Matteo Margheriti

**Matteo Vivaldo Margheriti** is an Italian racing driver, currently driving for Mercedes in Formula 1. He is the son of two-time Formula 1 world champion Fabiano Margheriti.

Matteo graduated from Formula 3000 to Formula 1 and made his debut in 2000 alongside fellow rookie teammate Imre Futy.

## Early Years & Junior Career

Matteo graduated from karts in 1995 - later than he would have liked, but his father pulled him out of karting in 1988 when Matteo was 10 years old. Fabiano had injured his leg and his ribs in two serious crashes that year, and missed the second half of the season. Sid Donnelly, his replacement, was killed at the Belgian GP that year too and this prompted Fabiano to reconsider his son's future. Matteo's funding for his karting career was suspended and he missed out on years of junior career progress.

In 1990, Matteo raced under multiple pseudonyms in Italian and International karting championships with help and funding from his father's friend and agent, Fausto Di Stasio. Eventually his father found out about this and despite being angry at first, decided to start supporting Matteo's karting career once again. All of these details were revealed in Fabiano's 1997 autobiography and were touched on in the 2005 Hollywood film Scuderia, directed by Ron Howard.

Matteo competed in the FIA Karting World Championship from 1993 to 1994, and finished 3rd and 1st in those years respectively. For 1995, Matteo graduated to Italian Formula 3 and won in his debut year for RC Motorsport. He was bumped up again and entered International Formula 3000 with RC Motorsport for 1996, but the team performed badly and had financial troubles late in the season. Despite this, Matteo impressed the paddock, but was out of a drive for the final two rounds of the 1996 season as the team collapsed. He was thrown a lifeline for 1997 by British team Super Nova racing. He challenged for the championship all year, claiming four wins, but lost out to his American teammate Ryan Mendez in the final round at Jerez when his gearbox failed on lap three.

Since Super Nova racing was a prolific feeder team for Formula 1 teams, Matteo was not offered a 1998 seat since two new drivers were hired for the 1998 F3000 season. Mendez went back to CART, whereas Matteo accepted a development driver role at the Minardi F1 team. He made one-off appearances in the 1998 and 1999 Le Mans 24hrs, driving Moretti Racing's Ferrari 333 SP car. In '98, Matteo was involved in a crash 14 hours into the race with Cirtek's Saleen Mustang SR, which was judged to be the fault of the Saleen. Moretti lost out on what was likely to be an overall top ten finish. In 1999, fortunes improved and Matteo achieved a 6th place finish, 2nd in the LMP1 class.

## Formula One Career

On Matteo's 22nd birthday, 20th December 1999, he was announced as a Formula 1 race driver for the 2000 season alongside fellow rookie Imre Futy. Many had thought that Matteo would be part of his father's Scuderia Margheriti outfit, but the team was sold off and Matteo admitted into the Ferrari Driver Academy. This was to distance Matteo from dependence on his father, and in Fabiano's own words to "secure Matteo's future, but to allow his driving carry him up the ladder."

Round one of the 2000 season saw Matteo driving a modified B199 after his 2000-spec chassis was damaged in transit from Silverstone back to Benetton's Enstone HQ. Despite the inferior chassis, Matteo used a race-proven setup from the previous year to drive a consistent race and finish in P5. It was a very impressive debut, and despite being slower than his teammate all weekend he still finished the race in the points while his teammate crashed out of the lead.

Round two at Interlagos would be a serious statement from the Italian. After a disappointing Friday, he and his team worked through his problems early on Saturday morning to find a good race setup. Qualifying would be a hit, starting the race in P8 but finishing an impressive P2 after battling with Futy, Armitage-Barnes, and even race winner Makkinen. Matteo and Benetton were ecstatic with the result but showed clear signs that they weren't done there.

## Personal Life

Matteo was raised in Tuscany, Italy by his parents. He was racing karts from a young age, but also signed up to the Italian Air Force (*Aeronautica Militare)* cadets as a teenager. He eventually dropped out due to his Formula 3000 commitments. He would still go on get his private pilot's license in January 2000, just before starting his F1 career.

Matteo has two siblings, both younger than him. His younger sister, Simona, was born on 23rd May 1987. His youngest sibling, a younger brother named Claudio, was born on 7th August 1994.