In Monza, as the fourth annual GT World Challenge Europe round unfolded, I had the chance to chat a little with Andrea Bertolini. We traced back to his driver career from start to finish, going over memories and feelings that this sport has given him during the 25 years of his career.
The historical Italian autodrome will set the stage for Andrea’s last race; this wasn’t just a random choice or simply because Monza is his home race. So, why exactly Monza? A choice that will make him skip such an important race as the 24h of Spa.
“Because exactly like 25 years ago, believe it or not, I drove in Monza. I drove the entire championship but not in Spa because I would’ve needed an extra budget. A Porsche team gave me the opportunity to drive the whole year, but Spa wasn’t included in my contract. So it’s all exactly as it was 25 years ago and this is something nobody knows because I didn’t tell anyone.”
Bertolini told us, referring to Porsche because even though today he races wearing red with the prancing horse on his heart and he is sitting in a Ferrari seat, 25 years ago he actually started with a car that was labeled German.
“[…] Because the most absurd thing is that I debuted in the GT world with a Porsche.”
But why does Andrea speak of Porsche as something ‘absurd’? Well, because when he started his career with the German team, he was already involved with the Ferrari family. This means that back then, he had to ask for the teams’ permission to drive a car that was labeled differently. He was then granted this by Amedeo Felisa who was the technical director.
“He told me yes, to take a few days off for myself. I also think that perhaps he didn’t really believe in this himself. But the unbelievable thing is that he called me back after three races and so I thought ‘Nice, now I’m gonna get fired because he actually saw this is really happening’. However, he told me they were thinking about creating a division specified for GT racing vehicles, not Formula 1.”
Ferrari and Maserati: More Than Just a Family
And so just like that, not only a new project for Ferrari was born but also another opportunity for Andrea Bertolini. From an idea created in the minds of 4 or 5 engineers, they debuted with the Ferrari 360 Challenge and from then on, Andrea’s career skyrocketed. First the call from Jean Todt came to test the F1 cars, followed by the request to participate in the development of the MC12 of the GT1 championship with Maserati. All this in a 12 month span.
Months that definitely changed this driver from Sassuolo’s life. It was a beginning that he likes to call ‘something beautiful and unique’. From there the journey with Maserati started. At the time it was still under Ferrari’s management and it was a pretty important path in the GT world. A journey that he lived together with Giorgio Ascanelli, the person who ‘taught him the most’ in Maserati, right before going back to Maranello. I asked him what these two names of Italian labels mean to him, names that changed his life, Ferrari and Maserati. The second I asked him this, I could see it in his eyes that these names weren’t just names and his words confirmed that:
“They are not just names to me, they’re my family. I mean that I grew up in Ferrari, following a unique path. Unique for the kind of evolution I had. Later on, they asked me to follow their project in 2002 […], those were good years: so many championships and so many emotions. But most of all, you asked me what these names meant to me and I told you that they represent family to me but in reality, I think they mean a lot more to me.”
In Andrea’s words you can clearly see so much gratitude towards these two labels, gratitude to have believed in him when he was still a boy, giving him the chance to win 10 international championships. His gratitude doesn’t stop in Fiorano though, in fact, it was born inside the walls of his home, towards his parents, the first people who made the start of his career possible.
“Ferrari gave me the opportunity to do what I’ve done because of my parents’ passion and most of all, because they passed that passion over to me. We didn’t even have the financial availability to start a path like this so without Ferrari I wouldn’t have been a driver, that’s for sure. So to say what they mean to me, to me [Ed.: Ferrari and Maserati] are everything.”
From Early Dreams on His Father’s Shoulders to His First Laps at Fiorano
When he was little, being born in Sassuolo, just a few kilometers outside Fiorano, he was used to watching drivers racing like Villeneuve and Tambay, holding onto the fences on the side of the tracks or on his father’s shoulders. His father, the person who succeeded in passing his passion over to his son.
