Mario happy with grandson’s F1 debut

"I think Marco performed well in the test," proud grandfather Mario Andretti told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. "The most important thing is that he made no mistakes.

"Michael updated me on the test every 15 minutes with a string of [text] messages. We kept going on until three in the morning.

"His physical build is well suited to F1, and in Jerez he got within half a second of James Rossiter (the regular Honda test driver that day). Not bad, is it?"

"At the next test I'll come along as well – and in fact I would like to try out a modern F1 car myself. Yes, the cockpits are tighter nowadays, but I haven't become too wide…to fit."