Back of the grid hopefuls

Piercarlo Ghinzani and Alex Caffi seem confident they will be able to shine in their modest Osella FA1F-Alfa Romeo, ahead of the 1986 Italian Grand Prix held on the Autodromo Nationale di Monza. We notice Enzo Osella, the team owner, in the background.

Indeed, this race sees the debut in F1 of local driver Alex Caffi, deputising for Canadian Allen Berg at Osella, as well as the debut of the French AGS team, whose Motori Moderni-powered JH21C was driven by another local driver, the promising Ivan Capelli.

These three Italians qualify in the back of the grid, with Capelli in 25th, Ghinzani in 26th (picture-below) and young (22) Caffi in 27th. None of them will see the finishing line on Sunday, being plagued by a variety of mechanical problems, in a race dominated by the Williams-Honda’s of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.