“You can only imagine the agony”: NASCAR legend Mario Andretti on losing his F1 teammate the same weekend he clinched his title

A legend not only in the world of NASCAR but all motorsports, Mario Andretti is one driver who is holding down the flag for the old-school racing drivers.

In days when drivers strapped into their respective machines not entirely confident of their return, Mario Andretti managed to achieve what can only be dreamt about by a modern race car driver in the current motorsports landscape.

One of the few drivers to have achieved an F1 World Championship as well as an Indy 500 win in his prime, Mario Andretti's racing career was a long and diverse affair.

Starting out in the USAC and NASCAR stock car racing series, Andretti quickly went onto open-wheeled racing, juggling both F1 and Indycar championship events.

In an era when motorsports and racing drivers were compared to gladiators going into a battlefield, Andretti looked back at a harrowing incident he might never be able to forget.

The 1978 Italian Grand Prix saw Andretti locked in a battle for the championship with his then-teammate Ronnie 'SuperSwede' Peterson at Lotus. The event which ultimately saw Andretti finish in P5 and clinch the championship came under grave circumstances as Peterson crashed, causing a red flag during the race.

Andretti elaborated on the experience in a recent interview with Dirty Mo Media and said:

"You can only imagine, you know, the agony and then I'm looking, you know, my wonderful wife knowing is surreal how it can happen. We lost so many of our closest friends. You try not to dwell on that negative."

Andretti recalled going to the crash site on the track and seeing one of his best friends lying on the tarmac, with the visuals sticking with him for the entirety of the race. However, he had a job to perform at hand and went about it in clinical fashion.

Peterson was taken to a hospital and X-rays revealed that he suffered 27 fractures in both legs. Despite being operated on, Peterson was declared dead the following morning.

Mario Andretti on convincing F1 champion Max Verstappen to race in the Indy 500

Regarded as one of the biggest names in all of motorsports, Mario Andretti, winner of the F1 World Championship as well as an Indy 500, is confident he can sway reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen into oval racing.

In an interview with Ziggo Sport, Andretti said:

"One of these days, I’m going to speak with Max Verstappen after he wins eight world championships to come here and win the 500. I will persuade him."

Verstappen has not been the keenest of drivers to try out open-wheeled oval racing. However, if anyone could sway that opinion, it would be Mario Andretti.