Corrado Fabi

Corrado Fabi started his racing career at the age of 12 and so swift was his rise to prominence (half a season in Italian F3 in 1979, third in the European F3 championship 1980, third in 1981’s European F2 championship and a convincing European F2 champion in 1982) that it seemed certain he had a bright future.

The younger brother of racer Teo Fabi, Corrado was born on the 12th April 1961 in Milan, Italy and had a meteoric rise from national racing to European F2 Champion plus participated in eighteen F1 World Championship races (with twelve starts). After starting in karts he entered the Italian F3 Championship in 1979 with a March 783-Toyota. He did not qualify for the first race then took fifth place at two races at Monza, seventh at Carabo and eighth at Mugello with his best result third place at Vallelunga (plus fastest lap) and finished eleventh in the standings in his rookie season.

In the following year he joined Euroracing, alongside Michele Alboreto, to contest European F3 with their March 803-Alfa Romeo though his first race was an Italian F3 round with a privately entered car, but he did not finish. He then focused on the European Championship and was twice a race winner and eventually finished third in the points, behind Michele Alboreto and Thierry Boutsen. Results included fourth at Osterreichring and sixth at Nurburgring but he did not finish at Zolder and Magny Cours and did not qualify at Monaco. However, the following six races saw an impressive string of results with victories at Mugello and Knutstorp (plus fastest lap in both races) and podiums with second at La Chartre and Santa Monica plus third at Zandvoort and Monza. The following races saw fifteenth (and fastest lap) at Silverstone, fifth at Jarama, two more podiums with second (plus fastest lap) at Kassel-Calden Airfield and third at Monza then eighth (and fastest lap) at the final round at Zolder.

He graduated to the F2 European Championship for 1981, driving a March 812-BMW and took one victory plus three more podiums. His first race saw third at Silverstone’s International Trophy plus he was second at Donington (plus fastest lap), third at Nurburgring, fourth at Spa and Vallelunga (and fastest lap) and seventh at Mantorp Park. Although there were retirements at Hockenheim, Pau, Enna-Pergusa and Thruxton, he took a win at Mugello and finished fifth in the points. He also had one outing in the World Sportscar Championship with a BMW M1 alongside Christian Danner at the Mugello 6 Hours and the pair finished eighth.

He continued with the Roloil team in F2 for a second season and was a race winner five times at the wheel of the BMW powered March 822. In his early races he retired at Silverstone and Thruxton due to mechanical issues though was third at Hockenheim, second at Nurburgring then won at Vallelunga and Mugello (plus fastest lap). Although there were retirements due to mechanical issues at Pau and Enna-Pergusa, plus an accident at Mantorp Park he was fifth at Spa, had two consecutive victories at Hockenheim (plus fastest lap) and Donington then won the final race from pole at Santa Monica. He won the title by a single point over teammate Johnny Cecotto and was, at that time, the youngest champion in F2 history. In September he returned to Mugello for the 1000kms and he and Alessandro Nannini were second with Martini International’s Lancia LC1, behind the Ghinzani/Alboreto LC1.

In 1983, Tony Southgate joined Osella and his first job was to construct interim cars based on the remains of the crashed FA1Cs. Corrado and Piercarlo Ghinzani were the team drivers, with Kelémata arriving as the main sponsor. The team started with Cosworth engines though switched to Alfa Romeo V12 powerplants but results were disappointing with both and in fifteen races, he recorded six dnqs, seven dnfs and only finished twice. He retired at the first round in Brazil (engine after 17 laps), did not qualify at the US GP West at Long Beach, retired in France (engine after 36 laps) and suffered his only non-mechanical related retirement due to spinning off on lap twenty at San Marino. He did not qualify at Monaco and Detroit and retired in Belgium (wheel, on lap nineteen) and engine failure on lap twenty six in Canada. Using the Alfa Romeo powered FA1E from Britain onwards, he failed to qualify there and Germany though was tenth and eleventh in Austria and Zandvoort. He retired at Monza (engine on lap forty five), did not qualify for Brands Hatch’s European GP and engine problems on lap twenty eight forced his retirement from the final round at Kyalami.

