Stefano Modena


Stefano Modena is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 81 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on November 15, 1987. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 17 championship points.

Career

Modena was born in Modena. A former 125cc Junior Karting Champion in Italy, he spent two seasons in the Italian Formula Ford national series before joining Euroracing in his domestic Formula 3 series in 1985, placing 15th in an Alfa Romeo engined Ralt. For 1986 he switched to Team Seresina's Reynard chassis and scored three wins to finish 4th overall, also placing 2nd at the Monaco support race and winning a round of the European series at Imola. In 1987 he joined Onyx for the Formula 3000 series, winning three rounds and being crowned as champion.
His raw speed saw many mark him as a future champion, resulting in Modena being offered a one-off drive for Brabham in the final race of the 1987 Formula One season. While he impressed by qualifying 15th at the 1987 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, his inexperience with the turbo charged BMW engine saw him stop three times to replace flat-spotted tyres before retiring with exhaustion before mid-distance. Modena was intent on becoming a full-time Grand Prix driver for 1988, testing for Benetton before the season. However, for a full-time drive he had to join the new EuroBrun team, who included many of the same Euroracing mechanics Modena had worked with in 1985. The EuroBrun ER188 with its 3.5 litre Ford Cosworth V8 engine was not competitive however, and Modena was consigned to run near the rear of the field for the year. He did however prove to be faster than his teammate, fellow F1 rookie and former Brun Motorsport sportscar driver, Argentina's Oscar Larrauri.
1989 saw Brabham reform after a sabbatical in 1988, now owned by Swiss businessman Joachim Luthi, but featuring a lot of the same staff as in 1987. Modena was offered one of the seats, driving alongside Martin Brundle. Equipped with Pirelli qualifying tyres Modena frequently qualified well, starting inside the top 10 on eight occasions despite using the Judd V8 engine. However, the car wasn't reliable - though Modena's sole points finish would come with his 3rd place at the Monaco Grand Prix, his first of two F1 podiums. Before the 1990 season Luthi would be imprisoned for fraud and Brabham endured a difficult year with ownership problems. Modena raised the team's spirits by finishing 5th at the season-opening United States Grand Prix but after that results were rare.
He finally got his big break in 1991 when he was signed as replacement for Ferrari-bound Tyrrell team leader Jean Alesi. With a healthy group of sponsors, 1990 spec Honda engines, Pirelli tyres and a development of the successful 020 chassis much was expected of the combination, with some predicting race wins. While his season started off with 4th place at Phoenix many of the front runners had retired without Modena getting near them. The wet conditions at Imola saw similar attrition allowing Modena to reach 3rd place before transmission failure. The following race at Monaco saw an even better performance as he qualified on the front row alongside World Champion Ayrton Senna, harrying the McLaren driver until being held up in traffic and suffering a violent engine failure. A steadier run in Canada was rewarded with 2nd place after Nigel Mansell retired on the final lap. After that Modena's form dropped off badly as Pirelli struggled to develop a consistent race tyre while the heavy Honda engines made the 020 chassis difficult to balance. While Modena continued to qualify frequently in the top half of the grid he struggled in races, only scoring one more point for 6th place at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The season was considered a huge disappointment, and Modena left Tyrrell for Jordan the following season. The team had made a strong debut in 1991 and many considered Modena was lucky to land a drive with them. However, their car was hindered by the underpowered Yamaha V12 engine and Modena struggled all season. He failed to qualify for four races and became unpopular with his team for his lack of mechanical sympathy and moody behaviour compared to teammate Maurício Gugelmin. This was confirmed by Gary Anderson, who had designed the 1992 car. Anderson said of Modena that the failures to qualify took his motivation away from him, and, due to his temper, he accumulated disappointments without being able to get over them. Despite scoring the team's only point of the year at the final round in Australia he was unable to find a drive in Grand Prix racing for 1993.
Instead he drove for Alfa Romeo in the Italian and German touring categories from 1993 to 1999, winning occasional races but never looking like winning a title. After a year with Opel in 2000 he retired from motorsport.
Modena had several superstitions, including not wanting to have his car on the left side of the team garage, and not allowing anyone to touch his race car once he was inside other than the team member who helped him with his safety belts. During his F1 career it was not unusual to see Modena get out of his car after being strapped and get back in before the warm-up lap if he had seen someone touch the car. Modena was also known to have raced with his gloves inside out - however, as he claims, this wasn't due to a superstition.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

