Ivan Capelli: “I arrived for my first GP by public transport!”

Hello Ivan, this is very beautiful Mercedes CLE Coupé. Shall we take the top down?

The weather is nice, let's not deprive ourselves! (Laughs) Mercedes has done a superb design job with this model. Its line is well balanced, which is never easy with a four-seater coupe. Another incredible thing is the 2-liter four-cylinder diesel with mild hybridization that allows you to do more than 1 km on a tank. A great success.

How does motorsport fit into your life?

In 1969, my father started working for Parmalat. The dairy company would soon start supporting drivers, including Niki Lauda, ​​from the time he joined Ferrari in 1974. One day I accompanied my father to the Fiorano circuit (Ferrari test track. Ed.) for an advertising film. Lauda was on the track; when he stopped, his chief mechanic, Ermanno Cuoghi, looked at me and called me to his side. He asked me if I was a good boy, and I answered: " Yes ". He then put me in the Ferrari. I was 12 years old, sitting in Lauda's seat with the steering wheel stamped with the Cavallino Rampante in front of my eyes with the mechanics changing tires and working on the car. It was 1976. The first thing I did when I got home was to push my father to buy me the magazine AutoSprint. I started devouring everything that dealt with motorsport.

What a unique introduction! 

A few months later, while I was watching television with my father, there was a report about the karting. I asked him if it would be possible to try one one day. He didn't answer, but a month later he needed me to pick up a package in Bologna. It was a kart. I still remember the purchase price: 515 lire, or about 000 euros. I started in the "Cadet" category.