F1 Rejects Interview with

Allen Berg

With a burning desire from a young age to drive in F1, Canadian Allen Berg is one of the few to achieve his dreams. Snapped up by Eddie Jordan following much success in Formula Atlantic, Berg raced and impressed in British F3 alongside stars-to-be.

A drive with Osella in F1 in 1986 was an opportunity not to be missed, although it was a difficult introduction to F1 - what with the cars being off the pace, the team having no money and Berg getting no testing. When the Canadian GP was cancelled for 1987, sponsorship oportunities disappeared. Allen's F1 dream over, he headed to Mexico.

There, over almost 10 years, he became an F2 and F3 Champion, and took his first successful steps into team ownership. We thank Allen for his time and effort in assisting us with this interview and his profile! For full details of Berg's F1 races, and information on his career, please see our Allen Berg biography.

How did you become involved in motorsport? Did you always have ambitions of making it to F1?
Ever since I was 4 years old I wanted to be a Grand Prix driver. I remember watching F1 on Television at that age, and playing on the Scalectrics set with my Dad. When I was 13, I started a paper route with the ambition of buying a kart. My Dad offered to help with 50% of the sale. I raised the money in about 10 months. I worked at it and eventually my dream became a reality. I never was interested in any other form of racing such as stock cars or touring cars, only Formula cars.

You went from Formula Atlantic to British F3 with Eddie Jordan's team. How did you get the drive with EJ?
After I won the Tasman series I was approached by a different British F3 team. I accepted the proposal and moved to England. My first experience in an F3 car was at Thruxton in the snow, a big change from 30 Celsius+ in Calder, Australia. For the first few races I was running alone in another team and the results weren't that good. F3 cars were very different from what I was used to. It seemed to me that I needed an experienced team mate and the assurance that I was in a competitive car.

North Americans are at a very big disadvantage when running in Europe, it is extremely difficult and very easy to get lost. I guess Eddie sensed my frustration and he approached me after a few races. We decided that it would be a good thing, so I switched teams to his. Eddie was also very good at raising sponsorship and he was a key factor in my completing 2 seasons in F3.

In your two successful seasons in British F3, you raced against the likes of Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle and Johnny Dumfries. What was it like racing against (and sometimes beating) them?
Martin was my co-driver and he was an excellent team mate. I learned a great deal working with him. He has an excellent memory for settings. I spent the season studying Senna's style and it seemed to me he was just a little quicker on entry and mid corner than anyone else. He also was exceptional in the wet and on cold tires. I did not beat them very often, but was on the podium several times with them. The significance of this did not strike home until much later in my life.

In '84 Johnny was my rival for the championship. It was a critical year as the British F3 Championship was the most competitive in Europe and it was almost assured the Champion would get an opportunity in F1. Johnny had VW factory motors and BP sponsorship, so had a slight edge in horsepower. I was using Toyota motors which were discontinued the next year in F3. Johnny was also running the European Championship so was getting a lot of track time.

We were having sponsorship difficulties so did not run as much as I would have liked to. I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself and made a number of mistakes throughout the year, losing valuable points. Johnny was a good competitor and I think did not get a fair opportunity with Lotus in '86.

How did you land the Osella drive in 1986, and what were your first impressions of the team?
Marc Surer who was driving for Arrows, was injured in a rally crash. Christian Danner, who was with Osella and had BMW backing (and was also a friend of mine), got the nod for the Arrows seat. My manager, Michel Koenig, who was also my sponsor in F3 with Grand Prix International Magazine, had been in contact with Enzo Osella about my taking Christian's place.

I was with the team throughout the Canadian GP and we signed the deal on top of a fuel drum in the old F1 garages on Monday morning following the race, taking a copy of Christian's old contract and essentially filling my name over top of his! My first race was in Detroit with no testing (we never did a single day of testing all year). I remember Ken Tyrrell saying to me in the pit lane before the first practice "The best thing you can do for yourself this weekend is keep it on the island."

It was a European team so communication was rather difficult. I did not know anyone there so it took me a while to get used to working with them. I became very close to my mechanics. In fact, enough cannot be said for the enormous effort and sacrifice by everyone on the team, just to get to the races.

The Osella, with its bulky Alfa Romeo turbo, had the appearance of being a handful to drive. What was it like from inside the cockpit?
The Osella had a very big driver's compartment. I am rather small, it was like wearing a pair of shoes about 4 sizes too big. The car was about 3 years old and the engines were down on power compared to the competition. Still, the car would get wheel spin in fifth gear on cold tires. However, it was a Grand Prix car. My efforts did not go unnoticed by the F1 inner circle. I have no regrets whatsoever, and in fact my being in F1 assisted me in my career following F1, as it does with just about any former F1 driver.

