LA FONDMETAL IN F1: IL SOGNO DI GABRIELE RUMI – Documentario integrale

VIDEO SPECIALE 100K ISCRITTI.
Ci sono vite la cui storia sembra la sceneggiatura di un film da premio Oscar. Ci sono vite fatte di passione, di lavoro, di genialità, di impegno, ma nonostante questo fatte anche di problemi, di dolori, di sconfitte. Ma anche di rinascite. E la storia della vita di Gabriele Rumi è esattamente una di queste.
Questo è il documentario integrale sulla FONDMETAL in F1 e vi porteremo insieme a noi in questo lungo ed incredibile viaggio attraverso i ricordi di chi quella storia l’ha vissuta da protagonista, davanti e dietro le quinte.

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Sebastian Carozza
Stefano Rumi
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LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: It was… it was a family, with Mr. Rumi. It was, it was a family. STEFANO RUMI: The idea was to be able to compete as a true team in Formula One. PAOLO COMI: The car is still, still… so gorgeous to look at.

GABRIELE RUMI: It was an Italian team with an English design structure. ANDREA PORELLO: Welcome back to the Forgotten F1 channel, here… not as usual, we have Andrea and Yuri. And why are we here, dear Yuri? YURI SCALI: Why are we here? Because thanks to you who have

Supported us up to now we have reached 100K subscribers and as promised, we bring you a true gem of a video. As you can see from the background, we are here at the Fondmetal factory and we thank… former team headquarters! And former team headquarters,

Above all… it was all here, guys. All here! It was all here. We thank the Rumi family and all their staff so much for welcoming us and we will take you on a journey that guys, it will be crazy! ANDREA PORELLO: Exactly, because we are going to discover the

History of this team. We will find out from the voices of the protagonists who were part of it, some in front, some behind the scenes, to rediscover a truly forgotten story, which however was a very important story for Formula 1. Because not all of you know that with the name Fondmetal

World championships have also been won. You’ll find it out later, and now it seems obligatory to me, dear Yuri, that you smash a like to this video, share it with all your friends who love Formula 1. And what can I say more? Enjoy this story. Let’s GO!

Gabriele Rumi was born in 1939 in Palazzolo Sull’Oglio, in the Province of Brescia, Italy, and already at just thirty years old he was at the helm of the family metallurgical company. A few years later the first brilliant intuition of his life was to

Move from cast iron castings to light alloy castings, to produce components for motor vehicles. Thus Fondmetal was born. STEFANO RUMI: He came from a generation of casters, because his grandfather had already dealt with cast iron foundries. His father, therefore my grandfather, Stefano, he too, in

Fact, was in the world of cast iron. When my grandfather passed away, my father was still studying at university and therefore had to interrupt his studies and took charge of the company, which smelted cast iron, which is still located nearby, in Adro, which is a town nearby. He joined the company, he worked

For a few months, after which he resigned and began to lay the foundation stone of Fondmetal. So he started… he came here to Palosco, the town where we still find ourselves, in a rabbit warren, he basically put in a small oven that was almost as big as the

Whole room and started together with two partners, whose children still work here with us… to show you that Fondmetal is a family company. He began to make the first castings in aluminium, in this case, therefore a different metal. And

Then in ’70 it moved to where we are now. The company at the time was called MetalFond. Then in ’72, on June 24, 1972 it was transformed into Fondmetal. He began to cast various products, the wheel was one of these, which was produced under the 2R brand – Ruote Rumi in

Italian – while Fondmetal then produced parts for SAME, Magneti Marelli… a bit of everything was done, even castings for home appliances. A bit of everything. In the mid-eighties, my father made the decision to break away from subcontracting and dedicate production only to wheels, and therefore from ’84 the company concentrated on producing only

Wheels. The 2R brand was abandoned in favor of Fondmetal, and we still work from there… at the time only in the aftermarket world, now we collaborate by producing wheels also for car manufacturers. From the foundry we then added processing, painting and so we have the complete cycle! Alongside the

Wheel business, my father has always had a passion for the world of racing. When he was young, he raced, did uphill races, took part in a formula championship… Fiat, was his name? Formula Monza, sorry. He always liked competition. ANDREA PORELLO: His passion for motors and his great skills as

An entrepreneur came together to never leave each other again. Hard and pure, this is how Gabriele was known. He was an idealist, but at the same time he was an uncompromising, principled person: straightforward relationships. In a ruthless world like motorsport is, these values risked becoming great defects in a fraction of a second.

But let’s go through our story in order. In the early 1980s, a driver from Bergamo, Pier Carlo Ghinzani, debuted in Formula 1 and Rumi decided to support his career as a sponsor. A company from Bergamo, a driver from Bergamo: it’s an easy driver-sponsor combination. Let us tell you exactly how this

Agreement came about. STEFANO RUMI: Having no opportunities as a driver, also because he also had the company to manage, when he had the opportunity, so in ’83, [ Gabriele Rumi] came into contact with Ghinzani, who was a driver from Bergamo who was racing in

Formula One at the time for Osella, and there were the first meetings… and in the end we started sponsoring. So from the 1983 season the Fondmetal writing began to appear on his helmet and suit. We then began to have contacts with Osella, which was his team.

We also started sponsoring the Osella team and from the following year we also began supplying wheels to F1. So Osella was our first team, in ’84. ANDREA PORELLO: But it is only the beginning of Rumi’s adventure in F1, and he doesn’t want to stop here: he does not

Want to be a simple sponsor, he wants more. And so in 1984 he began to supply rims, first to Osella and then to other teams, to Tyrrell, Ligier and even Williams, the team that was now at the pinnacle of world motor racing. STEFANO RUMI: Initially the wheel was created as a

Three-piece, therefore with a cast magnesium center and then front and rear aluminum plate channels, because an agreement had been made with a manufacturer who already made them, then during the technological development we came into contact with Agusta, a company from Benevento that produced helicopters. They casted magnesium in sand and so

Together with them we designed the first monobloc wheel cast in magnesium. So we were receiving the castings from Agusta, castings that weighed 50 kgs, and then during mechanical processing they were turned to reach the 5,50 kgs of the rear wheel of that time. Working with magnesium was not… let’s say

Not with the best safety procedures at that time, because magnesium is a truly dangerous product… it was a very artisanal thing. ANDREA PORELLO: However, it is the connection with Osella that will bring the real turning point in this story. In fact, in 1989 Fondmetal went from being a simple supplier to the team’s

Main sponsor, allowing the team, after years, to present a completely new car of its own design: The FA1/M, designed by the former Ferrari member [ Antonio] Tomaini. STEFANO RUMI: What drove us it was definitely the wheels supplying. We followed various teams because at the time in the years from ’86