“I remember my dad used to put me on his shoulders, trying to make me see better over the fence. At that time there were drivers like Villeneuve and Tambay.. This means that when I got home I was incredibly excited.”
What would the man that he is today say to that little 6 years old kid? Bertolini’s eyes become glassy after this question. Maybe he’s reliving those moments in his head and feeling the emotions he felt when karting with his dad, he recognizes the sacrifices of his family, that made it possible for him to arrive where he is today and that that little kid didn’t really understand the weight of with the same maturity and knowledge he has now. “These are things that get me emotional.” he confesses before continuing:
“I’d like to say to little Andrea that he had luck having parents that always passed on method, determination, good manners, that allowed him to dream. I used to dream a lot, and I still do.”
The start with karting, as Bertolini says, came thanks to his father and his determination to pass on his passion to his son:
“My father wanted to give me a real passion because if you are passionate about something, your life is much easier. Maybe, you don’t pay attention to certain distractions, if we want to call them that, you don’t really feel them because you have that passion that keeps you going. But then again, maybe my dad knew that we could build something from go-karts but going over that felt difficult. To him, the most important thing was to give me a passion most of all, my parents never really thought that I could become a driver (contrary to what most of the parents think nowadays).”
One of the strongest emotions for the Ferrari driver came during his first lap in the Formula 1 car at Fiorano. Between concentration and adrenaline, that lap gave way to something deeper—pure emotion. Perhaps the most powerful moment of the day came as Andrea passed the hairpin bend, the very spot he used to visit as a child with his father.
“I was there, I mean I was inside the car. So that becomes the beauty of the sport, of life in general. I always say: dreaming costs nothing, we have to keep doing it […]. I thought, look at this, how beautiful life is. Yes, if they had told me that I would have said ‘impossible’, not even in a movie. It doesn’t happen to everyone and I was there, it was beautiful.”
But if Andrea was now on the other side of that fence, his father remained to watch him right where years before he accompanied his son: always on the bridge, watching from outside, despite the invitations to enter Fiorano, he remained outside so as not to disturb.
There Are Tough Moments Too, But Never Stop Dreaming
A world made of dreams that can also be cruel at times. Retracing his career with Andrea Bertolini, he doesn’t like to focus only on victories, he confesses that he thinks more about the championships he didn’t win than those that brought him success.
“I remember more and I have learned more from the difficult things, unfortunately, that I had to face. There are also defeats, everyone always talks about victories, yes I have won a lot in 10 championships, but I have also lost a lot.”
He is keen to underline that there are also difficult moments, when you are not sure of what will happen, but these must not be the ones to stop you. Andrea admits that he too has gone through complicated moments. When, for example, still fifteen, he heard his father tell him that he had to stop racing go-karts because they no longer had the financial means. The year before his brother had stopped, so that he could continue, but it was only enough to make him race one more year.
“I spent a week at 15, crying every day at home. I say this because from the outside everything always seems beautiful, but it’s not.”
He then says that it was precisely in the dark moments where he made important steps forward, in difficult situations. After those days, spent in his room, in tears, the teenage Andrea had to react, so he began a new career on the track, on different tracks and with a different vehicle. At 16, the Italian driver is no longer a kart driver, but a motorbike driver in the enduro championships. A career in the world of two wheels that however does not last long, until he understands that he missed the 4 wheels too much and that was the path he wanted to follow, that was his true love.
The 2005 Championship
Bertolini thus returns to his beloved road of the 4 wheels, in which he will experience so many emotions. We talk about his first championship win that he never forgets, the victories with Louis Machiels, but what left him with the strongest emotions were the negative things. Andrea specifically recounts an event that happened in 2003, when he and Fabrizio De Simone lost the championship with Ferrari due to a mechanical problem. Then in 2005, when he was first in the standings, he arrived in Bahrain where he would have only had to finish the race fourth to win the championship. He is leading the race when a piece of the gearbox that had just been replaced, breaks and all the dreams up to that moment were shattered. He describes that moment as one of the hardest of his career.
