F3 History

Enzo Osella, a former sports car driver, ran the Abarth-Osella sports car racing team from 1969 until the team was taken over by Fiat. Osella continued with his own sports cars for a while but decided to switch over to the 2-litre F2 category and the first F2 chassis, the FA, appeared in late 1974. For the next 2 years the Osella F2 cars were often fast but fragile and at the end of 1976 financial problems caused the Volpiano (near Turin) based team to withdraw. Returning in 1979 with Eddie Cheever the team won 3 races and decided F1 was the next step and so in 1980 the Osella F1 was launched. Although never successful in F1 Osella were always one of the most popular teams due to their unfailing enthusiasm and continued until the end of the decade when they were taken over by Fondmetal.