Andrea Moda
Andrea Moda was a Formula 1 team from Italy, which was founded when shoe designer Andrea Sassetti bought the Coloni team in late 1991.
Sassetti planned to run the upgraded Coloni C4B for the opening rounds of the 1992 season, with Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia signed to drive and Judd V10 engines, while Nick Wirth's Simtek company designed a new chassis for the team. However, when the cars arrived for the opening South African Grand Prix, the FIA demanded they pay the US$100,000 fee as a new team. Sassetti had believed the team to be exempt due to buying out Coloni's entry. However, the FIA felt otherwise, despite precedents to the contrary, and after a few practice laps for Caffi, the team were excluded from the meeting. Another effect of this ruling was that the team weren't allowed to run the Coloni chassis. Sassetti hurriedly purchased plans for the S921 (rumoured to have been developed from Simtek's aborted design for a BMW Formula One car) and began work on the Andrea Moda Formula One car. It was ready for the Mexican Grand Prix, but Sassetti withdrew the entry, citing freight difficulties. Caffi and Bertaggia complained to Sassetti about the lack of organisation, and were promptly fired. For the Brazilian Grand Prix Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy were signed to drive. However, an administrative mix-up saw McCarthy's superlicence withdrawn, and Moreno failed to pre-qualify.
McCarthy's paperwork was sorted out for the Spanish Grand Prix, but his car broke down as soon as it exited the pitlane, and Moreno again failed to qualify. The team was highly biased towards Moreno, their best chance of qualifying, and having only two chassis meant one was Moreno's car, with the second serving as Moreno's spare, with McCarthy only usually allowed token efforts to qualify in the second. Bertaggia attempted to buy back the second car with a $1m sponsorship package, but the FIA blocked further driver changes. Both failed to pre-qualify at the San Marino Grand Prix, but then Moreno astonished the paddock by pre-qualifying 4th then qualifying 26th at the Monaco Grand Prix. He retired early on from 19th and last.
That was to be the zenith for Andrea Moda. The team's engines got lost in freight on the way to the Canadian Grand Prix, with Moreno managing a few laps with a borrowed engine. The whole team then failed to show for the French Grand Prix, apparently getting lost in the blockades put out by striking truckers - the only team who didn't manage to negotiate this obstacle. The team were also purposefully stopping McCarthy from attempting to qualify to maximise Moreno's track time, with their antics including fitting the wrong tyres at the British Grand Prix, and only releasing him 45 seconds from the end of the session at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The FIA gave the team an ultimatum for the Belgian Grand Prix - to attempt to qualify both cars, or get thrown out. At the Belgian meeting Sassetti was promptly arrested for fraud, and the team were kicked out for bringing the sport into disrepute, having made just one start.