Merzario was a Formula One and Formula Two team and constructor from Italy. They participated in 38 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix but scored no championship points.

Formula One[link]

1977[link]

Merzario was set up in 1977 by former Ferrari, Williams and March driver Arturo Merzario when he could no longer find a drive with an established team. He initially campaigned a March 761B during 1977, his best result being 14th in the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix. This proved to be the only occasion in their three years of participation in Formula One when one of their cars was classified at the finish of a World Championship Grand Prix. During the early part of the season Merzario's car was consistently the fastest of a number of March 761s on the grid,^[1] though as the season wore on, he slipped down the grids and finally decided to abandon the season and concentrate on the following year and his new car.

1978[link]

Merzario's first self-built Formula One effort, the A1, appeared in 1978 and was a basically conventional car based largely on his March 761B, with a red colour scheme and crude bodywork vaguely reminiscent of a Ferrari 312T2 in its use of cockpit-side ducting for an air intake. It used the then-common combination of the Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland gearbox. The livery changed from red to black before the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix,^[1] though it was not until the Swedish Grand Prix that it finished a race, although unclassified, being eight laps adrift of the winner after a long pitstop. For the Austrian Grand Prix, a second A1 was unveiled, although it was suspected that this was actually the team's old March 761B with new bodywork.^[1] With this car at his disposal, Merzario performed slightly better in qualifying but still failed to be classified in a race. For the Italian Grand Prix, both A1s were entered, with Alberto Colombo driving the original A1 and Merzario taking the newer second A1. Colombo posted the slowest time during qualifying and did not make the grid, while Merzario qualified comfortably, only for the engine to fail during the race. The team qualified the car on eight occasions during 1978, but retired seven times with mechanical failures.

1979[link]

For the 1979 Formula One season the second A1 was revised into the A1B with more elegant bodywork and revised front suspension, and a new yellow and black livery. The A1B was the only Merzario to qualify for Grands Prix during 1979, which it did twice, though it retired on both occasions.

The A2 (designated A3 by some sources),^[1] designed by Merzario and Simon Hadfield and based on the first A1, was ready in time for the European rounds of the 1979 season with the same engine and gearbox combination, and it had been modified into a ground effect 'wing' car. Only one example was built,^[2] and Merzario could not qualify it for a single Grand Prix. He broke his arm in Belgium, and Gianfranco Brancatelli was employed to drive at Monaco, but also failed to qualify.

By this time, Merzario had purchased the assets of the Kauhsen team (and their driver Brancatelli), arguably taking on cars even worse than his old March-based vehicle.^[1] The resultant A4, which debuted at the 1979 British Grand Prix, employed the same Cosworth / Hewland running gear and the suspension was similar to the A2, but the bodywork was less bulky, with better sidepods for improved airflow. However, the car again failed to qualify for every Grand Prix that it entered, proving even slower than its predecessors. However, Merzario did qualify and race the car in the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix at Imola, where he finished 11th and last, two laps down.

After Formula One[link]

After plans to modify the A4 into the A5 were not completed due to financial problems,^[1] Merzario turned to constructing Formula Two cars. He was keen to point out that the engine bay of his 1980 BMW-engined M1 F2 machine could easily be modified to take a Cosworth DFV F1 engine, though no such effort was ever made.^[2] The car was fairly unsuccessful in F2, and Merzario decided to return to running March chassis for 1981. With March 812s, the team finally scored two podiums in F2, with Piero Necchi at the wheel, but after a lacklustre 1982 season, Merzario again built his own cars for 1983 with minimal success. After moving down to Italian Formula 3, he finally moved away from team ownership in the mid-1980s.

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1977	March 761B	Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	0	NC
				Arturo Merzario					Ret	DNQ	14		Ret	Ret	DNQ		DNQ
1978	Merzario A1	Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		0	NC
				Arturo Merzario	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	NC	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ
				Alberto Colombo														DNPQ
1979	Merzario A1B A2 A4	Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			0	NC
				Arturo Merzario	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Gianfranco Brancatelli							DNPQ

Complete Formula Two results[link]

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1980	Merzario M1	BMW		THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	SIL	ZOL	MUG	ZAN	PER	MIS	HOC
			Arturo Merzario	Ret	Ret	Ret		9	Ret		16	17	DNS		Ret
			Guido Daccò			11	Ret
			Piero Necchi				Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	12
1981	March 812	BMW		SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	PER	SPA	DON	MIS	MAN
			Piero Necchi		DNS	6	Ret	Ret	3	3	11	7	Ret
			Gianfranco Trombetti			Ret		DNQ	Ret	Ret	12	12		12	13
			Arturo Merzario			DNS	Ret								Ret
			Marco Brand					DNQ				Ret
			Loris Kessel							DNPQ			19
			Jo Gartner											DNQ	8
1982	March 812 March 822 Merzario 282	BMW		SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	MUG	VAL	PAU	SPA	HOC	DON	MAN	PER	MIS
			Jo Gartner	6	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	15	7	Ret	Ret
			Oscar Pedersoli	Ret	Ret	19	DNS	Ret		Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
			Robert Dallest	DNS	Ret	6	Ret
			Harald Brutschin					13	DNQ	DNQ	17	Ret
			Guido Daccò										12	8	7	13
			Roberto Campominosi												10
			Lamberto Leoni													14
1983	Merzario M28	BMW		SIL	THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	JAR	DON	MIS	PER	ZOL	MUG
			Guido Daccò	Ret	Ret	15
			Fulvio Ballabio	Ret	Ret	14	Ret
			Richard Dallest				Ret	Ret	Ret	8		7	Ret		8
1984	Merzario M84	BMW		SIL	HOC	THR	VAL	MUG	PAU	HOC	MIS	PER	DON	BRH
			Stefano Livio	10	13	12	Ret	13	Ret
			Aldo Bertuzzi	Ret	12	DNS
			Max Busslinger						10

References[link]

Arturo Merzario

File:Merzario1.jpg Arturo Merzario in 1978.
Born	(1943-03-11) 11 March 1943 (age 69)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1972-1979
Teams	Ferrari, Williams, Fittipaldi, March, Wolf, Shadow, Merzario
Races	85 (57 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	11
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1972 British Grand Prix
Last race	1979 United States Grand Prix

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

Arturo Francesco "Little Art" Merzario (born March 11, 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 July 15, 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[link]

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 Kylami - 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 - Ala 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[link]

(key)

External links[link]

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