ARTURO MERZARIO

1972 BRITISH GP Started 9th | Result 6th

Ferrari’s call-up of Merzario at Brands Hatch is a little akin to a similar summoning of Alessandro Pier Guidi for an F1 debut today. The diminutive Italian was a leading light in the Prancing Horse’s world sportscar team, and had already taken victories in 1972 at the Spa 1000Km and the Targa Florio. With Clay Regazzoni suffering an injured wrist from a footballing shunt while playing with the Ferrari mechanics, and favoured supersub Mario Andretti on Indycar duty at the Michigan 200, Merzario got his chance.

The stereotyping (well, this was the 1970s…) was in full flow as Autosport described Merzario’s qualifying performance: “Little Arturo Merzario showed a fine display of Italian temperament and achieved an untidy 1m23.7s. He knocked off a front wing on the first day of practice and was actually stopped practising by the team on the second day.”

But Merzario put in a rock-solid race. While Ferrari team-mate Jacky Ickx led under pressure from Jackie Stewart and eventual winner Emerson Fittipaldi before retiring, the 29-year-old from Como ran in the midfield. He needed a mid-race pitstop for new tyres, but towards the end was hunting down the fifth-place battle between Chris Amon (forced into the older, heavier Matra after crashing the newer one in practice) and Denny Hulme (the Mclaren star struggling with injuries from a Can-am accident). A late crash for the March of Ronnie Peterson elevated Merzario to sixth, and a debut point. He also set fourth fastest lap and, after a further outing, replaced Brm-bound Regazzoni full-time for 1973.

Merzario was also awarded the inaugural Prix Rouge et Blanc Joseph Siffert – Marlboro’s new ‘star driver’ award to commemorate the popular Swiss killed at Brands in 1971. He drove in F1 throughout the 1970s, in the latter years with his own unsuccessful team.