Arturo Merzario

Arturo Francesco "Art" Merzario (born 11 March 1943) is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to .

Merzario competed in Formula One for Ferrari, Frank Williams, Fittipaldi, March, Wolf–Williams and Shadow, before founding his eponymous team in : Merzario. He participated in 85 Grands Prix, scoring 11 championship points.

Racing career

Merzario began his career as a test driver with works Fiat Abarths, subsequently participating to GT racing and European mountain-climb events. In 1969, he won the Mugello Grand Prix in a 2-litre Abarth ahead of a field which included Nino Vaccarella and Andrea de Adamich. This brought him a drive with the Ferrari sportscar team for 1970. In 1972, he won the Spa 1000 km, the Targa Florio and the Rand 9 Hour races and was also European two-litre Champion for Abarth. He was the last driver whose debut team was Ferrari until Oliver Bearman in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In 1973 Ferrari confirmed him for the whole season alongside Jacky Ickx. Merzario had a promising start with the old 312B2, finishing fourth in Brazil and South Africa. However, Ferrari's evolved car, the 312B3, proved to be a disappointment, and both he and Ickx struggled for the rest of the season. Deeply disappointed with the way the season had unfolded, Enzo Ferrari decided to change the whole team for the 1974 season, and Merzario moved to Williams. After finishing third in a non-Championship race in Brazil, Merzario scored points at Monza and in South Africa. However, the Williams cars were largely uncompetitive, and in 1975, after a one-off with the Copersucar at Monza, where he finished eleventh, Six weeks later after the incident, at the Italian Grand Prix, Lauda returned to race again and presented his gold Rolex wristwatch to Merzario in gratitude for saving his life.

In 1977, Merzario was able to raise enough sponsors to set up his own Merzario team. The organization struggled in modern Formula One for three years, initially with March 761B cars. From 1978, Merzario began building cars of his own design

Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts Racing Team IRIS Tecno TF70 Cosworth FVA HOC THR NÜR JAR PAL ROU MAN TUL ALB VLL VLL NC 0 Osella Squadra Corse Osella PA2 BMW BAR HOC PAU SAL HOC MUG KAR PER HOC VLL NC 0 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA2 BMW EST THR HOC NÜR PAU HOC SAL ROU MUG PER SIL ZOL NOG VLL NC 0 Willi Kauhsen Racing Team March 762 Hart HOC THR VLL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NOG NC 0 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA2 BMW HOC Fred Opert Racing Chevron B40 Hart SIL THR HOC NÜR VLL PAU MUG ROU NOG PER MIS EST DON NC 0 ICI Chevron Cars Chevron B42 Hart THR HOC NÜR PAU MUG VLL ROU DON NOG PER MIS HOC 18th 3 Merzario Team Srl Merzario M1 BMW THR HOC NÜR VLL PAU SIL ZOL MUG ZAN PER MIS HOC 27th 0 Astra Team Merzario Srl Merzario M1 BMW SIL HOC THR MAN NC 0 March 812 NÜR VLL MUG PAU PER SPA DON MIS

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key)

Formula One Non-Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 1974 Frank Williams Racing Cars Iso–Marlboro FW Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 PRE ROC INT 1975 Frank Williams Racing Cars Iso–Marlboro FW03 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT SUI 1979 Team Merzario Merzario A4 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC GNM DIN