Arturo Merzario

Merzario1.jpg
Arturo Merzario
Born	11 1943 (1943-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) {{{birth_place}}}
Died	{{{death_date}}} {{{death_place}}}
Formula One career
Nationality	Italian
Years	1972-1979

Merzario with class SR2 Centenari MAC97 Alfa Romeo in 1997 FIA Sportscar Championship in Donington.

Arturo Francesco "Little Art" Merzario (born 11 March 1943 in Civenna, Como) (real name Arturio - blunder on name registration - sometimes used on his helmet) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 85 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 15 July 1972. He scored 11 championship points.

During his first season in Formula One in 1972 with Ferrari, Merzario also participated in sports car racing, winning the Spa 1000 km, the Targa Florio and the Rand 9 Hour races. After a difficult year with Ferrari in 1973, he moved to Williams and finished third in a non-Championship race in Brazil, but the Championship seasons of 1974 and 1975 proved unsuccessful. Merzario quit during the 1975 season to return to sports cars with Alfa Romeo, winning four races plus the Targa Florio again.

Merzario returned to Formula One in 1976, first with March sponsored by Ovoro, and then with Wolf, but again there were no decent results. When Merzario could no longer find a drive with established teams, he set up his own Merzario team in 1977 which struggled in Formula One for three years, initially with March cars before building their own chassis, and later moving down to Formula Two.

Merzario is perhaps most renowned for being one of the drivers, along with Guy Edwards, Brett Lunger and Harald Ertl who saved Niki Lauda from his burning car during the 1976 German Grand Prix.

In his time in Formula One in the 1970s he was often photographed wearing a cowboy hat with sponsorship patches from Marlboro.

Merzario is still active in sports car racing well into his sixties, driving mostly in an Italian prototype series.

Important results

1963

• 1st Cl. Sardinia Rally - Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ

1964

• 1st Cl. Bolzano-Mendola - Fiat Abarth 1000
• 1st Cl. Trofeo Micangeli - Fiat Abarth 1000
• 1st Cl. Trofeo Lumezzane - Fiat Abarth 1000

1967

• 3rd European Touring Championship - Fiat Abarth 1000

1968

• 1st Cl. Colle di Nizza - Fiat Abarth 1000
• 1st Cl. V.Veneto-Cansiglio - Abarth 1000SP
• 1st Cl. Acqua Cerelia Cup - Abarth 1000SP
• 3rd 500 Kilometres of Nurburgring - Abarth 1600SP

1969

• 1st Mugello GP - Abarth 2000
• 1st European Mountains Championship - Abarth 2000

1970

• 1st Mugello GP - Abarth 2000
• 1st Cesana-Sestrierre - Abarth 2000
• 3rd 24 hours of Daytona - Ferrari 512S
• 4th 1000 Kilometres of Monza - Ferrari 512S

1971

• 1st Imola - Ferrari 512M
• 1st Vallelunga - Abarth 2000

1972

• 1st 1000 Kilometres of Spa (with Brian Redman) - Ferrari 312 PB
• 1st Targa Florio (with Sandro Munari) - Ferrari 312 PB
• 1st European Sport Championship 2000
• 1st 500 Kilometres of Imola - Ferrari 312 PB
• 1st 9 hours of Kyalami - Ferrari 312 PB
• 6th British GP- Ferrari 312 B2

1973

• 2nd 1000 Kilometres of Nurburgring - Ferrari 312 PB
• 2nd 24 hours of Le Mans - Ferrari 312 PB
• 4th Brazilian GP - Ferrari 312 B2
• 4th South African GP - Ferrari 312 B2
• 7th French GP - Ferrari 312 B3
• 7th Austrian GP - Ferrari 312 B3·

1974

• 1st 1000 Kilometres of Monza - Alfa Romeo 33
• 3rd Presidente Medici GP - Iso Williams
• 4th Italian GP - Iso Williams
• 6th South African GP - Iso Williams

1975

• 1st 800 Kilometres of Dijion - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Enna - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st 1000 Kilometres of Nurburgring - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Targa Florio - Alfa Romeo 33
• 7th Race of Champions - Iso Williams

1976

• 2nd 500 Kilometres of Imola - Alfa Romeo 33
• 9th French GP - March

1977

• 1st Dijon - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Enna - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Estoril - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Paul Ricard - Alfa Romeo 33
• 1st Hockenheim - Alfa Romeo 33 Turbo

1978

• 5th Adriatic GP - Chevron B42
• 6th Mugello GP - Chevron B42

1980

• 7th Donington - Bmw M1
• 8th Avus - Bmw M1
• 9th Pau - Merzario-Bmw M1

1985

• 1st Italian Prototype Championship

1992

• 1st Pergusa - Lucchini

1993

• 1st Mugello - Osella

1996

• 1st Monza - Centenari M1
• 1st Mugello - Centenari M1

1997

• 1st Vallelunga - Centenari M1
• 1st Donington - Cenetanri M1
• 1st Brno - Centenari M1
• 1st Jarama - Centenari M1

1998

• 1st Paul Ricard - Centenari M1

1999

• 1st Monza - Tampolli AR
• 1st Spa - Tampolli AR
• 1st Cl. 6 hours of Vallelunga - Porsche 996
• 2nd Pergusa - Tampolli AR

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1972	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312B2	Ferrari Flat-12	ARG	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR 6	GER 12	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA						20th	1
1973	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312B2	Ferrari Flat-12	ARG 9	BRA 4	RSA 4	ESP	BEL													12th	6
		Ferrari 312B3							MON Ret	SWE	FRA 7	GBR	NED	GER	AUT 7	ITA Ret	CAN 15	USA 16
1974	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Iso-Marlboro FW	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA 6	ESP Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	SWE DNS	NED Ret	FRA 9	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA 4	CAN Ret	USA Ret			17th	4
1975	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW03	Cosworth V8	ARG NC	BRA Ret	RSA Ret		MON DNQ	BEL Ret	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT						NC	0
		Williams FW04					ESP Ret
	Fittpaldi-Copersucar	Fittipaldi FD03														ITA 11	USA
1976	Ovoro March	March 761	Cosworth V8	BRA	RSA	USW DNQ	ESP Ret	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	SWE 14	FRA 9	GBR Ret									NC	0
	Walter Wolf Racing	Williams FW05											GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA DNS	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN Ret
1977	Team Merzario	March 761B	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP Ret	MON DNQ	BEL 14	SWE	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER DNQ		NED DNQ	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	NC	0
	Shadow Racing	Shadow DN8													AUT Ret
1978	Team Merzario	Merzario A1	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA DNQ	RSA Ret	USW Ret	MON DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	ESP DNQ	SWE NC	FRA DNQ	GBR Ret	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret	CAN DNQ		NC	0
1979	Team Merzario	Merzario A1B	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA DNQ	RSA DNQ	USW Ret														NC	0
		Merzario A2						ESP DNQ	BEL DNQ	MON	FRA DNQ
		Merzario A4										GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA DNQ	CAN DNQ	USA DNQ