YearEntrant1234567891011Pts
1987Onyx RacingSIL
4		VAL
1		SPA
Ret		PAU
Ret		DON
2		PER
6		BRH
4		BIR
1		IMO
1		BUG
Ret		JAR
6		1st40

Complete Formula One results

YearEntrantChassisEngine12345678910111213141516WDCPts
1987Motor Racing DevelopmentsBrabham BT56BMW
Str-4		BRASMRBELMONDETFRAGBRGERHUNAUTITAPORESPMEXJPNAUS
Ret		NC0
1988EuroBrun RacingEuroBrun ER188Cosworth V8BRA
Ret		SMR
NC		MON
EX		MEX
EX		CAN
12		DET
Ret		FRA
14		GBR
12		GER
Ret		HUN
11		BEL
DNQ		ITA
DNQ		POR
DNQ		ESP
13		JPN
DNQ		AUS
Ret		NC0
1989Motor Racing DevelopmentsBrabham BT58Judd V8BRA
Ret		SMR
Ret		MON
3		MEX
10		USA
Ret		CAN
Ret		FRA
Ret		GBR
Ret		GER
Ret		HUN
11		BEL
Ret		ITA
EX		POR
14		ESP
Ret		JPN
Ret		AUS
8		16th4
1990Motor Racing DevelopmentsBrabham BT58Judd V8USA
5		BRA
Ret		16th2
1990Motor Racing DevelopmentsBrabham BT59Judd V8SMR
Ret		MON
Ret		CAN
7		MEX
11		FRA
13		GBR
9		GER
Ret		HUN
Ret		BEL
17		ITA
Ret		POR
Ret		ESP
Ret		JPN
Ret		AUS
12		16th2
1991Braun Tyrrell HondaTyrrell 020Honda V10USA
4		BRA
Ret		SMR
Ret		MON
Ret		CAN
2		MEX
11		FRA
Ret		GBR
7		GER
13		HUN
12		BEL
Ret		ITA
Ret		POR
Ret		ESP
16		JPN
6		AUS
10		8th10
1992Sasol Jordan YamahaJordan 192Yamaha V12RSA
DNQ		MEX
Ret		BRA
Ret		ESP
DNQ		SMR
Ret		MON
Ret		CAN
Ret		FRA
Ret		GBR
Ret		GER
DNQ		HUN
Ret		BEL
15		ITA
DNQ		POR
13		JPN
7		AUS
6		17th1

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

YearTeamCar123456789101112131415161718192021222324Pts
1994Alfa CorseAlfa Romeo 155 V6 TiZOL
1		ZOL
2		HOC
1		HOC
2		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		MUG
1		MUG
2		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		NOR
1		NOR
2		DON
1		DON
2		DIE
1		DIE
2		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		AVU
1
1		AVU
2
1		ALE
1
2		ALE
2
2		HOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
7		12th74
1995EuroteamAlfa Romeo 155 V6 TiHOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
DNS		AVU
1
5		AVU
2
2		NOR
1
5		NOR
2
4		DIE
1
12		DIE
2
Ret		NÜR
1
Ret		NÜR
2
DNS		ALE
1
Ret		ALE
2
DNS		HOC
1
14		HOC
2
Ret		16th26
2000EuroteamOpel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000HOC
1
13		HOC
2
10		OSC
1
12		OSC
2
Ret		NOR
1
10		NOR
2
10		SAC
1
14		SAC
2
Ret		NÜR
1
19		NÜR
2
15		LAU
1
C		LAU
2
C		OSC
1
Ret		OSC
2
DNS		NÜR
1
Ret		NÜR
2
DNS		HOC
1
9		HOC
2
4		15th15

Complete International Touring Car Championship results

YearTeamCar1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526Pts
1995EuroteamAlfa Romeo 155 V6 TiMUG
1
6		MUG
2
11		HEL
1
2		HEL
2
Ret		DON
1
6		DON
2
13		EST
1
20		EST
2
5		MAG
1
5		MAG
2
6		7th49
1996JAS Motorsport Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo 155 V6 TIHOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
DNS		NÜR
1
17		NÜR
2
Ret		EST
1
DNS		EST
2
9		HEL
1
7		HEL
2
Ret		NOR
1
3		NOR
2
13		DIE
1
4		DIE
2
3		SIL
1
4		SIL
2
Ret		NÜR
1
13		NÜR
2
10		MAG
1
13		MAG
2
7		MUG
1
Ret		MUG
2
14		HOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
10		INT
1
2		INT
2
8		SUZ
1
5		SUZ
2
4		12th92