Until the early 90s we had supplied various cars: we supplied Tyrrell, we supplied Zakspeed, Ligier, Minardi itself, Williams, but my father always had the passion to become a manufacturer, therefore: initially the sponsorships, then there was the supply of wheels in exchange for sponsorship, after which sponsorship has become increasingly popular. In Osella,

In 1989 we were… we had become title sponsors, and among other things in 1989 there was the first acquisition of shares in Osella. From there we took the first step, I think we bought a 30% of the team, to then acquire all of Osella the following year, in

1990. The idea was to be able to compete personally in F1. There’s an anecdote I could tell… at the time we started supplying Williams, in 1986, so we supplied them from 1986 to 1992, and in 1986 we won the World Championship… constructors, if I’m not mistaken, because at the last

Race then Mansell had that problem with the tyre. And on our company letterhead we had put, as a logo, the section of a rear wheel, with the iris, with the words: “Formula One World Champion”. [We were] title sponsor of Osella and there had been a problem at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix.

The Monte Carlo paddock was much smaller than today and therefore the small teams were put… in the mountain, basically. So the Motorhome, with all the invited sponsors, was practically inside the tunnel. So it didn’t have an outlet onto the paddock! Then my father had sent a letter of complaint to Ecclestone, with

Our letterhead, and Ecclestone said “look, I don’t know the details of the matter, but one thing I can tell you is that you cannot use the title of Formula 1 World Champion if you don’t become champion, or at least don’t participate in the Championship yourself.”

Let’s say that from there the following year there was the complete takeover of Osella and… I have that letter! I still have it, maybe I’ll show you later. ANDREA PORELLO: However, 1989 was the era of the 39 cars on the grid and therefore of the fratricidal prequalifications.

On Friday, 13 drivers were fighting for four places just to participate in the qualifying. In this context you understand well that it is not easy to emerge. In all, out of 32 attempts only 11 qualifiers for the race were achieved, but above all zero points in the standings with both Larini and Ghinzani.

In 1990, with Osella in very serious economic difficulties, Gabriele Rumi decided to take the opportunity and made the decisive turning point in this story. Bringing the previous year’s car on the track, slightly updated, and therefore the FA1/ME, Rumi’s debut as a team principal took place in

Phoenix in the first race of 1990 season, bringing only one car on the track entrusted to the French driver Olivier Grouillard. In Friday testing he achieved an incredible 8th time which shocked everyone in the garage. On Saturday the rain arrived, which meant that the times didn’t improve and therefore the

Fondmetal will start even ahead of the two Williams and Mansell’s Ferrari. In short, a great satisfaction. STEFANO RUMI: Unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to be at the track, I was connected from Italy with the limitations of the connections at the time! There were no social media,

There was nothing. We were waiting for the phone call or perhaps we were trying to understand something through Teletext. The Pirelli tires on that track went very well, they certainly gave that something extra in qualifying. Among other things, I was at a friends’ house that evening and

I remember saying “wow, first race and we get P8” in front of the Ferrari, in that GP Prost had qualified P7, if I’m not mistaken. Well, there was a lot of enthusiasm and the idea that we could do great things. Then the season… well, it went the

Way it went. But yes, it was a great satisfaction. ANDREA PORELLO: In the race, however, the music is obviously very different. The Frenchman’s pace is not at all comparable to that of the cars around him and little by little he inexorably losed positions, until he retired on lap 39 after an

Accident with Gregor Foitek’s Brabham. For the first three races of the season Grouillard did very well in the qualifying sessions, but then all his exuberance came out in the races. In Brazil he retired after a contact with Alboreto; at Imola he first made Mansell really angry in qualifying, ruining his

Quali lap, while in the race he collided with Barilla, sending him into a spin and then retiring due to a tire problem. In short, the French driver didn’t take it easy, in fact he had the reputation of being a rather rough driver. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: He was a very aggressive driver, but he

Also gave us some satisfaction. In short, when he managed to pass the pre-qualifying he was… PAOLO COMI: A Frenchman! You can’t say anything else… I mean you can’t say… I’m sorry! But he had… a temperament, yes, a bit of a difficult character. But you know, when you trust a driver so much…

Gabriele [Rumi] believed in Grouillard. STEFANO RUMI: He was a very exuberant guy. Let’s say that we both had drivers like this… him and Tarquini! And so let’s say that both of them, they were quite, quite tough. He was certainly a fast driver, very aggressive. But he was also

A… well, he shredded the cars quite a bit. Then, not being always on the race fields, let’s say that I also speak from hearsay. But let’s say that Grouillard’s replacement is linked to a broken engine, I think on the first lap, something like that.

At the time the engines ran at thirteen thousand, the cars were all analogics, and therefore they certainly needed to be driven… with some strength in your arms! ANDREA PORELLO: The car seems very good on the flying lap, in fact for more than half of the GPs it managed to qualify, but

Then when it comes to keeping a good pace during the race it turns out to be underperforming. Then there were some tire problems, like in Monza and Spain. STEFANO RUMI: My father’s idea was to manage the team, or to bring an industrial approach to the team, and the answer the

Others gave him was that he would have been completely wrong because Formula One, at the time, was managed in a different way. After all, well, things went the way they did, let’s say that at the time, not having a motorsport background, the environment was also quite closed and therefore seeing a

Person arrive from a quite parallel environment, or complementary in short, but not with a full motorsport background… [ Eddie] Jordan, he came from a background in the minor formulas and so in short, but also with Ron Dennis, let’s say that there were quite some discussions. At the time F1 was very, very

British. With the Minardi era from 1997 to 2000, with Ron Dennis there was a bit of a reconciliation, when my father then had some problems also linked to his health problems. Let’s say that Ron Dennis was one of the people who proved to

Be a little different person in spite of his attitude, yes. ANDREA PORELLO: Thus another season ends with a bitter zero in the standings. But for 1991 Rumi has big plans in mind. In short, the team was transferred to Palosco, where Fondmetal is still located today, exactly where we went to shoot all the

Parts you see outside this studio. PAOLO COMI: This was Fondmetal’s F1 factory in Palosco, Italy. It was only built for F1 and the entrance to the workshop was here, all this was our workshop. This whole wall hid the cars, then the warehouse, the first

Wall and then there were all the cars. The last one was the gearbox part, where we worked to the gearbox. ANDREA PORELLO: New funds for the team led to the hiring of valuable foreign technicians. But above all, a branch of the team was created in England, founding a design studio called

FOMET and led by designer Robin Herd. This studio will have the task of creating the new car. It is something truly out of the ordinary because among the Italian teams only Ferrari had done something similar previously. STEFANO RUMI: When the entire [ Osella] team was acquired in

1990, the foundations of the warehouse were laid, practically new, here where we are, because the idea was: I’ll bring the team here, so I can control it while also being able to dedicate the necessary time to the company. Volpiano, the town that hosted the historic

Headquarters of Osella, was however about 2 hours away from here and therefore managing it remotely was a bit complicated. So, let’s say the transfer phase was not simple, because not all the mechanics who lived in the Turin area agreed to the move.