How did you get on with Enzo Osella, Piercarlo Ghinzani, and all the others within the team?
I got on very well with Enzo, however he did not speak English and I did not speak Italian. We would communicate in pigeon Spanish! A debrief was very entertaining, as we would do it with an engineer who only spoke Italian and English, so the whole time there was always one person in the meeting who did not know what the other two were talking about! Enzo had a hell of a temper and I recall on several occasions his exploding in the pit lane when something went wrong, usually something minor like a dead transistor battery or something, that would cost us track time. I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity Enzo gave me.

Piercarlo was the consummate Italian F1 driver, he was very well educated, with poise and style. He was also very fast and never got the opportunity he deserved in F1. I enjoyed his company. We did not actually work closely together engineering the cars as he had later generation chassis than I did, so we did not have any need to share information.

What F1 options did you have at the end of 1986? Do you think your F1 career would have continued, had there been a Canadian GP in 1987?
I had discussion with many teams, with Labatt Breweries involved with the negotiations. With the Canadian Grand Prix being dropped in 1987, this negated any chances of securing backing from Canada for that season.

What drew you to racing in the DTM in 1991, and how did you enjoy that season?
I attended a race in Hockenheim and saw that it was great racing. I wanted to get involved immediately! I received an offer that same weekend from a private team who needed a decent driver. I would drive to the races in Germany, from my base in England, so arrived there from driving all night, climbing straight into the racecar. The DTM at that time was almost the same level of F1. The drivers are specialists in their field, very, very good.

You have been a successful driver, and recently a team boss, in Mexico for over a decade. What enticed you to pursue your career there?
When the DTM team I was driving for did not appear to have a budget for the next season, I was approached by Marlboro to come drive for them in Mexico. Racing was very popular there at that time. I continued to receive offers to race there each year, so I naturally just stayed there.

What is the Mexican motorsport scene like? How did it compare to other places where you've competed?
Formula Racing has taken a downturn in Mexico, with the few remaining commercial sponsors involved with the sport looking to compete in the US. There continues to be racing but unless you drive touring cars, which never interested me, it is difficult to make a living as a professional racing driver.

Racing in Mexico is completely different than any other place I have raced. As in just about everything down there, they enjoy life first and everything else is a second priority. I was treated very well in Mexico and came away with many good memories some great friendships, as well as a beautiful wife!

You've driven open wheelers, sports cars and touring cars during your career. Which did you prefer, and why?
My forte was Formula cars, but I also enjoyed the high powered prototypes. I feel it is the purest form of road racing.

What were the best and worst moments of your driving career?
I guess the worst moments for me were hearing of Gilles Villeneuve's and Ayrton Senna's deaths. Both of these drivers were inspirational to me. In terms of my own career, there are always numerous disappointments regarding sponsorships, potential drives, lost races and championships, so a driver becomes resilient to these. However driving is like fishing, you never forget the ones that got away!

The best moments for me in racing in general were winning championships and taking pole positions, I derived great personal satisfaction taking poles. More specifically, signing the contract on that fuel drum was something I won't forget, as well as winning a championship with my own team.

Why did you make the move to become a team boss? What are your goals, and what challenges are you facing?
I started running my own team 3 years ago because as a driver you are always dependent on the team providing you with competitive equipment. If you don't do well, the public thinks it is the driver's fault. I felt I could do a better job running my own program than most other teams could do. This was proven when we dominated Mexican racing in our first year as a team, winning the second race we entered, as well as the team and drivers championship. I retired from driving as a Champion and race winner, winning my last ever race and clinching the team and drivers championship that weekend.

We won 50% of the races that year in Mexico and were on the podium 70% of the time. However it was exhausting and I wanted to concentrate on team management and the commercial side. This has its challenges, you have to learn to motivate and lead. As a driver life was very simple and you have to be very centred and selfish to be successful. Running a racing team is a complex business where you must address commercial, political, sporting, management and personnel issues, as well as watching the bottom line and trying to win races with ALL of your drivers. It is very fulfilling. I really enjoy working with young drivers.

My goals are to take my team, Scuadra Fortia, into the higher levels of the sport, Champ Car, IRL or even Europe. I am looking to create a truly professional team that runs off of the commercial sponsorship and alliances that it forges, and hiring the drivers, instead of the usual way of just renting the cars to paying drivers and their sponsors.

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