Nationality: Naturalised American
Date of Birth: 28 February 1940
Drivers championships: 1978
Grand Prix victories: 12
Races started: 128
Pole positions: 18
Teams:
Williams / Ferrari 1982,
Alfa Romeo 1981,
Lotus 1976 - 1980,
Parnelli 1974 - 1975,
Ferrari 1971 - 1972,
STP / March 1970,
Lotus 1968 - 1969
Mario Andretti career
Mario Andretti has had a long and successful career in motor sport. His early career in Formula One was only partial as he was continuing to race in the Indy Car series in America as well. By the mid 1970's he was driving full time in Formula One and he helped Lotus develop their ground effect cars with Lotus 79 taking him to the drivers championship. After this he had little success in Formula 1.
Previous seasons
1982
Team: Williams / Ferrari
Position: 19
Points: 4
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 In his final season in F1 he had 1 race for Williams and 2 for Ferrari.
1981
Team: Alfa Romeo
Position: 17
Points: 3
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 For this season he drove for Alfa Romeo, but had a difficult season with 8 retirements and only 1 points scoring finish.
1980
Team: Lotus
Position: 20
Points: 1
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 His final season with Lotus was difficult with 9 retirements and 1 points scoring finish.
1979
Team: Lotus
Position: 12
Points: 14
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 This was a difficult season for Lotus as the new Lotus 80 had problems so the team had to use the previous years Lotus 79 car. He had 9 retirements with contributed to a difficult season.
1978
Team: Lotus
Position: 1
Points: 64
Race wins: 6
Pole positions: 7 This was his most successful year in F1 winning the championship with the Lotus 79 ground effect car. The 6 race wins took him to his only F1 championship.
1977
Team: Lotus
Position: 3
Points: 47
Race wins: 4
Pole positions: 7 The Lotus 78 ushered in the ground effect cars creating a very competitive car, however several retirements and crashes left him 3rd in the championship.
1976
Team: Lotus / Parnelli
Position: 6
Points: 22
Race wins: 1
Pole positions: 1 After the Parnelli team left F1 after race 3, Mario Andretti joined Lotus and brought his experience to developing the ground effect car.
1975
Team: Parnelli
Position: 14
Points: 5
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 This was his first full season in F1 after splitting his time between F1 and racing in America. This was a mixed season for him with 6 retirements plus 2 points scoring finishes.
1974
Team: Parnelli
Position: NC
Points: 0
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 He only drove a 2 races for the Parnelli team at the end of the season in North America
1972
Team: Ferrari
Position: 12
Points: 4
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 This season was again mixed with 5 races and 2 retirements.
1971
Team: Ferrari
Position: 8
Points: 12
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 In his first race for Ferrari he won in South Africa but his other 5 races this season were more difficult.
1970
Team: STP/March
Position: 16
Points: 4
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 He had 5 drives with the STP/March car this season but with only one finish in Spain.
1969
Team: Lotus
Position: NC
Points: 0
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 0 He had 3 drives with the Lotus team this season but all 3 were retirements.
1968
Team: Lotus
Position: NC
Points: 0
Race wins: 0
Pole positions: 1 His first race in F1 started on pole position but ended in retirement in the USA GP.