solid, if unspectacular, displays elsewhere.

1991 was to be an unmitigated disaster, sadly. The Porsche V12 was grossly overweight and seriously underpowered, and Caffi failed to qualify for the first four races. He then broke his jaw in a road car accident following the Monaco Grand Prix, ironically after he had escaped injury in a serious crash during the race weekend. Footwork then drafted in Stefan Johansson to cover, and when Caffi returned to fitness, he found the team were trying to keep the Swede on. He managed to get back into his seat via a legal injunction, but then failed to qualify for the next six races. He finally got through to the Japanese Grand Prix, finishing 10th, but Aguri Suzuki had already been announced as a replacement for 1992. He again got through for the Australian Grand Prix, but had no drive for the following season.

He had no option but to sign for the new Andrea Moda team. However, registration problems with the FIA meant he managed no more than a few practice laps at the South African Grand Prix, and the team arrived late for the Mexican Grand Prix and were not allowed to run. After this, Caffi was replaced by Roberto Moreno, and his time in Formula One was over.

After a brief career in Spanish and Italian Touring Cars, Caffi found his niche in sportscars, racing in GTs, FIA Sportscar, and ALMS.

[edit] Complete Formula One Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Team	WDC	Points
1986	Osella	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA NC	POR	MEX	AUS	Osella	-	0
1987	Osella	BRA Ret	SMR 12	BEL Ret	MON Ret	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP DNQ	MEX Ret	JPN Ret	AUS DNQ	Osella	-	0
1988	Scuderia Italia	BRA DNPQ	SMR Ret	MON Ret	MEX Ret	CAN DNPQ	USA 8	FRA 12	GBR 11	GER 15	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA Ret	POR 7	ESP 10	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	Scuderia Italia	-	0
1989	Scuderia Italia	BRA DNPQ	SMR 7	MON 4	MEX 13	USA Ret	CAN 6	FRA Ret	GBR DNPQ	GER Ret	HUN 7	BEL Ret	ITA 11	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN 9	AUS Ret	Scuderia Italia	19th	4
1990	Arrows	USA Inj	BRA Ret	SMR DNQ	MON 5	CAN 8	MEX DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR 7	GER 9	HUN 9	BEL 10	ITA 9	POR 13	ESP Inj	JPN 9	AUS DNQ	Arrows	16th	2
1991	Footwork	USA DNQ	BRA DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON DNQ	CAN Inj	MEX Inj	FRA Inj	GBR Inj	GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNQ	ITA DNPQ	POR DNPQ	ESP DNPQ	JPN 10	AUS 15	Footwork	-	0
1992	Andrea Moda	RSA DNP	MEX DNP	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	Andrea Moda	-	0