F1 Rejects Interview with

Mikko Kozarowitzky

After representing his country at tennis, Finn Mikko Kozarowitzky pursued a career in motorsport, and became one of the oft-exulted drivers to take part in a World Championship Formula 1 event. Starting in Formula Super Vee, with Keke Rosberg as a rival, by 1975 Mikko was one of Europe's top up-and-coming drivers.

A terrible year in F2 in 1976 didn't stop Kozarowitzky from getting it together again, impressing during a stint in Formula Pacific, and gathering his sponsorship to press for a berth in F1. Dissatisfied with his two GP attempts with RAM, Mikko retired from motorsport, and his career has been largely forgotten, a mere statistic amongst F1 non-starters.

Until now! Tracked down by F1 Rejects' Mischa Bijenhof, Kozarowitzky sheds light on his motorsport career and his F1 experiences. We thank Mikko for his time and effort in assisting us with this interview and his profile! For full details of Mikko's F1 races, and information on his career, please see our Mikko Kozarowitzky biography.

How did you become involved in motorsport?
My father was involved in motor-racing but had a fatal accident in May 1956. He belonged to the group who started the 500 Club in Finland. Most of the top drivers are or have been a member of this club, like Mika Häkkinen and Keke Rosberg. So I was always interested in motor racing. But my mother was not to keen on me getting involved so when I started to race it had to be under a pseudonym name, which was 'Matti Järvi'. It worked just for one season, because of course she quickly discovered what I was doing!

We've heard that you once were part of the Finnish Davis Cup team. Tell us about it...
I am surprised you managed to discover that! But yes, I was part of the national Davis Cup team in 1966. Unfortunately I had a bad motorbike accident that year just after my debut in the team and was hospitalized with a broken leg for 6 months. I tried to come back but had lost something and never made the team again.

In German Formula Vee in 1975 your main rival was Keke Rosberg. What was your relationship with him like?
With Keke I had a pretty cool relationship during the racing period but this was understandable as we both were looking for sponsorships from a small country as Finland. I do still stay in contact with him and do have the greatest respect for what he has achieved.

In 1976 you raced in Formula 2 for both Günther Schmidt and Ron Dennis, both later F1 team bosses. What are your recollections?
Günther Schmid was a very impulsive person with very little knowledge of motor racing. Ron Dennis was a real professional and you can see where it has taken him. He even became the businessman of the year in England. Concerning the racing itself, it was not a good year. The Lola which I drove for ATS had a fundamental design error. It only worked in low temperatures. In warm conditions, the handling was terrible. We had a very good test at Snetterton, where I managed to be faster than Hans-Joachim Stuck. But the season was very disappointing.

How did your F1 opportunity come along?
Marlboro wanted to have me in Formula 1. There were long talks with Ensign, Mo Munn and Frank Williams. My hope was on Ensign, because they had Chris Amon as a driver. On that stage of his career, he wasn't in a position to win races anymore, but he was still very fast and I hoped to become his teammate. His experience would have been great help. Sadly Marlboro France got Tambay in the car. As for Williams, they had this guy called Patrick Nevé. So the only seat was with RAM.

What was your first impression of the team and the car?
There was no time to test as the team had no money and no organization. I sat in the car for the first time at Anderstorp! It was nothing more than a waste of time. Of course, I was not surprised when I didn't qualify. But apparently, John MacDonald also realized that this was never going to work, so we had a test at Silverstone prior to the British Grand Prix. I did enjoy it a lot. We had Howden Ganley working for us as an engineer. This was great and we were reasonable fast as we drove times as Gilles Villeneuve in a third McLaren. It felt really good and very encouraging. But it turned out to be for nothing.

On Friday practice for the British Grand Prix, Macdonald wanted me to put in a kamikaze lap on the second lap. He was sure it was going to rain. So out I went for my warm-up lap. I went flat out on my second lap, but when I approached the Woodcote chicane suddenly Rupert Keegan was in front of me, driving very slowly on his outlap. I just thought to myself "Get out of the way, get out of the way!", but of course, he never saw me and as there was no room for the two of us, I lost the car at very high speed. I remember thinking "This is going to hurt!" And it did, as I broke my hand.

MacDonald was desperate to get me on the grid though, so he even proposed that I should tape my hand with duct tape and take the spare car! That was when I was completely fed up with the team. Nothing was right, it was a complete mess. So I told Mr. MacDonald what I thought of him and simply walked away, even though I was supposed to drive all European races that year. But I still think I would have qualified for the race!

Did you have other opportunities in F1?
We did a lot of work with Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley to have a team built around me with their own car Tiga. The project almost succeeded but we never got the whole budget together. Marlboro was to pay for 15 percent of the budget and we nearly made it because Howden and Tim had 80 percent of their budget. In the end it was this tiny 5 percent that was missing so we never got racing. It also meant the end of my career, as I wanted to look elsewhere and felt I was done with racing.

We understand you have been an important part of your son's career. Do you think he will ever make it to Formula 1?
I'm not very much involved in motor racing nowadays. Since 1981, I have been running several own businesses in the Netherlands. But when my son got interested I got involved. But whether he could make it to Formula 1? Difficult question, as if not getting the right financial support you almost do not have a chance. I do personally think that he has the right attitude and he has raw speed. But no, I do not think he will make it to Formula 1.

Tell us about the best and the worst moments of your career.
The best moments, of what I can remember, are the different championships I have won, and being on pole at the New Zealand Grand Prix 1976. One bad moment was when I dropped out of this same race in the leading position due to a fuel pick up problem. I would have easily have won this race. The other one was the crash at Silverstone during qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

How do you look back on your racing days?
Of course I would have liked to be successful in Formula 1, but I am proud to say that I never paid for a drive. I was always hired by teams for my talent. It was something I would never do, even though in my days there were plenty of guys who struggled to find money for an F1 drive, like for example Harald Ertl did.

Another thing that didn't help my career was that I always was my own manager. When you had to drive more then 20 races a year there is very little time to arrange things when you have no manager. But it will not change my life, I am a happy man.

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