I recently had the pleasure of interviewing former Formula One driver Perry McCarthy. In 1992 Perry drove for the ill-fated Andrea Moda team. He never managed to qualify for a race and the team collapsed, with the owner being arrested for fraud in the paddock of the Belgian Grand Prix. He went on to become the original Stig on BBC’s Top Gear and released his autobiography: Flat Out, Flat Broke.
Photo courtesy of Perry McCarthy.
He is now a noted After Dinner speaker and gives motivational and business speeches for corporations.
Part 1 of this interview is a discussion of his early career, his journey to Formula One, his inspirations from the past and his thoughts about the future.
When you first walked into the Formula One paddock as a Formula One driver, that must have been an amazing feeling?
There is a Ferrari connection here, because the first time I drove a Formula One car it was at Silverstone and I was testing for the Arrows/Footwork team and the first person who came up to me was Michele Alboreto and Michele said “Perry, welcome to Formula One”. And that was really sweet of him. It meant the absolute world to me and that was in 1990. That was cool. Then, I didn’t know, but I would work with Michele many years later when we both signed for Audi, but Michele was probably best known for being a Ferrari driver. It just meant a lot to me as a young driver coming in - well actually not quite so young - but my first go at Formula One. That’s my Ferrari story, Clare.
You're not from the traditional millionaire background and were working on the oil rigs whilst trying to build a junior career. That must have been quite an achievement to keep it all going.
Yeah it was really difficult; actually the funny thing was we were brought up without very much money at all, but just as I was coming into motor racing, my father did do a business deal which went quite well. Even though I was working on the oil rigs I was running out of money. We did a deal where he actually lent me £15,000 which was still peanuts, but that was it and I could pay it back working on the rigs etc. That was kind of helpful and I was getting sponsors in. Unfortunately, my father Dennis didn’t keep that money for very long, he lost it all in just a couple of years, but just when I needed it.
Perry mentioned his early Formula One inspiration: Ferrari and Gilles Villeneuve.
One of the chief things that attracted my attention to motor racing, that acted as a motivator to get into motor racing was watching Gilles Villeneuve in the Ferrari team at the very end of the 70s. That was exactly the time that I got interested in motor racing even though I was 18 at the time. I was quite late to even develop an interest in that but it was Gilles out in the Ferrari and reading about Ferrari and reading about the other drivers and that lit a fire inside me that this was what I wanted to do. Like any other driver you would always harbour an ambition of driving for the Ferrari team.
When I was in Formula One with Andrea Moda, we were so small: we couldn’t do anything. We were a complete disaster. I was proud to have got to F1 but my time in F1 was horribly disappointing. Everyone knew what we were up against and it was impossible.
Perry McCarthy driving the Andrea Moda at Monaco. Courtesy of Perry McCarthy.
I remember speaking to Niki Lauda and just saying “Niki, I’ve got to move on somewhere with this and do you think that I could talk to Ferrari about becoming one of their test drivers,” etc. And Niki politely let me down. He politely just told me it wasn’t going to happen because with my performances in Formula One I probably looked as attractive as Mickey Mouse!
Perry testing the Benetton Formula One car. Courtesy of Perry McCarthy.
It’s amazing what it takes even behind the scenes in Formula One. You see a great show on the tv screen but the amount of work to just a car on the track, it’s amazing.
The game has raised even more over the last 30 years. Damon Hill and I came into Formula One at exactly the same time and Damon was with the Brabham team, that was a shadow of its former self. Most of the time Damon wasn’t able to qualify because that car, that team they just weren’t up to it. We spent a lot of time together on the weekends because we weren’t actually on the track.
There were some opportunities for teams to somehow corral some resources to have a go at getting on the track. That is no longer the case. If you look at even the smallest of teams now and if you were to take Haas for example, even a team that’s at the back of the grid. The level of sophistication is incredible. Absolutely incredible. Long gone are the days of “Come on Boys, let’s give it a go.” This is a huge operation with very smart people and incredible facilities and resources at their disposal because that’s the nature of the game.
Would you like to see the Andretti team on the grid?
Absolutely, I’d love to see the Andretti team on the grid.
They have the ability and they have the name and their American; it’s just what Formula One needs, I think.
We always have to be careful of saying they have the ability, they have the potential. They recognise more than anybody what they’re going to be up against. And they’ve probably got a lead in programme of getting themselves together and becoming competitive.
But a fabulous name. Mario is an absolute legend so that family name continues. Michael had his own shot at Formula One and a phenomenally successful IndyCar driver. And as a brand it would be fantastic to have them on the grid and it attaches America even more, because we’ve already got Haas out there. So it would be great to have America more involved in F1. So I wish Michael and the team and Mario every success in putting this together.
And plus the fact that we could do with more than 20 cars on the grid in F1. Formula One can start 26 cars and we’d like to see more cars on the grid.
And there’s too many good drivers out there as well and there’s just not enough seats.
You’ll always hear drivers complaining about that.
You always will but I think they could do with a couple more seats. When you’ve got the Formula 2 champion not getting a seat it’s disappointing for the fans. They want to see that progression.
But Oscar [Piastri] is tied up with Alpine now. He’s an outstanding talent. The kid just keeps winning everything. His time will come. He’s on the radar. I don’t think anybody’s going to let him slip away, I really don’t.
You look back at Formula 3 there were about 8 or 9 of us who actually went through to Formula 1. So those couple of years we had in F3 together, so myself and Damon, Johnny Herbert, Julian Bayley, Martin Donnelly, Bertrand Gachot, any other year any one of us would have won that championship. But this was the level of competition that there was and it was great to have this batch coming through. Everyone knew that there were some quite special seasons out there and when we got to Formula 3000 with Jean Alesi, Eric Comas, Eric Bernard, there was a huge amount of talent coming through. But as you say, all fighting for a limited amount of places on the grid. Sometimes, drivers who were incredibly good would still have to bring some type of sponsorship for a back of the grid team. So it’s always been a tough game, always.
It’s timing. Clare, so much of this is about timing.
In part 2 of the interview, Perry discusses his favourite Ferraris, the supercars he enjoyed driving as The Stig and his other motor sport experiences.
His personal website is https://www.perrymccarthy.co.uk
By Clare Topic
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