Apart from this, the team was brought here. In fact, here we had all the management of the cars maintenance and we had some processing; the agreement for the new car design was made with Robin Herd and the designer Tino Belli who made the first F1 car

With us, so the car was practically produced in England, with a chassis made by Carbon Industry. I remember that the whole car measures were written in inches and not in meters, so even at the beginning, in short there had been a bit of [misunderstandings]. At the

Time we were a small team, the resources were however limited, because in the end the car had Fondmetal as a sponsor (the wheel part) and then we had small sponsors. So with the budget we had, every year we started the championship with

The car from the previous year and then we made the evolutions and introduced the new one. ANDREA PORELLO: The team, now completely renamed Fondmetal F1 Team, also hired Gianfranco Palazzoli as team manager, as he had experience as the former sporting director of Osella,

Then they decided to switch from Pirelli to Goodyear tyres, while for the engine the choice can only fall on… PAOLO COMI: Cosworth! Which was basically a quite cheap and easy to manage engine. However, despite these “cheap” engines they were already expensive for us too, because Fondmetal was

Born from Osella, but even there we were racing in the backmarkers. If we had a ” flash”, it was already something big for us. ANDREA PORELLO: Olivier Grouillard is confirmed as driver, although it could have been another Frenchman who could take place in the Fondmetal cockpit. It was Paul Belmondo,

Not the actor, that was Jean Paul Belmondo, but his son, who was a racing driver. There had already been an agreement in Monza, which however never had follow-ups. Rumi explains it to us… STEFANO RUMI: Yes, a deal had been made; every year there was

Also the possibility of having a second car, at the time it was also possible to race with a single car, a thing which you cannot do now. You have to ensure a certain presence. At the time, let’s say there was no shortage of cars.

The idea was interesting because it could also attract sponsors. The idea was to be able to place two cars side by side, then the thing [failed]… The presentation had been made and everything, among other things, if I’m not mistaken, Belmondo also came to the team launch back then. But then in the end

Nothing was done. ANDREA PORELLO: The start of the season, however, wasn’t that much exciting: the French driver was forced to use the previous year’s car for the first two races, with the result that he failed to pre-qualify both times. Finally, however, the new

Car was ready for the third race, the FOMET-1, which you can see here shot directly in the Fondmetal headquarters, it has quite simple lines but personally I find it gorgeous. PAOLO COMI: The point is… it was the money, which could give

The team a breath of fresh air to make new changes and try to achieve something more. So, F1 cars made in England always have a little more than those made in Italy, like… nothing to take away from Osella, Coloni and Dallara with BMS, for the love

Of God, but you could clearly see the change. We have truly seen the transformation from Osella to FOMET. ANDREA PORELLO: It is a car with great potential but still very immature. Grouillard still doesn’t manage to pre-qualify, but keep in mind that the opponents in those pre-qualifyings were very respectable cars, above all

Jordan, making its debut in F1, and then Scuderia Italia, so it wasn’t at all easy to get out of those quicksand. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: It was a satisfaction, but at the same time it was a stress that we had to endure. But we were rewarded

By the satisfaction of the qualifying, when you passed the pre-qualifyingwith the car. Because when you passed the pre-qualifying, and entered the qualifying, it was already a big victory, of satisfaction, of work, to bring the car into qualifying, to bring the car to the grid.

PAOLO COMI: The usual problem was always the engines. The small teams must try to emerge in situations where the other teams, the big ones, fail something, don’t reach the end, so we are there. You know, in those years only the top six

Scored points. It’s not as easy as now, when there are fewer cars; in the pre-qualification years there were thirty cars and perhaps even more. It was increasingly difficult because you had enough teams inside, great names, very respectable names: BMS, Larrousse, Footwork, I mean, great cars… Onyx… if you

Found the right point, the right moment, you managed to qualify. But it wasn’t easy. Those times we qualified, for us it was like we already had won something, having done something important. STEFANO RUMI: It was difficult, there you had to get into the

Top… top four, so in the end we never managed to get out of the first races. So it was agony. I was here at home, waiting for the phone call to come… we made long trips because when we talked about Australia, the news came very

Late, and when they told you that we had to go… also because at the time the spaces were not much that large, and if you didn’t pre-qualify you weren’t given the paddock passes. You just had to move out and leave. So you brought all

The investment, then the problem was also with the sponsors and it became difficult to guarantee coverage. ANDREA PORELLO: After five races without overcoming the hurdle of pre-qualifying, the turning point finally arrived at the Mexican Grand Prix, thanks to the first updates to the car brought by technician Richard Divila

And a previous test at Magny Cours, where they became more familiar with the right set-up for this car, Grouillard finally passed the pre-qualifying by knocking out Emanuele Pirro with the Scuderia Italia. On Saturday, then, he achieved an incredible P10 which placed him on the fifth row on the starting grid.

It could be the turning point race: a good final result would in fact take Fondmetal out of the hell of pre-qualifying. And instead, before the race started, an incredible thing happened. PAOLO COMI: He did a great qualifying! Grouillard immediately felt comfortable with the car, with the settings

And everything else. Then he lines up… I don’t remember who was in front of him at that moment, he stopped the engine. And Grouillard raised his hand too. Then the flag-waver pointed out that it was the Fondmetal car that had had problems! Even though we had Joe Palazzoli, a

Great sporting director, he was unable to solve the problem and they sent us at the back of the grid. Because if it was another team, with another name, the story would have been different. But us, being a small team, we didn’t know, we didn’t yet have

A big voice inside the FOCA, in the FISA, what was there at the time, and we had… we were penalized. STEFANO RUMI: We also see it today that strange things happen in Mexico. Let’s say that perhaps the aerodynamic balance undergoes variations and therefore thanks to the

Rarefaction of the air and the cards perhaps get mixed up a little; Grouillard was also particularly in a good shape and therefore qualified tenth, if I’m not mistaken, an excellent qualification. Given that there was a problem with the cooling system, maybe he would have retired anyway,

