Former F1 team boss dies aged 86

Enzo Osella looks on pensively with his fingers against his neck during his time as Osella boss — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

Former F1 team boss dies

Enzo Osella ran a team in F1 for over a decade

Chris Deeley

Monday 29 September 2025 17:56

Former F1 team owner Enzo Osella has passed away at the age of 86.

The popular Italian founded his team – named Osella – in time for the 1980 season, and saw it run until the end of 1990, when he left the series to focus more on sports car racing.

While Osella's time in F1 only garnered five points over those 11 years, long before the points-scoring places were expanded beyond the first six drivers, the Turin-based organisation was a huge name in hill climb racing for years after they closed up operations in F1.

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Drivers who raced for Osella included Piercarlo Ghinzani, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Eddie Cheever Jr., and Nicola Larini – with the latter recalling the time that a chance for the team's first and only F1 podium finish was snatched away from him.

Enzo Osella's team raced on a tight budget

“I was incredibly third at the halfway point of the race behind Senna,” he said. “The FA1M89 was performing well even in the wet, because it was raining heavily, but at a certain point the car suddenly stopped.

What had happened? The bodywork was held in place by a dozen screws, and since I had chosen to race in the T-car [spare car] in the warm-up, the car's preparation had been...hasty.

"The mechanics had tightened only every other screw and hadn't sealed the gaps with silicone, as they had done with the other car, so the electronic control unit in the underbody got wet and failed. With the podium, which ultimately went to Andrea De Cesaris, the team's history would change because Osella would have benefited from the FOCA bonuses.”

Described in one obituary as a 'great man who failed to achieve fortune, relying solely on his enormous passion for racing', Osella will be missed in the motorsport community.

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