‘With a plate of pasta, rivals became friends’ – How the first F1 chef brought the paddock together through food

In the F1 paddock of the modern era, drivers and personnel are catered for by their respective teams’ hospitality functions, ensuring that all members of the squad are fuelled for action across a busy weekend.

However, back in the sport’s early days, such developments were unheard of – until the arrival of Luigi Montanini, that is. Better known as ‘Pasticcino’, the Italian was recruited by none other than Enzo Ferrari in the late 1970s to provide food for the outfit’s drivers, mechanics and engineers.

With that, the humble cook became the first F1 chef, a journey that would see him travel with the team across a range of locations as he ensured that all members of the crew were kept well-fed at Grand Prix events.

The opportunity was clearly a special one for Pasticcino, who – having been born in Maranello – tells F1.com that he had a “special connection with Ferrari and with the team” even before coming onboard as their chef.

Needless to say, the world of Formula 1 has changed and evolved in the years since – and, as we catch up in a bustling Monza paddock during the Italian Grand Prix weekend, Pasticcino reflects on what the atmosphere was like back when he first arrived in the sport.

“There was really a family feeling in the paddock because, with just a plate of pasta, rivals became friends,” he recalls. “So it can take just a plate of pasta to create this environment.”

That sentiment is echoed by F1 Official Partner Barilla, who have brought the message of ‘Tastes Like Family’ to their pasta bars in the paddock (as well as in the campaign video below). Pasticcino goes on to explain: “The food and the pasta is the thing that can create the feeling of family – everyone likes pasta.

“It’s kind of easy with pasta as an instrument to create, to put everything at the table. They are rivals on the track and in their lives, but around the table they’re friends.”

Indeed, while Pasticcino was recruited by Ferrari, it was not just the Scuderia’s staff that he kept fed – the veteran chef reels off illustrious names including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Nelson Piquet when we ask about the well-known personalities he catered for.

“When they saw me, they hugged me,” Pasticcino says of his relationship with the drivers. “It was like being their father.”

Which begs the question – which dishes were particularly popular amongst the esteemed names he cooked for back then? One ingredient, it seems, became a key feature…

“We were travelling all around the world during the year, and the only thing we found everywhere in the world, in the supermarket, was pasta,” Pasticcino remembers. “So we did pasta with tomatoes, pasta with oil and garlic, and pasta with ragu. Also, if you have great fish or amazing food, the people want it with pasta.”

It was not just the big names from within the Formula 1 paddock that came to Pasticcino for a good meal. When quizzed on his favourite memories from his time in the sport, the Italian shares an anecdote featuring nothing less than royalty.

“We were in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix, and the Prince of Monaco came in,” he smiles. “The staff were thinking, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Prince of Monaco – what do we have to do? Please Pasticcino, help us – we need to figure something.’

“And the Prince of Monaco – who knows me – said, ‘No no, I have to go to the kitchen. I don’t want to do anything else – I have to go to the kitchen and meet Pasticcino! I want to spend time with him.’ George Harrison was my friend too.”

Despite mixing with such figures, Pasticcino – who, after cooking for Ferrari and then the Benetton team across the 500 Grands Prix he attended, opened his own restaurant, Da Pasticcino, in Modena – is modest when we ask how it feels to be known as the first paddock chef.

“I’m really happy and really honoured, but I’m humble,” he explains. “I like to be in my restaurant, and I don’t want the spotlight.”

Pasticcino acknowledges that the paddock has significantly changed since his early days in the sport – but something that remains is his love for both cooking and Formula 1.

“It’s of course a completely different world because, when it started, I had just a small kitchen with some gas and some boiled water and some pasta,” the man from Maranello concedes.

“You look around now and you have all the hospitality, but I think the thing that never changes is this special feeling that food can make.”

“I’m passionate about F1,” Pasticcino adds – something that quickly becomes evident as his attention fittingly turns to the unfolding practice session playing out on a screen nearby. Formula 1 may be ever-evolving, but it seems that having a passion for the sport – and indeed the food that fuels it – continues to unite competitors, personnel and fans alike.