in 1989 he obtained a formula one ride with coloni, replacing pierre-henri raphanel. he participated in six races towards the end of the season and was in fact the slowest entrant in all six, mostly due to the poor performances of the car. he was entered for two grand prix with andrea moda in 1992, but the team was excluded from the first, and withdrew from the second, following which, bertaggia left the team. he made an attempt to return to andrea moda with a new sponsorship deal, but owner andrea sassetti had already used up his allowed number of driver changes.