Osella and the Ferrari protection

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Julien
Posts: 234
Joined: 14 Jan 2013, 22:38

Osella and the Ferrari protection

Post by Julien »

I've read in several pages that Osella was under some kind of "protection" of the Scuderia in the 80s, during the FISA-FOCA war. That's why Enzo Osella sided with Balestre, that's why they participated in the '82 San Marino GP and that's why they managed to avoid Ecclestone's wrath that prevented fellow strikebreaker Tyrrell form getting a turbo engine and Toleman from getting a tyre supplier in 1985.

But how this strange agreement was born? Was this some kind of Italian camaraderie? Or Enzo #1 just liked Enzo #2 that much? Or something happened before Osella entered Formula 1 in 1980?
What do you know about this?
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mario
Posts: 8090
Joined: 31 Oct 2009, 17:13

Re: Osella and the Ferrari protection

Post by mario »

Julien wrote:I've read in several pages that Osella was under some kind of "protection" of the Scuderia in the 80s, during the FISA-FOCA war. That's why Enzo Osella sided with Balestre, that's why they participated in the '82 San Marino GP and that's why they managed to avoid Ecclestone's wrath that prevented fellow strikebreaker Tyrrell form getting a turbo engine and Toleman from getting a tyre supplier in 1985.

But how this strange agreement was born? Was this some kind of Italian camaraderie? Or Enzo #1 just liked Enzo #2 that much? Or something happened before Osella entered Formula 1 in 1980?
What do you know about this?

It's hard to say, though one thing that comes to mind is the fact that Osella did have support from Alfa Romeo, one of Fiat's sub-brands, and of course Ferrari was also part of Fiat at the time. That backing from Fiat might have also created some additional links between the two organisations - furthermore, the supply deal with Alfa Romeo would probably have pushed them more towards the FOCA aligned teams anyway.

That said, it is worth noting that, back in the 1980s, it wasn't unheard of for Ferrari to work with some of the smaller teams in the paddock and to intervene on their behalf - occasionally in surprising ways.

Symonds, for example, mentioned that when Toleman ran into their tyre contract trouble in 1985, Ferrari tried to help them out. Marco Piccinini, who was Ferrari's Team Principal, tried lobbying some of the other tyre suppliers in the sport on Toleman's behalf, and also offered advice to Toleman where he could - Symonds also claimed that Enzo Ferrari personally intervened and pressured Pirelli into supplying Toleman with some tyres so they could at least participate in the pre-season test at Jacarepagua.

Given that Ferrari does seem to have intervened on Toleman's behalf - and seemingly more than once - then it could well be that Ferrari wasn't adverse to helping out other teams every now and then, including teams like Osella.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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