Let’s say that unfortunately there was a problem at the start: Mark Blundell stalled his engine, only for the stewards to point out Grouillard as the cause of the interruption of the starting procedure and therefore they penalized Grouillard and made him start from the back! It was the pinnacle of motorsport,

But it was [poorly] managed… In short, today, with all the technology available, an error like this could no longer happen. ANDREA PORELLO: However, he made a good comeback to P19, but on lap 13 he had to retire with a broken engine. Classic, the

Classic breakups of the past, with big smoke coming out of the car! In France he qualified again for the race, but then again a DNF due to engine problems, unreliable and underpowered, in short, a jewel. In the following two races there were two tracks where engine power is fundamental, Silverstone and

Hockenheim, and in fact on both occasions Fondmetal failed to qualify again. STEFANO RUMI: Well, at the beginning we had an engine tuner, in the end, they weren’t official supplies, and consequently the engines were a bit of a problem. From an aerodynamic point of view, the car was certainly better than

The previous one. The construction concepts were good, the aerodynamics were good, but the engine has always been the main problem. ANDREA PORELLO: Then in Hungary, with a circuit much more suited to the car, Grouillard missed out on qualifying by a tenth against Mika Hakkinen’s Lotus. Finally, however, the first

Great satisfaction arrives in Belgium: the first race brought to the finish line. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: Yes, I remember because it was that year that Schumacher debuted in F1. We were also, we had the garage next to Schumacher and Jordan, in which Schumacher had arrived. And in qualifying De Cesaris found himself behind

Schumacher! Coming out of the backbox I found De Cesaris looking at me with the helmet in his hand, he throws it on the ground and shouts to me: “Who the hell is this one who came up here? This guy managed to stay in front of me after all those

Years I spent racing in F1? ” I rightly said to him: “Look, I’m not your mechanic, to ask, to give you an answer. Maybe you have mistaken me for your mechanic!” And he goes: “I’m so pissed off that I don’t know who to believe anymore!”

STEFANO RUMI: Yes, then, at the time the points were awarded to the top six, so the goal was finishing in the top six was the main one, let’s say the bare minimum, even if it was really complicated. However, the final positions were used to make the

Standings, so a P10 was worth more than five P11s. That’s why the point was worth it there. So yes, the satisfaction was definitely there! At the time the line-up consisted of twenty-six cars but in the end always just a few cars arrived at the finish line because

Reliability was a problem for all. So in being able to get to the end, the performance maybe wasn’t there, but the reliability was in that case, so we managed to get the result. ANDREA PORELLO: Will this be the light at the end of the tunnel?

Well, those who have been following us for a long time know that this is a question that comes back cyclically in these videos where we tell the stories of the small teams in F1. At Monza, on another track where the engine is a key point,

Grouillard qualified by the skin of his teeth, but in the race, the French driver, due to over-revving while downshifting, literally blew up his engine. This brings us to Estoril where the team think they could do well given the shape of the track. Grouillard left the pits,

Takes to the track and on the first lap suffers an over-revving engine. Not happy, the French driver did something else, in fact his car encountered a gearbox problem. He was called back to the pits to make a final valid time with the T-car,

But he believed there wasn’t enough time to change the car, so he finished the lap without managing to qualify. Gabriele Rumi’s patience had reached its limit. Between the broken engines and these excesses he could no longer stand the French driver and therefore he directly fired him.

STEFANO RUMI: So… the exact details, let’s say I don’t know them well, because unfortunately at the time my father followed the races, he went away and I had to stay here. And so let’s say that in the following years I have a little more of a presence.

So at the time I didn’t follow much, I know that an engine was damaged, I think on the launch lap, or on the first flying lap. I mean, I think it was I don’t know, a fifth-second downshift, something like that, I don’t know. And there, after yet

Another engine, my father decided that he had to find an alternative solution. ANDREA PORELLO: In his place is called the Italian Gabriele Tarquini, also known as… The Boar, who will prove to be a very consistent driver. In fact, he will finish two of the last

Three races on the edge of the top 10. PAOLO COMI: Tarquini, nicknamed The Boar, because he gets over one hundred percent in the car, he… and he knows how to develop the car and everything else. We believed a lot in Gabriele and not only that, but you know… the reliability

Problems always forced us to retire. STEFANO RUMI: I had seen him with Osella in Imola. I don’t remember the exact year. But it could have been the end of the eighties… [1987] thanks to some sponsors he had managed to have this “test” which I remember didn’t go well, but it

Didn’t go well because let’s say that the car hadn’t been prepared to go too well. Now maybe this thing can’t be said here… But now… time has passed. This is something I learned later. Well, Tarquini was already racing for another team, which

Was AGS, and therefore the idea of being able to have an Italian driver took shape. My father had come into contact with his number through mutual friends and had arranged a phone meeting with him. GABRIELE TARQUINI: I was trying to finish the season in the best

Way when I received a call from Fondmetal, so Gabriele Rumi, who I knew, but not very well, wanted to talk to me. The sporting director Palazzoli, who I knew well instead, told me if I was willing to talk to Gabriele Rumi. I told him yes, we made a telephone meeting. I was in

Portugal, at the time there weren’t… or in any case there weren’t any cell phones, and so I found myself in a phone booth with lots of tokens, I made this phone call to Fondmetal to speak to Gabriele Rumi. The phone call was very short, I had prepared a

Lot of tokens, but in fact we agreed within a couple of minutes. He wanted to change Grouillard, I wanted to leave AGS… he told me: “look, if you’re free from the contract let’s do this thing, we’ll meet in Spain and we’ll agree to do everything”.

So we found ourselves in Spain, I made the seat cast and from there my adventure in Fondmetal began. ANDREA PORELLO: Once the first full season in the history of Fondmetal’s in Formula 1 was over, it was time to think about the second year. And so Gabriele Rumi commissioned the new car to

FOMET. But big dark clouds are gathering on the horizon, because Robin Herd, enticed by Larrousse’s money, suddenly decided to sell the plans for the new car to the French team, which will rename it Venturi LC/92 and Rumi suddenly found himself without the project for

The 1992 car. However, Rumi was a man of a thousand resources who did not give up when faced with the first difficulties. Having received Robin Herd’s no, after an initial failed agreement with Tom Walkingshaw Racing, he signed an agreement with Sergio Rinland’s Astauto, who in reality at that time was

Already working on another project for another F1 team, i. e. Brabham. But the latter had decided to go on with Mike Coughlan’s project that would then bring to the track, with disastrous results among other things. Due to this inconvenience, however, the car couldn’t be ready for the beginning of 1992 and therefore

