SUCH IS LIFE

A MYSTERIOUS BUSINESSMAN, A BRIEFCASE FILLED WITH CASH, SOVIET INDUSTRIALISTS, AND THE LITTLE TEAM THAT COULDN’T. THIS IS THE UNBELIEVABLE TALE OF FORMULA 1’S MOST BIZARRE TEAM.

- CAMERON KIRBY

'I JUST WANTED TO write a thesis, how the hell did I end up here?!”

Maurizio Ferrari had started the year as a fresh-faced university undergraduate, and now he was in the middle of tense negotiations, with all eyes in the room focused on a single black briefcase which sat in waiting atop a table.

Click! The gold clasps of the briefcase flick open in sync, the black leather lid lifting to reveal the contents – thick wads of cash. All of a sudden, despite being a typically hot and dry September day in Monza, it wasn’t the rising mercury that was causing Maurizio to sweat. Having to abscond to a motor home in the heart of the Formula 1 paddock to escape the oppressive heat descending upon the Temple of Speed, the 28-year-old was now entirely out of his depth. Trained as an electrical engineer, he was instead acting as a de facto middle man and translator in a secretive back-room deal.

To one side of him sat his boss Ernesto Vita, an impossibly charismatic salesman with an enigmatic past. To the other, representatives from the newly formed Leyton House F1 team. And there, now sitting open directly in front of Maurizio was the briefcase, filled with more money than he had seen in his life.

Time to start counting.