The Man Making Sure F2 and F3 Race Around the World | FanAmp Fast Lane

Marco's early career and start in racing

#1. What was the first moment that you discovered racing?

The memories I have are when I was younger, watching the F1 Grands Prix with my dad. I remember vividly, when I started watching F1 it was 1978. Mario Andretti was winning everything. Back then, it was the very first time that I had started to watch racing.

The first one I attended live was the Monaco Grand Prix back in 1980.

#2. What was the first step you took to launch your career in racing?

I don’t think I ever made that decision, to be honest. It wasn’t something that I had planned to do at all. I was a fan, very interested in motorsports, and I just found myself a job by coincidence.

I went to watch a Grand Prix with a friend of mine, who was an F1 Team Principal at the time. He invited me over and I had a chance to meet people and look at everything from the inside. It was a blast for me.

I kept some contacts [of people who worked in the industry] and one day an F3000 Team Principal called me up and said, "we need a sporting director."

I said, “look, I don't have the experience but let's give it a go!”

Greg: What were you doing before that point?

I had just graduated with a degree in business administration and marketing, and then I was working for a telephone company and for an insurance broker. 

Greg: So you kept the connections and they just called you?

Pretty much, yeah. I never applied for a job, it was just a coincidence or whatever you want to call it. 

Greg: What made you say yes?

My job was very boring at the time, and being able to be a part of the world I like, it made me feel like it wouldn’t be a waste of time to try. It was something that always would have been interesting for me to do and so I did and took it from there. 

Marco's current role

#3. What’s your current role?

I’m the Director of Operations for F2 and F3. The Director of Operations covers everything that is not technical. It covers organization, sporting logistics and everything that goes around the event which doesn’t include all the technical aspects such as scrutineering, designing the cars, running the cars, technical assistance and all that. 

Everything else from paddock layouts to relationships with the teams, organizing catering, hospitality- on the flyaways there is frieght involved. All of those things need to be covered and organized way before the event itself.

And I'm also looking after the logistics for our F2 and F3 staff, from flight tickets, hotel accommodation, transfers and things like that. So, in other words, I want to make sure that when someone comes to the circuit they’ve got everything they need to run the event, whether it's internal staff, external staff, contractors and teams. 

#4. What does a typical Thursday on a race weekend look like for you?

Thursday is probably the busiest day. Although everything needs to be organized way ahead, of course, as soon as you get here you've got a few things that might work or not work from track-to-track, from place-to-place. There are circuits where they are very well organized and you can be sure that when teams arrive there, when we get there, that everything is already ready for them. But there are others that take a little bit more time. 

So, basically Wednesday and Thursday for me is about chasing people, making sure everything is running smoothly and trying to overcome any problems or issues that may come up. This is on top of a few things that we have to do regularly on the job list, like the passes, making sure there is power- things like that.

My weekend gets less stressful and less busy when the cars are on the track. Because everyone is focused, including me, on what's going on on the track, and if the cars are running, it means that everything else that's behind the scenes is fine. 

#5. What are the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of your role?

Rewarding

I would say when you go to a new Grand Prix, a new venue, where they have no experience whatsoever in motorsports or they’ve never run a Grand Prix before, let alone any event, and then you make it work as smooth as any other Grand Prix for the first time, and then even better for the following years.

That is, for me, the most rewarding feeling because we can really apply the experience that we build up through the Championship and implement it in a new place. If you’re able to duplicate this pretty much everywhere, that’s a good starting point. Then from that point, it’s going to just be fine-tuning to make it even better.

Challenging

At the same time, I’d have to say that when you go to a new place, you have to face new challenges, new issues and new people, all things that have never came up before. All you want to do is try to implement a system that works and adapt the system to what we want to do because we know that it works.

So yes, it's both the most challenging and most rewarding aspect of the job. 

#6. What are the top 3 qualities that have helped you succeed in your role?

Organization

You have to be organized.

Creativity

Sometimes you need to find a solution where on paper there is none. 

Passion

Passion is the one that gives you energy, motivation, and anything that you need to push the last meter to make it happen. This is not a job that you learn, and it’s not a 9-to-5 job. You need to have the passion that makes you invest time and energy into something that you really believe in. 

We are a very small group of people, and the good thing is that we administrate our time. It’s up to us to get things sorted and have our free time as much as possible. But we have so much to do that there are days that are never ending but it’s part of the job. The ability to administrate our time is probably the plus that makes us all enthusiastic and motivated to do the job. 

Marco's advice

#7. What advice would you give to someone looking to be in your position?

I have to say, what kept me going were the three skills that are required to do this job. So staying absolutely motivated, creative, and passionate. Otherwise, don’t even bother. 

Want to learn more about other professionals across motorsport series? Then check out all of our Fast Lane interviews, or jump right into one of these:

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