For the first races Fondmetal will take to the track with the GR01, which is none other than the FOMET-1 slightly adapted by Rinland. For the engine, after contacts with Ferrari and Lamborghini, with which in the end nothing was done, the team confirmed the Ford Cosworth,

However switching from the DFR to the more powerful HB/B5. STEFANO RUMI: Let’s say that the car was made anyway, even the ’92 one. We had managed to switch from the DFR engine to the HB one which was the engine Benetton had used the year

Before. An engine, a little more advanced, a little more competitive. PAOLO COMI: There was an agreement with Ford: Mr. Rumi and Palazzoli went to England to get the HBs. Between the English… I mean, the translations maybe went a bit off… and we took one of those blows..! With HB engines, we had

To carry out the development of HB and we found ourselves with… paying for everything. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The breakages, the mileages… and we carried out development for Benetton and Schumacher, who had the HB engines. All our failures meant that Schumacher won the world championship with that engine…

Thanks to Mr. Rumi. GABRIELE TARQUINI: Well, let’s say we had “transformed” the car to put new engines which then had to go to the GR02. The engine was an important step, which however forced this small team – and above all with a limited budget – to spend a lot

Of money waiting for the GR02, which arrived very late, because the GR02 had to be ready immediately after the non-European part, it had to be ready for the third-fourth race. STEFANO RUMI: So we had to modify the car; so we started

1992 with a ’91 car with a longer wheelbase. I know that at the time my father had come into contact with Rinland who worked at Brabham. The Brabham team of those years was certainly no longer Ecclestone’s Brabham; Rinland was interested in a change, Rinland certainly was an engineer who had some great

Ideas. He had made some great cars. It was around April, if I’m not mistaken, where the first contacts began, and after that we tried to rush as much as possible to get the car as soon as possible. It had a new chassis, completely different. A car concept that is

Certainly much more advanced than the previous one. Yes, Robin Herd had gone to work with the Lola at the time, they had made the Larrousse… in fact let’s say that the Lola Larrousse was supposed to be, basically our car: it was an evolution of our previous car.

ANDREA PORELLO: However, there is some positive news for the beginning of 1992. Well, at least one! There are two fewer teams on the grid and therefore there is a better chance of passing the pre-qualifying hurdle. At this point Gabriele Rumi decided that it was time to go all-in and therefore started

The production of a second car to be deployed on the track. The driver will be the Swiss Andrea Chiesa who brings with him a new sponsor: Sgommatutto. [Old TV ad for Sgommatutto] The car turned out to be better than the previous one with Tarquini qualifying regularly, while for Chiesa there are more adaptation

Problems because the Swiss driver is very tall and this makes it difficult for him to move inside the cockpit. STEFANO RUMI: Well, he suffered quite a bit in the car, that is, he couldn’t stay because the car was anyway… the chassis of the

’92, in the first races it was the same as the ’91, so it was made for Olivier! So maybe Tarquini was enough to fit in, but Chiesa just couldn’t. In fact, he then talked about the physical suffering of being in the car. PAOLO COMI: So, in the GR01 Andrea was a bit sacrificed

Inside, in fact he had knee pads and everything, because it wasn’t designed for a very tall driver. But you know: you have to adapt in certain situations, if you want to race in Formula 1. The car had already been made… and Andrea found himself without testing, without anything,

Thrown into the fray straight away. He brought the sponsor, which was there until mid-year. Then Mr. Rumi kept the sponsor’s sign until the end, even though it was no longer there. ANDREA PORELLO: If Chiesa on one hand missed two of the first

Three qualifiers and retired due to a spin in the third, Tarquini seemed much more at ease, so much so that in Brazil, in the third race, he set the third fastest time, behind only the two stratospheric Williams of Mansell and Patrese.

It’s a shame, however, that this speed won’t be of any use to him: a contact after two laps forced him to the garage for repairs, then he didn’t even manage to finish the race with a broken engine. PAOLO COMI: It means that the car, already in the first race,

Gave good results; good starting points where we could work on. We had problems with the gearbox, with the gear lever breaking… you know, then there were two former Brabham mechanics here working with us. So, we turned out to Bob: “ah, Brabham problem… ah, Brabham problem!”, then I said to him: ”

But sorry, why Sergio didn’t change the design then?!”. ANDREA PORELLO: Thus we arrived in Spain, where torrential rain welcomed the Circus. Water enhanced Tarquini’s talents. The driver from Abruzzo was in fact in P7 in a tight battle with Alboreto, Martini and Capelli: an all-Italian poker game. But

Unfortunately, perhaps by pushing too hard, he made a mistake on the slippery track, spinning and irreparably damaging his car. GABRIELE TARQUINI: I could easily get to the points and it was, in quotes, my mistake. But we didn’t stop to change the tyres, I had… it was raining a lot, especially in the second

Part of the race. My tyres were practically gone. With the aquaplaning, I put the car into the wall when I could have easily finished P5, so that was a big regret, undoubtedly. ANDREA PORELLO: Then, during the Imola weekend, the incredible engine failures took center stage. PAOLO COMI: Six! From Friday to Saturday.

Six engines, blown up one after the other! Then it wasn’t like now, where you break the engine and you have [few]… there you changed the engines for free practice, official practice, warm-ups, races… ANDREA PORELLO: After two more non-qualifiers for Chiesa and Tarquini’s engine breaking twice, we arrived in Montreal

Where the long-awaited GR02 finally arrived, Sergio Rinland’s new creation, which had been brought on track for the first time a month earlier, with only one car, in a test at Fiorano, obviously entrusted to Gabriele Tarquini. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: It was a smile for everyone! And we knew

That, when we unloaded the cars… I remember when we unloaded the cars from the trucks to take them to the back of the box, the photographers arrived, they were all there to photograph the car, because it was indeed a very, very linear

Car. Well, it was a car whose chassis would still be the envy of many today, because it was already like an evolution of a F1 car of the future. And it’s just that, we were limited with this engine, which was a customers engine, always one step behind the others in

Terms of development, like… like everything. PAOLO COMI: The GR02 was a Brabham, with the same problems that the Brabham had the year before, because Rinland did not change the drawings, it brought the same errors to this car. The car is still, still, so gorgeous to look at. A marvel of

Those years, and it wouldn’t make a bad impression on the track even now! The GR02, since it was born, everyone in here had a big smile on their faces… that is, looking at the FOMET and the GR02, is like looking at the white and the

Black. Also… just put a good engine in it, because the development then could come: that car truly was, and still is for me, the best. Even though you know, I went to Minardi, there were evolutions, and that, the GR02 has always remained in my heart.