“Because I swear I saw people crying, the mechanics, the gear shifter… and I had to retire, I lost the championship. But I want to remember that moment, because it was such a big disappointment. After, I went to one of those deserted stands in Bahrain, alone, to vent and I also had doubts in my head. As Enzo Ferrari used to say, “There are fast and unlucky drivers who don’t win and then there are the lucky ones.”
A moment that makes Andrea think a lot, a moment of strong doubts. After the 2003 championship lost due to a mechanical problem, Bertolini finds himself in the same situation. In 2005 the Italian driver had not yet won any championship and this led him to ask himself many questions about his career.
“I said to myself that I could be part of the category of those who are fast and unlucky, which was a big problem. I remember that day, sitting alone in this empty tribune thinking about it… Then, from that moment, I said “ok, I don’t believe this stuff here, we have to keep pushing, we have to keep working”.
But finally, in 2006, the long-awaited championship victory comes. A championship won that gave him that extra boost.
“From there, the following ones came even more, let me say, easy. Because I always say, even with our kids, winning helps to win and when you do a sport like ours and win, it gives awareness that you can do it. It all comes more naturally to you because you always tend to want to show that you can do it, and when you have done it, it also takes away that weight there. You have shown that you can win and it’s a nice lightness.”
A Special Kind of Normal for Andrea
Wake up on Monday morning and go to the track in Fiorano, because that is his daily life, Andrea Bertolini has made the decision to retire from motor racing, but this special normality will remain in his everyday life.
“Let’s talk about my retirement from the races. I have made this decision, but honestly it will not change me much, because I have the luck to drive dream cars, race cars, and continue development even after my retirement from the races.”
Bertolini would like to point out that he will continue to do what he has always done: driving racing cars. He is not afraid of this greeting to car racing, because he won’t stop driving. On the contrary, he says that most likely he will be in the car more than before having more time for testing and development.
Andrea did his first shakedown on a Formula 1 in 2001. 20 years later he reached the test-day on these cars number 500, today it is at 567.
Let’s talk about the ‘luck’ he had in these years to be part of the development of prototypes, cars challenge, Formula 1, GT, Hypercar. Cars that have given him every day the opportunity to learn and live something new.
“You know what’s important? Wake up in the morning, go to the track and know that it’s a new day with something new. That is the luck I have always had in my life: my days are all different, super challenging with something new, where every day I learned and discovered something more.”
“Le Mans 2023 Still Thrills Me”
One of the cars that Andrea has had the privilege to test and participate in its development is the 499P, a prototype put on the track for its first race in 2023 and winner of Le Mans twice in two participations. Andrea remembers about a joke that was made to him by Amato Ferrari:
“Once Amato made a joke. He said to me: “imagine if we did it 15 years ago, you would have been in the car’. That’s true, but I still feel lucky to be part of this group. I also talked about it with Antonello, I was lucky enough to have had many sporting emotions. […] But, if I could rewind the tape, I wish I was 15 years younger and run today in the hypercar.”
Let’s talk again about the emotions, a recurring theme during this interview. Andrea tells me how lucky he is to share his emotions and confides in me that one of the strongest things he has had from outside in his career, to date, is the victory at Le Mans 2023.
“That still excites me, for all the approach route to that race, development of the car, the phone calls with the drivers. It was a good challenge. To win in the first year was something special, you could almost make a movie, I swear that I have never been so excited.”
In that moment of celebrations, Bertolini was sharing the garage with Antonello, Amato, Galliera, and together they cried for happiness and emotion. That’s a moment that will always remain with the italian driver because he lived it with people special to him.
“So I tell you, I attach much more to people and I care much more about the relationship with people. So the emotions I share with people, compared to the emotions I feel, because when you are lucky enough to share them, in my opinion, the emotions are even more intense.”
