Past Driver Profile: Pierluigi Martini

Pierluigi Martini was born in Italy on April 23, 1961. Martini first started racing cars in 1980 in which he contested in four rounds of the Formula Fiat championship in Italy. For 1981, Martini moved up to the Italian Formula Three series in which he did not have a lot of success finishing in 12th in the championship. In 1982 however, he stayed in the series and won three races which placed him third in the championship. Martini then moved up to the European Formula Three Championship for 1983 in which he won four races to go onto winning the championship competing against future Formula 1 drivers such as  Emanuele Pirro, Gerhard Berger, and Ivan Capelli.

Pierluigi Martini was called up to make his Formula 1 debut with the Toleman team at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He replaced regular driver Ayrton Senna for the weekend as Senna had been suspended for not informing Toleman that he had signed with Lotus for 1985. Without any Formula 1 experience, Martini failed to qualify for the race. For the 1985 season, Martini signed with the brand new Minardi team which was a struggle for both the team and the driver. Martini was the teams only driver and after using a Cosworth engine for the first two races, the team switched to the new Motori Moderni turbo engine. Martinis highest qualifying results were two 19th positions at the San Marino and the South African Grand Prix for the season. Martini also struggled to finish races as he only finished three times with a best result of 8th position at the season ending Australian Grand Prix.

 Following this difficult season, Martini took a step back and contested in the Formula 3000 Championship for the next 3 years. In 1986, Martini fared well winning races at Imola and Mugello which helped him to place 3rd in the championship behind Ivan Capelli and Emanuele Pirro. 1987 was more of a struggle for him as he only managed two point scoring finishes, one of which was a second at Pergusa. In 1988 he was more competitive and was able to finish in 4th in the championship and winning the race at Pergusa.

During the 1988 season, Martini was recalled by Minardi to race at the Detroit Grand Prix to replace Adrian Campos in which he was able to qualify in 16th position but in the race Martini managed to finish in 6th place and pick up his first point in Formula 1. Martini finished the rest of the season for Minardi again failing to finish many races and even failing to qualify twice. His best result the rest of the season was a 7th place at the Australian Grand Prix to close the season.

Martini was retained by Minardi for the 1989 season where he once again struggled to see the end of a race at the beginning of the season. Martini failed to finish the first seven races of the season. The first race Martini finished on the season was the British Grand Prix in which he picked up a career best 5th. Martini was able to match this 5th place at the Portuguese Grand Prix in a race that Martini managed to lead during the pit stop cycle. This was the only time in both Martini's and Minardi's Formula 1 career that they led a lap. Martini finished the season with a strong result of 6th at the Australian Grand Prix. This gave Martini a total of 5 points which placed him 15th in the final standings.

Martini started off 1990 with a surprising result of 2nd in qualifying for the US Grand Prix. Martini was able to take advantage of Pirelli's soft qualifying tires on Friday and rain on Saturday to take both his and Minardi's only ever front row start. Martini would finish this race in 7th position which would end up being his best result of the year failing to score any points in the championship. 1991 saw Minardi switch to Ferrari engines which led to a faster car but only two point scoring finishes. These  were both career best 4th place finishes at the San Marino and Portuguese Grand Prix. With a total of 6 points Martini earned a career best 11th place finish in the championship.

For 1992, Martini switched to the Scuderia Italia team which used a Dallara chassis. The only points Martini scored all year were two 6th place finishes at the Spanish and San Marino Grand Prix. After a disappointing 1992 season Martini did not have a ride for the 1993 season until British Grand Prix in which he made a return to Minardi to replace Fabrizio Barbazza. The best result Martini could manage was 7th at the Italian Grand Prix which ended with a spectacular crash with team mate Christian Fittipaldi as Fittipaldi got airborne as they ended the race.

Martini stayed at Minardi for the 1994 season in which he managed to score just 4 points in two 5th place finishes at the Spanish and French Grand Prix. These 4 points placed Martini just 21st in the championship. Martini once again stayed on with Minardi for the start of 1995 but did not score any points and was let go by the team following the German Grand Prix as he was replaced by Pedro Lamy. Martini continued to race sports cars after his Formula 1 career ended in which the he achieved the highlight of his career in 1999 by winning the 24 Hours of LeMans.

 Martini came into Formula 1 as a driver that seemed to struggle at first and many people did not think he had what it took to succeed in Formula 1. He later came back into the sport and became a respectable driver throughout the paddock while spending most of his career at Minardi but never getting a chance with a truly competitive team..

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