For 1984, Brabham retained Nelson Piquet and he was joined by Corrado and brother Teo, in a shared drive. This allowed Teo to honour his Champ Car commitments with Forsythe Racing, with Corrado standing in for him for him at Monaco, Canada and Dallas. The shared drive arrangement came about as the team’s major sponsor, Parmalat, wanted to have an Italian driver alongside Piquet. Team boss Bernie Ecclestone selected Teo but due to his commitments in Champ Car, the arrangement was made to employ both the brothers. They raced the Gordon Murray-designed BT53, a development of the BT52 which had carried Piquet to the 1983 championship, and the season had been expected to see a continuation of the Brabham–Renault–Ferrari battle from the previous season. The car featured larger sidepods for improved cooling and the turbocharged BMW engine now produced around 900 bhp in qualifying trim and was de-tuned to 800 bhp for the races, making it the most powerful car ever seen in F1 at the time. However, although the car was a strong contender, and took two race wins, it was far from reliable. Piquet amassed nine pole positions during the season, proving that the car had great pace but he failed to score a point in the first six rounds due to engine and turbo failures. Coming up to Monaco, Gordon Murray had been re-developing their cars’ bodywork in an attempt to sort the team’s rather troublesome engines after numerous turbo failures. With Teo Fabi competing in America, Corrado partnered Piquet for his first outing and qualified fifteenth. The race had been set to be a challenging one as a light drizzle on Sunday morning had increased to a deluge by the afternoon but it would prove to be a controversial race. As the start lights went out, pole sitter Prost led away from Mansell though carnage ensued behind them. Warwick was forced wide which caused him to slither into the barriers but team mate Tambay had nowhere to go and slammed into the back of him, partially blocking the circuit. The rest of the field slowly picked their way around the incident though the early stages would then see a number of incidents drastically re-order the field. As the early laps ticked away, Corrado’s race ended with a spin into the barriers at Portier, with the marshals having to partially block the track in order to recover him as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Prost slithered to a stop at the scene of the accident and knocked over one of the marshals. Piquet was also out on lap fourteen though a red flag to stop the race was shown at the end of the thirty second lap; the result was taken from the last lap that all remaining runners had completed. Brabham had yet to score a point as they went to the seventh round at Canada, with all of the retirements coming from the BMW engine. Gordon Murray tried to sort the issue, being instructed to de-stress the engine, and his solution was to install another oil cooler to the cars, this one located in the nose. It was hoped the additional cooling would prevent the turbocharger from getting too hot, which was the most vulnerable part of the engine, according to recent races. There was also some remoulding of the bodywork to channel more air into the primary radiators in the sidepods, with both drivers trying the modifications in practice ahead of the race. Corrado qualified sixteenth though his team mate was on pole. At the start, Prost was first away and led though Piquet soon took the lead, which continued to grow during the early stages. Corrado retired on lap forty with no boost pressure while Piquet went on take the win. However, Piquet’s feet had almost cooked due to the temperatures in the cockpit footwell, with the oil cooler continuing to build heat at the front of the car and he was in considerable pain as he climbed out of his cockpit. After Corrado’s debut at a dramatic Monaco race, he would find himself (almost literally) in a cauldron at his third drive at Dallas, with it taking place in the intense heat and humidity of a Texas July summer. Conditions were extremely difficult as the concrete wall lined circuit measured what is possibly the highest track temperature ever recorded during a GP and the extreme temperatures, combined with the tyre and aerodynamic adhesion, meant that the track almost completely disintegrated. A Can-Am race had taken place on Saturday afternoon and, against the growing threat of a drivers boycott, emergency repairs were made with quick drying cement, though it failed to cure in the fierce heat. The temperature registered 40 degrees C for most of the weekend, with tyre supplier Goodyear recording record track temperatures of 66 degrees and qualifying was marred by a huge accident on the Friday for Martin Brundle, who broke bones in both of his feet. Brabham had produced a new BT53 for Nelson Piquet to drive, replacing the one badly damaged at Detroit. However, the installation of a larger oil radiator in the nose upset the car’s handling and both cars reverted to the original small radiator layout (with an additional cooler at the front of the left hand side pod) for the second day. It was decided to start the race at 11am rather than the traditional time of 2pm in an attempt to avoid the heat. Jacques Laffite had arrived at the track in pyjamas, as a humorous response to the organisers switching the pre-race warm-up to 7am (though it was eventually cancelled). Once the grid places were determined, Corrado started ahead of his team mate and they lined up eleventh and twelfth, side by side, on the sixth row. As the race progressed, there were consistent retirements and the rate of attrition was so high that only eight drivers were classified as having finished the race, with fourteen of them eliminated after hitting, or spinning into, the barriers. Piquet’s throttle stuck open at the right hander leading onto the start/finish straight and he was pitched into the tyre barrier. He got out, hopped the fence, and watched the rest of the race from one of the VIP suites. The heat also caused some drivers to take countermeasures to cope, with Piercarlo Ghinzani having a bucket of cold water thrown over him during a pit stop. Huub Rothengatter pulled into the pits to retire after a fuel line that was leaking into the cockpit, making him ill with the fumes, thought it was said he dashed straight to a spectator area after retiring, where he commandeered several cups of water for pouring over his nether regions. Rosberg eventually took the victory, having worn a cooling skull cap through the race to combat the fierce heat while Corrado was seventh. However, there was more drama as the race was ending as Mansell’s car stalled close to the finish line and he tried to push the Lotus across the line in the heat in his black overalls. While doing this, he collapsed and fainted due to exhaustion.

These would be his final F1 drives though he also entered four Indycar rounds that year with Forsythe Racing. He contested the first with a Lola T800 at Mid-Ohio but retired on lap twenty three due to gearbox problems while in the following races with the Skoal Bandit March 84C he was tenth at Sanair, sixth at Phoenix though did not finish at Caesar’s Palace due to exhaust problems after twenty four laps. Sadly, his father died that year and Corrado retired to focus on the family’s transport business.

He briefly re-appeared on the race track in 1987, when he joined Genoa Racing in F3000 but in the three rounds he did not finish at Donington and failed to qualify at Enna-Pergusa and the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans.