Between the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix and 1991 Spanish Grand Prix, a span of 62 races, the Leyton House March Formula 1 team paired Ivan Capelli with Mauricio Gugelmin. Over those four years the pair shared plenty of heartache but also moments of triumph. The stalwart pair logged four podiums, three of which came from Capelli, who needs no second invitation to name Gugelmin as his favourite team-mate.
“We were really sharing the project of Leyton House,” says Capelli, for whom 1988 was his first season with a full-time team-mate since he’d been paired with Bernard Santal at Coloni on his way to the 1984 European Formula 3 title.
“We were fighting and helping to achieve the good results and trying to get to the top. In 1991 or in 1989 when the car was really poor, we were just working together to find the way to put together the best results.
“The four years that we shared together we were really sharing everything; from the technical points, the life that we were doing around the world. In good and bad times, we were sharing the same things. I remember very well how strong we were in terms of friendship and at the same time pushing each other to the limit. In the end we were happy with the results that we could achieve.”
The 1986 Formula 3000 champion had been March’s sole driver upon his full-time arrival to the grand prix circus in 1987, the first F1 campaign for the Bicester company since 1982. But the addition of Gugelmin for 1988 to drive Adrian Newey’s Judd-powered 881 coincided with the team’s emergence as a player that at times even troubled the dominant McLaren MP4/4s. Capelli was third at Spa and second at Estoril, while Gugelmin contributed a fourth place at Silverstone as March ended the year sixth in the constructors’ championship.
“The car was really quick, especially in the medium and fast corners,” remembers Capelli, who at Suzuka had briefly passed Alain Prost for the lead before grinding to a halt. “Obviously we were just sharing the good times in ’88.”
Capelli and Gugelmin were paired at Leyton House between 1988-91
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
As Capelli was already established at the team partially set up by Robin Herd and his mentor Cesare Garibaldi, who had run Capelli to the F3000 title at his Genoa Motorsport team, Gugelmin naturally had some catching up to do. But Capelli says the Brazilian, who had won the 1985 British Formula 3 championship in a Ralt and raced…
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