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Ronnie accepted that when he signed his contract. The agreement was that if both cars were running at the front with no problems, then I was to win. At the same time, I’d made my position clear to Colin. It seemed ridiculous to me that a guy with his ability and experience should have to accept the restrictions of a number two.

The man was a number one driver, nothing else. I felt that I’d played my part in bringing the team back to the front, and I also felt that 1978 would give me my best shot at the title. “It’s quite true I was less than delighted when Colin suggested that Ronnie should come back to Lotus. “I’d known Ronnie for a long time, and I knew he was an honourable guy,” says Andretti. It’s a perception – and an unfair one – that still hangs over Andretti’s title even today. Mario would face a backlash during the season amid accusations that Peterson was naturally quicker and all things being equal, would have beaten the American.

“But I had my doubts that the arrangement would work.”Īndretti has always been open that his deal for ’78 stated clearly he was the team number one, and that ‘Super-Swede’ Peterson signed and accepted his place as the number two. “I had nothing against Ronnie – I’d always like him,” says Andretti in the book. Having recommitted to Lotus, Andretti was then annoyed when Chapman signed former Lotus ace Ronnie Peterson to replace Gunnar Nilsson for 1978. Naturally, that helped too.Īndretti was unhappy about Ronnie Peterson joining the team “And, by the way, matched Ferrari’s offer…” he adds. In the end, he couldn’t pull himself away from Chapman and the investment of time and energy he’d put in to making Lotus a winner again. So why didn’t he leave? That season, terrible engine reliability had cost him a shot at the world title and Ferrari’s flat-12 was known to be near-bulletproof. And the Old Man offered me twice the money I was getting from Colin.” “After Monza I said to Colin, ‘I’m going to see Ferrari.’ ‘Don’t,’ he said, ‘because all you will do is confuse yourself and make it hard for yourself.’ But I had to satisfy myself, so I went. At that point Colin and I had a commitment to each other, but it could have been broken. So now the number one seat was up for grabs. By the time Monza came around, Niki had said he was quitting Ferrari and going with Ecclestone. “At around mid-season, I signed a letter of intent… to stay with Colin for 1978. “That was a really delicate thing,” says Andretti.

The book, simply titled Mario Andretti: World Champion, caught him in candid mood – although when is he anything else? Still, the revelation that he almost left Lotus in 1977 to join Ferrari for ’78 reminds us how close he came to missing out on Colin Chapman’s ground effects Type 79 masterpiece, and potentially the title that would define his F1 career. Andretti almost left Lotus for Ferrari in 1978