Alessandro Giuseppe "Alex" Caffi (born 18 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1986 to 1992.
Caffi participated in 75 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 September 1986. In 2006, he raced in the Grand Prix Masters series for retired Formula One drivers. He currently serves as the team owner of Academy Motorsport in the NASCAR Euro Series, and acted as an owner-driver whilst it operated as Alex Caffi Motorsport.
Alessandro Giuseppe Caffi was born on 18 March 1964 in Rovato, Brescia, Northern Italy. He spent three years in Italian Formula Three from 1984 to 1986, finishing runner-up in 1984 and 1985, then third in 1986. In 1985 he was also the winner of the FIA European Formula 3 Cup.
Caffi was handed his Formula One debut by Osella, at his, and the team's home race, the Italian Grand Prix, in place of Canadian Allen Berg. Qualifying 27th and last in his FA1H (because of a quirk where for this race, and the following one in Portugal, 27 cars were allowed to start) Caffi drove sensibly and steadily to stay out of trouble and come home last of the runners, albeit six laps down and unclassified.
Osella were impressed by caffi's sensible approach, and signed him for a full season in 1987. The Alfa Romeo-powered FA1I was uncompetitive and unreliable; Caffi finished no races out of 16 and failed to qualify twice, though he was classified once. At the opening round, the Brazilian Grand Prix, Caffi retired after 21 laps due to exhaustion as the heat and physically demanding nature of the car proved too much.
The San Marino Grand Prix, three weeks later, provided Caffi with his only classification of the year, 12th, despite running out of fuel five laps from the finish. Then came a run of 10 consecutive retirements; in Belgium, Monaco, where he qualified an excellent 16th and ran as high as tenth, the United States, where he qualified 19th, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy and Portugal.
As the season drew to a close, Caffi failed to qualify for two of the final four races in Spain and Australia, bookending retirements in Mexico, where he ran as high as seventh due to attrition, and Japan where he ran out of fuel. Despite finishing so few races, none were down to driver error, though Caffi was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.
1988 saw Caffi switch to the new Scuderia Italia team. Early season form was thin. Their challenger for the season, the Dallara built and Ford-Cosworth powered F188 was not ready for the first race in Brazil, so to fulfil the championship's requirements of entering every race, a modified Formula 3000 car, the 3087, was used as a stop-gap. Not surprisingly, Caffi failed to pre-qualify.
The new car arrived in time for San Marino, but fortunes failed to improve as Caffi retired and an excellent 17th in qualifying at Monaco was ruined when he crashed all alone on the opening lap, the first blot on his career copybook. Caffi's third retirement in a row in Mexico and failure to qualify in Canada only added to the nightmare.
Mid-season though saw a turnaround in both Caffi's, and the team's season, with four finishes on the spin; eighth in the United States, 12th in France after qualifying 14th, 11th in Great Britain and 15th in Germany after qualifying 19th.
Form during the following five races was patchy. Three top-ten finishes; eighth in Belgium after qualifying 15th, seventh in Portugal (his best career finish at the time) after qualifying 17th and tenth in Spain after qualifying 18th, were scattered around a couple of retirements; in Hungary where he qualified in the top-ten for the first time in tenth, and Italy.
1988 concluded with a brace of retirements in Japan, where he spun off, and after qualifying 11th in Australia. For the second season in a row Caffi was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.
Scuderia Italia expanded to a two-car outfit for the 1989 season, with fellow Italian Andrea de Cesaris in the second Pirelli shod F189. As with the previous year, Caffi failed to pre-qualify for the opening round in Brazil, but San Marino, next on the calendar, saw Caffi qualify ninth and finish just outside the points in seventh.
Momentum continued onto Monaco with another top-ten in qualifying, ninth, followed by the first Formula One points for himself and the team with an excellent drive to 4th. 13th in Mexico was followed by retirement in the United States, when Caffi, who qualified sixth and at one stage was running second only to Alain Prost, was pushed into the wall rather comically whilst trying to lap teammate Andrea de Cesaris.
A second points finish of sixth in Canada was another highlight but Caffi's season rarely peaked after that with just two finishes in the final ten races; seventh in Hungary (after qualifying a stunning third) and ninth in Japan.
Failure to finish in France, Germany, Belgium, after spinning off, Italy, Portugal where he qualified seventh then collided with three-time World Drivers' Champion Nelson Piquet, Spain and Australia, where he qualified tenth before spinning off, along with a failure to pre-qualify in Great Britain rounded off an inconsistent year. Four points and 19th in the Drivers' Championship were Caffi's rewards.
Caffi, by now gaining a reputation as a promising talent, was tempted to Arrows for 1990 as Japan's Footwork Corporation were investing in the team throughout the year (to the extent that Arrows was renamed Footwork from 1991 to 1996) and Porsche had agreed to supply engines to the squad. Caffi was signed to drive the second A11 alongside another Italian, 1985 World Drivers' Championship runner-up Michele Alboreto.
Injury caused by a pre-season cycling accident forced Caffi to sit out the opening race in the United States, with German Bernd Schneider filling the gap. Retirement in Brazil and failure to qualify in San Marino only compounded Caffi's woes.