An F1 team is banned from the paddock after a scarcely-believable season.

Andrea Moda Formula has been banned from competing in F1 (Image: Getty)

The 1992 Formula One World Championship was notable for being Michael Schumacher’s first full season and delivering Nigel Mansell’s long-overdue crown. It also bore witness to one of the sport’s most calamitous teams, Andrea Moda Formula.

Andrea Moda was the creation of Italian shoe designer Andrea Sassetti, with the team bearing the name of his footwear company. The organisation was formed from the ashes of the Coloni F1 squad, which had not qualified for a Grand Prix since 1989.

There was drama from the outset. Sassetti failed to pay the FIA the required $100,000 (£73,000) new team deposit, and so drivers Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia arrived at the Kyalami Circuit for the South African Grand Prix to discover that they had been excluded from the event.

At the following race in Mexico, Andrea Moda engineers were unable to assemble the cars in time for the track running, and Caffi and Bertaggia were forced to watch from the sidelines once again. They were, understandably, angered by the news and, after criticising the team’s preparation for the Grand Prix, were both dismissed.

Having already rattled through two drivers without attempting to qualify for a race, Sassetti brought in Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy, who would later go on to play ‘The Stig’ in Top Gear. The Brit, however, was unable to compete in Brazil as he did not yet have a super license, although this was acquired for round four in Spain.

The disaster continued in Canada as Sassetti had failed to pay engine provider Judd, leaving McCarthy unable to race and forcing Moreno to borrow a power unit from Brabham. Andrea Moda then missed the French Grand Prix after they were unable to get their cars to the circuit on time.

Andrea Moda Formula met a fitting end after four more miserable race weekends. Sassetti was arrested in the F1 paddock at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Italian was under an international arrest warrant, issued because of false invoicing.

This prompted the FIA to issue a lifetime disqualification from the World Championship, accusing Andrea Moda of damaging the sport’s image. However, the ban wasn’t the end of the Andrea Moda name in motorsport.

The shoe company re-emerged the following year, sponsoring the Euromotorsport (later rebranded as EuroInternational) outfit in the CART series, which was later merged into IndyCar as part of the reunification with the Indy Racing League.