Winning any world championship is difficult, winning the Formula 1 world championship is very difficult and winning it more than once is the mark of a true champion. When Italy's Guido Cappellini joined the twenty-four other drivers from ten countries in Porto Cervo to defend his 1994 title, he was already a star and could have been excused had he taken things a little more easily but he was as motivated as ever. Perhaps unconsciously registering that the only man to have done better in recent years was the long retired Renato Molinari, with titles in 1981, 1983 and 1984, Cappellini set out to make it three in a row.

For the season of 1995, Nicolo di San Germano had gathered around him an official fuel supplier in Agip Petroli, a timekeeper in Catamaran Swiss Watch, Fort & Madox to sponsor the pole position championship and Lavanchy to move the circus around the world. In March, those movements were to include races in Italy, Hungary Germany, France, Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, China, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates but as the season progressed and economic or political realities bit deep, a ten race programme reduced to eight with the loss of Cardiff and Johore Bahru.

New for 1995 was a multi-session practice format at each venue involving one untimed and two timed sessions, all of 45 minutes duration, from which the fastest six drivers were selected to run for that race's grid positions and the ongoing Catamaran Watches Pole Position championship. A maximum of 12 laps were allowed in each timed session and in Porto Cervo it was Danny Bertels (Valvoline/Burgess) who beat Cappellini (Laserline-Castrol/DAC) but only after the Belgian driver survived an accident with Sweden's Goran Karlof (International Paints/Burgess) and was awarded two yellow cards for his pains.

F1 series promoter, Nicolo di San Germano, put together a wide ranging programme of events wich took drivers to China and Russia during 1995 Photo: Chris Davies

Twenty-five boats started and chased Cappellini away but were brought back after incidents involving Tadaaki Ishikawa (Mizuno/Burgess) and Massimo Roggiero (Laserline/DAC), only to be led by the Italian on the restart until Fabrizio Bocca (Diesel-Agip/Seebold) destroyed his boat on Lap 15. After some spirited racing which saw Cappellini taken out whilst looking good for maximum points and both Roggiero and Walter Cabrini (Rubinetterie RAF/Burgess) showing well, the first round went to Germany's Michael Werner (Liqui Moly/Burgess) among a flurry of yellow cards and jury hearings.

Twenty-five boats started the European season in Porto Cervo and this and the next races went to Michael Werner in a perfect start for the veteran German. Photo: Chris Davies

The second round, in Dunaujvaros, Hungary was joined by Pelle Brolin and Arturo Bernasconi and while Bocca had to race in his older DAC after his destructive incident in Porto Cervo, it was the upwardly mobile Roggiero who took pole from Werner while Elliot (Tetlaw-Castrol/Burgess) and Cipriani Lambri (Lambri/DAC) both suffered from mechanical problems in practice.

Argentina's Carlos Maidana (Texaco/Burgess), a newcomer to F1, had looked good as had Australian Craig Bailey but it was Cappellini, Bertels and Werner who made the early pace before Maidana and both Japanese drivers, Ishikawa and Yutaka Sugihara (Laserline-Castrol/DAC) retired with blown engines. Neither of the Swedes, Thomas Eriksson (Singha Beer/Molgaard) or Pelle Brolin (Seiko/Molgaard) completed the course.

Werner forced his way into the lead on Lap 19 and stayed there for 40 laps until the flag but the big battle was between Cappellini, Bertels and Roggiero, who were seldom more than 1 second apart throughout the race and finished behind Werner in that order, giving the German a perfect start to his year.

The third round of the championship took place on the River Havel in Brandenburg, Germany and in the windy conditions which prevailed during practice, Walter Cabrini completed a 360° flip and after breakages, the new exhaust silencer systems promoted by the UIM and demanded in Germany were finally removed for reasons of safety Cappellini experimented with aero-foil devices but it was Bertels who took his second pole position of the season from Roggiero, the Italian champion and Werner, looking for his hat-trick of wins in his home country.

Brandenburg 1995 will be remembered as the 'crankshaft' meeting and 15 out of the 25 drivers experienced connecting rod/crank problems, mostly terminal, including Jonathan Jones (S4CTV- Castrol/Burgess) , Bailey Sugihara, Bocca and both Valvoline drivers. Owen Jelf experienced a fire and first Roggiero and then Maidana expired when contesting the lead until Werner crept past Cappellini to take his deserved victory ahead of Walter Cabrini, Thomas Eriksson and Goran Karlof.

Going to Chalon, Werner's handy 26 point buffer was surprisingly not over Cappellini but over Cabrini but the French river course was to prove a turning point for the defending champion and his Laserline-Castrol team. Twenty-eight drivers from 11 countries made it to the Burgundy country the regulars joined by Anders Andersson (Batsam/Molgaard), Pertti Leppala (Talus Motul/ Burgess), France's Jean-Vital Deguisne and Britain's Alan Marshall.

