Arturo Merzario

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Arturo Merzario
Arturo Merzario in 1978.
Nationality  Italian
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1972-1979
Teams	Ferrari, Williams, Fittipaldi, March, Wolf, Merzario
Races	85 (57 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Career points	11
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1972 British Grand Prix
Last race	1979 United States Grand Prix

Arturo Francesco Merzario (born March 11, 1943 in Chiavenna, 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, 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.

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

[edit] 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						-	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									-	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	-	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		-	0
1979	Team Merzario	Merzario A1B	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA DNQ	SAF DNQ	USW Ret														-	0
		Merzario A2						ESP DNQ	BEL DNQ	MON	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	DUT DNQ	ITA DNQ	CAN DNQ	USA DNQ