GABRIELE TARQUINI: The GR02 was an excellent car, not only from the engine point of view, but also and above all for the chassis and aerodynamics. It was a cutting-edge machine, a very fast car, which at the beginning clearly suffered from a lack of fine-tuning, because we tested very little… and above all

Also a lack of reliability, again due to the very few tests carried out. But this car had incredible potential! When we managed to make it work well especially from an aerodynamic point of view, it had incredible performance. ANDREA PORELLO: Unfortunately, although the project is very

Valid in some points, the team’s chronic problems are not resolved. Excellent performances in qualifying, many reliability problems and less performance in the race. In fact, Tarquini had to stop after just one lap in Canada with a broken gearbox. The second GR02 was ready for the next race in Magny-Cours and

Was immediately entrusted to Chiesa. The problem, however, is that this second car didn’t even last one single lap. In fact the Swiss managed to qualify for the race, but lights out, after 200 meters he destroyed his new car in a crash, the chassis having to be thrown away.

LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: He broke it, if I’m not mistaken there was also an engine breakdown, if I’m not mistaken, on Tarquini. The embarrassment..! We no longer knew what to do, we found ourselves in desperation. We found ourselves restoring everything: Tarquini’s engine and Chiesa’s car.

STEFANO RUMI: Chiesa also risked getting hurt and the chassis was destroyed. And from there on we can say that the relationships went a bit badly, like, you know, we had talked to him before the race: “Ok, that’s the first GP with the new car,

Let’s try to stay calm, because in the end the goal is to try and get to the end and get a good result! “And unfortunately he didn’t get to the end of the first lap. We had made great efforts to prepare the car in time, only to see the chassis

Destroyed after a short while… Then, for heaven’s sake: motosport is dangerous, as they say, then when yes there are that many cars… ANDREA PORELLO: As a consequence of this accident, the Swiss will have to return to the GR01 at Silverstone, and if we add to

This the fact that his sponsor Sgommatutto was proving to be in default, the picture is that relationships with the team were starting to deteriorate. The development funds were irremediably running out and therefore there were fewer and fewer spare parts as the races went by. So Chiesa was then

Fired to make room for the Belgian Eric Van De Poele, who, without any previous tests with the car, qualified for the race in Hungary together with Tarquini. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: He already gave you a morale boost just by seeing him! He was a playful guy, he was really close to the

Whole team. So funny, he was… with his scooter that was always going around the circuit. He was a joker, but he was a professional. We found ourselves with a very, very professional driver. PAOLO COMI: He came here, he made the seat cast and he also

Helped Tarquini and the engineers a lot with the development of the car, because they were two excellent drivers. And there wasn’t a duel between the two of them, but they actually worked for the team. STEFANO RUMI: He arrived in the car, got in without ever having

Done, I think, any tests or anything. He was a concrete driver and brought good results. He too had clearly brought with him some sponsors linked to the world of Belgium. ERIC VAN DE POELE: Good morning everyone! My Italian isn’t good enough, so we continue in English. I have a little

Surprise: look at this beautiful surprise: it’s a beautiful car. You know we’re talking about Fondmetal, but I have a better surprise. So here’s the surprise! Isn’t she nice? Fantastic. I had some fantastic moments with Fondmetal in 1992. As you can see, this car was absolutely gorgeous.

I was lucky enough to drive it in 1992 for three grand prix. Well, first of all, obviously at the start of that season I was with Brabham and we were having really big trouble qualifying. Then I finally arrived in a team with a car that could be easily

Qualified. Sergio Rinland, the designer and engineer of this car made a very special car with innovative ideas, especially on the front wing, if you can see it. But it was also excellent on the track: we had a good result at Spa, for example. My partner was obviously Gabriele Tarquini and well,

Obviously when I arrived I met Gabriele Rumi, just before the Hungarian Grand Prix and for me it was incredible, because I knew it was a car that was easily qualified to every race. For me it was a big change because the year before with the

Modena Team we failed to qualify many times, then with Brabham, a thousand other ordeals and I found myself in Hungary with this car and the first impression was incredible. Why? Because when I was doing the warm-up laps to find the right settings for pedals, seat, etc., in the qualifying, after

Three laps I was already qualified, so for me it was a big change compared to what I had experienced before. ANDREA PORELLO: It didn’t end there, however, because Tarquini set the seventh best time of the session during the warm up. Great hopes for the race, yes, a shame that unfortunately they

Wouldn’t be fulfilled once again because the drivers were involved in two crashes at the start and the race ended almost immediately, without practically even having started. GABRIELE TARQUINI: A disaster happened, because after the first two corners there was no longer a Fondmetal car on the

Track, a bit of bad luck, a bit of lack of choices, because this always happens at race starts. But Hungary was potentially a great weekend for us, because honestly the car was really strong and at the end of the season, let’s say we had also

Fixed some problems that we had at the beginning. STEFANO RUMI: Yes, also yes, in Hungary yes, the car had gone quite well in qualifying too, but in the warm-up with the fuel the car was really strong and therefore there the expectations were very high of being able to achieve a good result, taking

Into account which [Hungaroring] has always been a fairly selective circuit, due to the temperature: it took place in August and everything… but unfortunately neither he nor Van de Poele reached the end. ANDREA PORELLO: Thus we arrived in Belgium, at Spa-Francorchamps. In qualifying Tarquini was eleventh, while van

De Poele was fourteenth. In the race Tarquini retired with a broken engine, yet another, while he was P10, final place eventually conquered by the Belgian driver at the finish line. Monza, home race. Debts were now putting more and more pressure on the team’s coffers. Consider that eighteen billion

Lire were spent on the engines alone. The constant engine failures didn’t help and therefore spare parts were becoming increasingly scarce. At the start of the race, the Belgian blew the clutch which, due to missing spare parts, had not been replaced before the race, while

Tarquini retired on lap thirty with a broken gearbox. This will be the team’s last appearance in Formula 1. GABRIELE TARQUINI: The GR02 was strong especially on fast tracks and on downforce tracks. So Silverstone, where there was a problem with the clutch, Spa also, the only – perhaps – Grand

Prix where we didn’t exploit the potential of the car was Monza, the last race held, because there were some reliability problems in practice there, and during the race the gear lever remained in my hand, so… this car was born late and with little testing and clearly that cost us the season.

ERIC VAN DE POELE: ERIC VAN DE POELE: Unfortunately in Monza I had qualified for the race, but they told us that it was the end for the team. I retired from the race with Gabriele, we had to leave for Estoril, for the next race, and I always remember this scene, of me

And him looking at the cars and saying to ourselves: “Jesus, maybe this was our last race in Formula 1!”. ANDREA PORELLO: At the next race, in Portugal, the team is forced to skip the event despite a desperate last attempt by the mechanics to save the situation by taking the trucks to Portugal anyway.

LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: Yes, there had been a financial problem there, we didn’t show up and this meeting was held in the office, we held it among us mechanics and we agreed to take away our salaries for that month, just to be able to

Participate in the grand prix in Portugal, for not having to pay the fine and everything. PAOLO COMI: There were no spare parts anymore. We rotated with what we had, always the best stuff of what we could get. Then, together with Luciano and all the other employees here, after Monza, there was Estoril.

We had the cars packed, we had also closed the truck. Do you remember, Luciano? Mr. Rumi came to the office – this was the office – he called us all here and said he wasn’t showing up at Estoril due to budget problems.

We mechanics had a meeting and we said we were ready not to receive our salaries to be able to send Luciano and Johnny with the trucks to Estoril, so as he didn’t have to pay the fine. We proposed this to him and Mr. Rumi said: “No, my employees

Must have their salary. I don’t care about the penalty, we will not go.” This was Gabriele. Seeing that he couldn’t carry on anymore, he went to England to see Frank Williams, who already had the handshake for the wheel rims and everything. [Williams] was a man… a man, with a great

Attitude and moral stature. He offered to turn one of his sponsors over to Fondmetal. Then he stepped in… Uncle Bernie [Ecclestone], who went to Williams and said, “If you help Mr. Rumi, I’ll put a spanner in your wheel too.” And from there on… we were no longer able to do anything.

They had already had an argument once, and perhaps Rumi couldn’t compete with Bernie because he already wanted, at the time, not to let us enter the pits, because we didn’t have a status, a good-looking truck, all that… and Mr. Rumi, he stood

In front of him saying: “I provide work and for work you cannot make a company stop”. So he won on that one. GABRIELE TARQUINI: During the Monza weekend he realized that we couldn’t make the last races. He came to tell me that our season ended with the Monza

Race, almost crying… and I clearly understood the situation, we didn’t have many sponsors, so I understood this, he apologized and told me that I’d get the money he still owed me, the salary – we are not talking about incredible high salaries, but in short it was money both for him and for me

Who took it and he who paid it. I told him: “Look Gabriele, you don’t owe me anything because I understood perfectly what happened. We stopped three races before, you don’t have to finish paying me my salary”. And I remember he said: “No, look, for me this doesn’t exist.

You absolutely must understand that I will pay you. It will take some time, but I will pay off all the debts I have accumulated this year. “People I knew confirmed to me that they were absolutely paid off, from the photographer, to the supplier, to the mechanic, to… everyone was paid! And to pay

Me, he literally chased me. I took part in the Italian Superturismo Championship of the time, I raced with BMW, he came to watch some races, at the end or beginning of 1993, but not because he was interested in the racing weekend! Because he absolutely didn’t love touring cars, but

Because he came to give me the money. I told him: “Look Gabriele, you don’t owe me anything, I don’t want them”. But he didn’t hear me. That is, he would put it in my hand and say: “Look, this is the money I owe you, and I have to pay you everything!” This for

You to understand, in short, who was Gabriele Rumi. I have spent 45 years in the motorsport world, because I was lucky enough to race until a few years ago… he was a unique person. I have never met a person like Gabriele Rumi again in my

Motorsport activity, perhaps in normal life I have met similar people. But in motorsport I think there is really, really no one like Gabriele Rumi. STEFANO RUMI: Unfortunately the money ran out and therefore we had to do what we had to do. It was a great suffering for my

Father to have to raise the white flag. He tried until the end to try. There had, yes, been meetings to seek solutions or not, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, sadly. The problem is that as I was saying, Fondmetal wheel production was the main sponsor and therefore had taken on all

The expenses and the budget, although small, was still a budget in the order of several billion. The engine item was the main cost and therefore in some accident or not… in the end there was no budget cap! There was a different “cap”… and so when the funds ran out, my

Father decided not to show up, communicating it to the FIA. In fact he was then called to the FIA in Paris because the regulations did not provide for the possibility of [withdrawing] because you had to guarantee your presence, since the show was sold to the various circuits and TV channels.

He was, let’s say, put on trial, but in the end the situation was understood, and… and he wasn’t banned. Then he returned with Minardi’s team, a few years later. YURI SCALI: Among other things, the project for the GR03 with Rinland was already there, it had already begun.

STEFANO RUMI: Yes, yes, that yes, the car was in the works, with the wind tunnel model and everything, then everything clearly came to a standstill, that is, we hoped… we worked to try to move forward, but you reach a certain point where you have to give up.

ANDREA PORELLO: Rumi’s last attempt was made by trying to sign the driver Giuseppe Bugatti at the last minute, which would bring many sponsors, but in the end nothing came of it and the team was put into voluntary liquidation by Rumi. Despite

This, Rumi had not yet given up and was confident of finding new financiers for the 1993 project. The necessary funds were never found. The GR03 project will eventually find the light in a new team, namely Forti Corse. The rumors of an interest from a very successful former driver

Like Niki Lauda were never confirmed and in the end even a stubborn man like Gabriele Rumi had to raise the white flag, but his commitment to Formula One did not stop there. STEFANO RUMI: The end, a painful one, of the Fondmetal F1 team it was in short, it was

A wound for my father. The passion for motorsport which has always guided him throughout his life, continued in 1993. He was contacted by a lawyer in Milan who knew Harvey Postlethwaithe, who was Tyrrell’s technical director. A wind tunnel had basically been opened in the

Center of Italy, in Ferrara, in Casumaro to be precise. It was created to provide assistance, it had to provide assistance to Lambo, rather than contracting for third parties, perhaps even for other teams. After that, Lambo withdrew from F1, Minardi wasn’t using it and consequently this new structure remained unused… and therefore

Thanks to Postlethwaithe and the contact with the engineer Jean-Claude Migeot, who came from Ferrari after a troubled 1992 with the’double floor’ car which had a bit of technical problems… it had the funding through the wheel company, there was the client, Tyrrell, and there was the aerodynamic

Engineer, Migeot, who had been however living in Italy for years, from when he was working at Ferrari… and therefore this gallery was acquired. It was renamed Fondmetal Technologies and in 1994 the first car was launched, which was then the Tyrrell 022. The car was truly excellent aerodynamically. It had a Yamaha

Engine, two good drivers, Katayama and Blundell, a car that took P3 at the Spanish Grand Prix, two fifth places… among other things there is an anecdote: that in free practice at the Hockenheim Grand Prix the car came out with four front tyres! They also mounted the front