All of the teams experienced problems with the windy conditions and while Mike Zamparelli (M&A Bodyworks/DAC) ran out of spare parts before the race, many of his rivals were experimenting with aerofoils and they worked best for Sugihara and Cappellini, who took his first pole of the season from Bertels, Werner and Jones.

With mechanical gremlins still among the fleet, Maidana was out of the race, with his third blown motor of the weekend, as was Brolin and Andersson while Werner hit Bernasconi and sank. Elliott, Roggiero, Jones and Bertels all fought for the lead but it was Cappellini who blasted through to take the hon­ours and another 30 points to creep closer to Werner. All three of the Laserline/ DACs placed in the top five.

The fleet moved from the Saône in France to the Neva in St.Petersburg, Russia and against a backdrop of the Hermitage, once the winter palace of the Czars, nineteen regular drivers were joined by local man, Andrey Berinitsin, while Kicco Vidoli replaced Bocca and Vincenzo Iaconianni took Sugihara's seat as both he ant Ishikawa had prior appointments in Japan.

It was this venue which saw the launching of new inductive loop timing systems with an accuracy of 1/1000 of a second but this was less important than a lack of fuel on practice day which forced the cancellation of pole position and high winds on race day which delayed the start of the main event until mid- evening. Luckily daylight is in good supply in Russia in July so the 40 lap race, while late and still windy gave the patient crowd something to look at after a disappointing two days.

Jonathan Jones did well in Porto Cervo and after failures in Dunaujvaros, Brandenburg and Chalon, got back onto the podium with a third in St Petersburg. Photo: Chris Davies

Werner was first to show from Cappellini, Bertels, Walter Cabrini, Jones and Roggiero but as Elliott and Giuseppe Cabrini both retired, Cappellini took the lead and hung on grimly to the flag, winning a bright red Lada car for his trouble. It was while the teams were gathered in Russia that the Malaysians withdrew their race and at Campione d'Italia in September, Cappellini seemed to take up where he had left off and following a barrel roll in practice, took pole position from Bertels and Roggiero.

A big turn out of 30 boats included UAE newcomer, Humaid Bakheet (Port Zayed/Seebold) and South Africa's Anton van Heerden but in a race run in torrential rain, it was the old team of Cappellini and Bertels who dominated first. Brolin sank his Molgaard, Maidana had an enormous roll and took out Leppala and finally Bertels submarined, leaving Jones leading Cappellini, Roggiero, Ishikawa and Werner and that was how they finished.

Andy Elliott showed greater reliability in 1995 and gave everyone a run for their money including Michael Werner in Germany. Photo: Chris Davies

Late October saw the penultimate round of the championship break new ground when it was hosted in Hangzhou, China and the fleet included local champion Peng Lin Wu in his first F. 1 race. After timed practice on a course with a unique starboard hand turn buoy Roggiero was fastest from Bertels, Cappellini, Bocca, Werner, Jones and Elliott but on race morning, the course had changed shape and reverted to a standard port hand circuit, throwing the drivers into some dismay.

UIM Secretary General, Régine Vandekerckhove, was present at Campione d'Italia to see Guido Cappellini, Dany Bertels and Massimo Roggiero get their Catamaran watches for Pole Position placings. Photo: Chris Davies

Watched by almost half a million people, close racing for the top six positions was the order of the day before Maidana entertained them with a 3600 flip whilst challenging Werner for third place and after the re-start, Cappellini led but Bertels and Elliot had a massive accident on Lap 50 which stopped the race and initially had Bertels disqualified, pending appeal. For the third time in as many years, Cappellini was facing the last race in Abu Dhabi as championship leader but could still be beaten by Werner on count-back if the German won in the Gulf.

Guido Cappellini began his winning charge in Chalon, won a delayed race in Russia and took the inaugural Chinese GP in Hangzhou in the Laserline-Castrol/DAC. Photo: Chris Davies

Abu Dhabi was unnaturally wet, cold and windy Bertels had ousted Elliott from the Chinese race results on appeal, all local eyes were on Bakheet, as he performed in front of his home crowd and F.3 driver, Paul Blackburn, joined Bertels team for his first El race. Werner took pole position from Bertels, Roggiero and Cappellini, the defending champion looking unduly tense as he contemplated his fate, while the race was postponed for 24 hours and eventu­ally ran in the only weather window of that day.

With a collection of new South African faces and America's Jim Hauenstein in contention, Roggiero and Bertels showed first and Bakheet barrel rolled out but an unnaturally jolly Jones took the lead and with Werner managing nothing better than fourth, Cappellini was content to motor round in ninth place for the points which confirmed him as the 1995 champion with a hat-trick of back-to-back titles. "The next three will be the difficult ones", quipped the likeable Italian, obviously not contemplating early retirement from a sport which he has come to dominate.

Three times F1 World Champion Cappellini celebrates in Abu Dhabi with HH Sheik Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nayan, UIM President Ralf Frohling and fellow drivers Michael Werner and Danny Bertels. Photo: Chris Davies