The relationship with people remains for Andrea one of the most beautiful aspects of this sport and, just when I ask him what he thinks ‘was better before’ in motorsport, he answers that the relationship between people. The relationship between drivers, the mechanics, but we want to emphasize that in the box of AF Corse this has not changed by calling it an old style team from this point of view.
Motorsport Beyond the Paddock
Andrea started very young, he said that for his father the kart was also an activity to keep away from distractions. I think every sport besides the competitive aspect teaches you something, That’s why I asked him what he thinks about his career has taught him, but outside the paddock. Bertolini smiles when he hears this question, I understand then that his path has left something important in him.
“He taught me that to get things nothing comes from the sky. It has taught me the dedication to work, commitment and to try above all every day to give 110% of ourselves”
He tells me about the importance of being yourself always, to give your best, but above all to get to the end of the day and not use the expression “and if I…” Because, according to him, if you have regrets then it means that you didn’t give the maximum. It’s different when you ask for help, because in that case it means you have done your best and want to improve.
“Never use or think the word “if you had” because, if you use that expression, this means that you have not given your best and you are a sure loser. [… ] Try to always optimize things, because it’s the details that make the difference, but in all things. That aspect, and the passion, helped me so much. If you live a life with passion in everyday life is beautiful.”
Facing Off with Young Drivers — That’s What Keeps Andrea Young
One of the things that gives Andrea Bertolini the greatest satisfaction is to work alongside young drivers. He has always been a reference figure for boys, so I asked him if he would like to continue doing it.
“I like it. I’ll go on. I will do what you ask me to do. If among various things that I have to do there will be follow the guys, it is clear that the answer is yes, because it’s one of the things that I love doing […]. Even with all our official drivers there is a unique relationship. When there is something wrong, they are the first ones who call me, tell me, open up. I love them, for me they are all children, for this reason it’s a thing that I dream of being able to continue.”
Andrea loves the confrontation with boys, he says it’s something that makes him feel good, that keeps him young. He likes to find new promises of this sport, go to find out if there is some guy who deserves to talk about it with Coletta.
“It happened with so many guys that we followed them, we compared and today they are part of our official pilots. Yes, I love it, but really very much.”
The Privilege of Choosing When to Stop
In Monza, it is a weekend of celebration for the Ferrari driver, who confesses to have many ideas for the future, ideas that daily compares with Antonello Coletta, with whom he has a working relationship of 28 years. He would like to stress the privilege and the good fortune of having the opportunity to confront him and Amato Ferrari, knowing that beyond work there is a friendship:
“after all these years, without them I would see myself as lost.”
Andrea emphasizes the privilege he had in being able to decide when to stop, because this sport, as he says, often presents you with situations where it is others who make you understand that it is time to say enough, or they are the ones who decide. Instead, in his case, it was the people around him who pushed him to stay ‘a year longer’.
“They were the ones who told me “give another year” then another one that is a deadly booster and it’s what made the difference to go on for another two or three years, because when you hear “continue for another year” from Amato, Antonello and Louis, how do you say no? I mean, this thing is loading me up.”
Today, it is a real privilege for him to be able to decide that it’s time to stop and, as he says, it doesn’t happen at all. Today we don’t talk about “hanging the helmet on the nail”. In fact, Andrea wants to emphasize that most likely will be on track even more than before. He tells me about the special bond that he has with this helmet and that he will continue to stay on the track until he can make a contribution from the development side.
“There will also be a gradual transition to other situations, to other tasks that will lead me to understand which will be the best based on what I can give in the various roles […], must be a very natural thing, not to say from one day to the next.”
Today ends his career as a driver, but Andrea Bertolini through his words made us understand that it is not a farewell to the world of racing, simply change role and we will continue to see him in the paddock and on track for a long time. Meanwhile we can only say thanks for everything he has done in recent years for the Italian Motorsport and beyond.
All photo credits © here.