Tyres at the back to take advantage of the low drag! ANDREA PORELLO: We told it in our channel! STEFANO RUMI: Oh you told it! The deal with Tyrrell went over for two seasons. Tyrrell had launched a reactive suspension, they called it “reactive”, which however was very complicated to

Set up and therefore the drivers found themselves in difficulty. In the meantime, my father came in touch with Briatore who was the Benetton team principal at the time, and the idea of being able to develop an English team on an aerodynamic and engineering level in Italy,

Was a good opportunity, because at the time, as we had also done or as Ferrari had also done in Barnard’s years, we tended to go to England to do development. Thanks to various contacts the agreement was made in 1996, so we abandoned Tyrrell and from 1996 until 2006

We followed the entire aerodynamic development of Benetton first, then transformed into Renault. The wind tunnel work is a work that has developed very well. At Fondmetal Technologies we have reached around seventy people under the direction of Migeot. We have raised many engineers who are now employed in many current Formula 1 teams, someone

In Mercedes, some went to Ferrari, some to Ducati too. And at the time we had also built a second wind tunnel, where Renault was developing on one side and Toyota on the other, before Toyota introduced, let’s say, created its own structure in Cologne. YURI SCALI: And what is Fondmetal today?

STEFANO RUMI: Today Fondmetal is a company that still produces wheels, under our brand, Fondmetal. And then we collaborate with various car manufacturers, where we provide, let’s say, first assembly and after market. Yes, motorsport is still in the blood. Unfortunately, let’s say

That on a practical level we are no longer there, we no longer have a direct presence, we have a collaboration with Pirelli that has been going on for many years. We make the wheels for them in 1:1 scale, the ones you see on

The Formula 1 mock-ups, like for example the Audi one that launched months ago, we produce the rim there. And then we do the Pole Position mini-wheel, or the one that Pirelli sells, let’s say, with the tyre on. Obviously we only provide the wheel rim, but we say that we always have a link.

YURI SCALI: What is the most important thing your father left, first to you and then to motorsport? STEFANO RUMI: Well, he left me with the passion for work. I’m continuing and trying to develop what he built… practically when I was born. If you think about the fact that this company

Was established in 1972, I was two years old… and so I’m trying to carry on a little his example in today’s world, which presents different challenges. Motorsport is a love that is a bit of a passion that burns inside me. So Formula 1, I try to transfer the passion to

My son, Gabriele, I take him to Monza, and clearly I’m going too! What Formula 1 has taught the company here is order and discipline. Formula One teams are organized in a very hierarchical manner. We tried to transfer, let’s say, order and precision also to the

Production part. Naturally it is a different reality, but in some ways it is similar. ERIC VAN DE POELE: I also remember Stefano Rumi! At the time, well, he was a little smaller than now. That Fondmetal was a kind of family team. I spent some

Wonderful moments with them and with Gabriele, who was a gentle and quiet guy, but always determined to keep his team together. LUCIANO BRESCIANINI: About thirty, about thirty people, with… with the staff, there were about twenty of us around. It was a family. With Mr. Rumi it was a family, and indeed when

Mr. Rumi’s wife was there, almost always, it was… it was truly a family, in every sense. GABRIELE TARQUINI: Gabriele Rumi for me was a master of life, as we say sportsmanly, that is in terms of competence, as a team principal, but above all as a man. We got along very well

Straight away. He was, let’s say, if I had to define him with one word, I would say passionate. Rumi was a great Formula 1 passionate, especially I tried in every way to make him, even a little, fall out of love with Formula 1, making him grasp many aspects of motorsport. But he

Was too in love with Formula 1! He wanted to do something good in Formula One, he had tried, he had spent a lot of money on this adventure. I don’t think he was satisfied with the results obtained, however, especially when he was a sponsor of Tyrrell, even if

His dream was to continue with his own team. But I had the opportunity to appreciate the person, that is, a frank, direct, honest, very passionate person. YURI SCALI: Can you talk a little bit about what Gabriele was like? What type of guy was he? PAOLO COMI: I can’t do it. No…

GABRIELE RUMI: It was an Italian team with an English design structure. One year with Robin Herd and the next year with Rinland. With a facility in England that designed the cars for us. For us it is very important, because our production is the assembly of a product that is a key part of

The car. Formula One is an expression of car racing, so our customers look to Formula One by nature. If I had to go back I would do everything I have done so far. But doing Formula One for the second time is impossible. Concreteness is essential. With imagination, yes, solutions can

Be found, but they are temporary solutions. I don’t think you can go very far with your imagination. You have to be concrete, plan and try to achieve your goals. In my opinion you can’t get there any other way! YURI SCALI: So we are here.

We are at the end of this story. Unfortunately Rumi passed away in May 2001, but only physically, because he left us a very heavy legacy. ANDREA PORELLO: He left us the important lesson that with work, passion and dedication to what you do you can truly aspire to

Every result and that from every capitulation, from every difficulty you can always get up stronger than before. And this is a lesson that we should all learn and that we should make our own in our everyday lives too. We thank Fondetal so much once again, the Rumi family, who allowed us to

Create this content and all those who participated in this video. YURI SCALI: Thank you for joining us on this journey. And if you want more content like this guys, support us as much as possible because we won’t disappoint you. Thank you. Bye! ANDREA PORELLO: Cordial greetings!

PAOLO COMI: Despite everything, now Sergio Rinland, together with Eric, they have rebuilt the GR02, right? And the car is going around, with Eric, with this car, having all the drawings of the GR02 they went to recover many things. So, I didn’t see it live in first person, they sent me the video

Of the Spa demo. The sound, and everything… and seeing it! I mean, it brings tears to your eyes, because… you left your heart there. ERIC VAN DE POELE: The dream returned for me a few years after those events, because my great friend Alain, who is now

Shooting this video, bought this car. Together we completely rebuilt it, we found it in Italy, we found an engine and took it to the track. We had a fantastic experience at the 2021 Spa Grand Prix and well, it’s really nice to see Fondmetal back on track.

I hope we can see it again and again, also because now before the GPs there are some demos with the cars that made history in Formula One and this car in particular made my history in F1, because it is absolutely the best car I have ever raced in Formula 1.

I was lucky to finish tenth at my home grand prix with her and it’s a great memory for me. I hope you liked the video. I send a big salute to all my friends and former team members. Every now and then I come across someone here, someone there… it’s always a pleasure. And,

Stefano! Great car! Keep it on the track, please. Bye bye! Ciao a tutti.