It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember Forti.
Starting in the Formula 3000 series, the Italian-based Forti team was able to secure financial backing for an entry into Formula One, with a reported first year budget of close to $17m and a multi-year agreement with backers. The team entered into the 1995 season.
The team designed the FG01 chassis with a Ford V8 engine. However, the car underperformed due to the team’s lack of knowledge of building a car from scratch, having previously purchased factory parts in the Formula 3000 series. Brazilians Pedro Diniz and Roberto Moreno were signed to drive the team. Diniz was a rookie, but was secured a seat since his family was a main backer for the team, but Moreno was not signed to a contract and participated with the team on a race-by-race basis.
The 1995 season started at the drivers’ home Grand Prix. The cars qualified near the rear of the grid and spin prevented Moreno from completing the race distance. However, Diniz was able the secure P10 (the last of the running cars). The duo finished P10 and P11 in the Argentine Grand Prix, but they were unable to complete the required 90% of the race distance and were not classified in the race results. It was a similar story at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Despite the poor financial position of the team compared to other backmarkers at the time, the team doubled their staff head count and was able to make some big improvements to the car throughout the course of the season. However, reliability issues were present and caused double retirements in Spain, Canada, Britain, Germany and Hungary.
The team attempted to enter Hideki Noda, the team’s Formula 3000 entry in the 1994 season, for the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix, but he was denied an FIA Super License. The team finished the season strong in Australia, with their highest finish of P7. However, the season was widely regarded as a failure and the Diniz sponsor was frustrated on the massive amount of money that the team had burned through in research and development.
The team was able to get a more powerful engine for the 1996 season, but Pedro Diniz left the team, taking his family funding with him. Moreno did not return to the team in 1996. Financial issues hit the team ahead of the season, delaying car development as the team was forced to rely heavily on money from temporary sponsors. The team signed Italian drivers Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini.
Starting the season with a modified version of the previous year’s chassis, the team was unable to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix. This was also the case for the European Grand Prix in Germany. It wasn’t until the fifth round of the season in San Marino that the team was actually able to run the new FG03 chassis, although only Badoer was able to qualify for the event, with Montermini failing to beat the 107% rule.
Both drivers qualified the cars in Monaco, but Montermini crashed during the warmup session and had no car for the race. Badoer was involved in a collision with Jacques Villeneuve while being lapped late in the race and was later given a fine and suspended race ban for his involvement.
With finances quickly collapsing for the team, Shannon Racing agreed to purchase 51% of the Forti team. The cars were dressed in a new green Shannon livery at the Spanish Grand Prix. The drivers failed to qualify in Spain, while mechanical issues sidelined them at the both the Canadian and French Grand Prix. With an increasing debt, the team beat the odds and did appear at the British Grand Prix, although they only completed a few practice laps and weren’t able to qualify for the event.
The cars were shipped to the German Grand Prix, but sat in the garage for the entire weekend, with the engine supply having been terminated due to outstanding debt with the supplier. The purchase deal with Shannon fell through and Guido Forti regained control of the team, although Shannon still claimed to own 51% of it. Forti was searching for sponsors to secure the team’s fate for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but Shannon announced that they were replacing Forti as the team principal.
The ownership dispute was taken to the Italian courts and the Forti team was withdrawn from the sport to avoid threatened FIA fines for missing races. Shannon Racing won the court case later in the year, but Forti never returned to Formula One and Shannon Racing’s other motorsport teams also withdrew from their categories.
Despite having never scored a point during their time in Formula One, Forti had an optimistic chance to make some money in the 1997 season, having signed the 1997 Concorde Agreement for television broadcast revenue before the ownership dispute began. Had the team returned to the sport, they would have been entitled to some of the TV revenue, which would have provided the team with some financial stability.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
