Arturo Francesco Merzario was born on the 11th of March 1943 in Civenna, Como Province Italia. According to his own statements he “had done no real work”. At the age of 10 he took up ski jumping until he broke his ankle. In 1963 he started in Monza for his first race. He finished eighth in an Alfa Romeo 1300 Spider, a road car with a radio. He won the Rally Sardinia that year in an Alfa Romeo Giuletta SZ. In 1964, he got the attention of Carlo Abarth and he got to drive an Abarth 1000.
In 1965/1066 he had to do his military service as a tank radio operator in Sardinia and that interrupted his racing. A year later, he became a Abarth works team driver next to Johannes Ortner and Peter Schetty. From then on, he was a full time man behind the wheel.
In the 1967 European Touring Car Cup, he won his division in an Abarth 1000 TC in the 3hours Belgrado, the hill climb Sankt Ursanne-Les Rangiers and at Zandvoort. The next year he won his klass in the small 1000 SP race car and got a third place at the 500 km Nürburgring with the 1600 SP. In 1969 with the Abarth 2000S he was the European hill Climb Champion.
He caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari. The old man gave him a contract to drive for the works endurance team in a 512 S.
Even with 550 bhp in his back , more than he had driven before, there was no problem for Arturo. In the first race, the 24 hours Daytona 1970, as team mate for Mario Andretti, he finished third. They got the pole-position in Sebring. In the 1000 km Monza, together with Chris Amon he finished fourth. Before that,he was fifth, with Amon,in the Brands Hatch 1000km. With Clay Regazzoni, he retired in the Le Mans 24h.
When his team mate in the Ferrari 312P, Ignazio Giunti had a fatal accident during the 1971 1000 km Buenos Aires, Merzario kept his Ferrari drive next to Juncadella for the Escuderia Montjuich. Best result was a fifth place in teh Brands Hatch 1000 km. Arturo won the Interserie race at Imola in a Ferrari 512M.
In 1972, he had a very good year. Arturo won the 1000km Spa(with Brian Redman) and the Targa Florio(with Sandro Munari) and the 9h Kyalami (with Clay Regazzoni). He was on the podium also in the Nurburring and in Zeltweg. On top of that he stayed active in the endurance world with the Abarth-Osella 021/20.
When Regazzoni had broken his arm in a football match, Arturo got a chance of driving the Ferrari 312B2 at the F1 GP Brands Hatch. In qualifying he was with 1.23.7 just 1,5 seconds slower than pole sitter and team mate Jacky Ickx. He finished the race in P6, despite a pitstop. His second race at the Nürburgring (see photo)as third Ferrari man, was not great; only P12.
When Regazzoni left the Scuderia after three seasons, Enzo Ferrari gave Merzario a full-time contract for the F1 and the endurance championship.
At the start of the 1973 F1 season, it was clear that the Ferrari 312B2 in his third season became outdated. Already at the first race in Buenos Aires, Ickx finished fourth, 52 seconds behind the winning Lotus 72 of Emerson Fittipaldi. Merzario got P9. In order not to lose the connection with Lotus, McLaren and Tyrrell, the Scuderia opted for an unconventional approach of the 312B3. The chassis was constructed in England and chief engineer Mauro Forghieri was bypassed. In the meantime, Merzario did some heroic things with the old car: a P04 at Interlagos and at Kyalami in front of Jacky Ickx. Arthuro even proclaimed that Ickx was beyond his best years.
And he tried everything to prove he was right. In the Sportscar championship he was teamed with Carlos Pace in the Ferrari 312PB. His best result was a second place in the 24h LeMans and in the Spa 1000km. In this race the Ickx/Redman car was in the lead when Merzario passed him. He had for several laps ignored the signs of the pitbox. They had showed him panels with “slower”, “hold positions” and “box”. He also got a third place in the 6h Watkins Glen.
In the F1 with the 312B3, he got a P7 at Paul Ricard and Zeltweg. In Austria, he was faster than Ickx and started from the third row. He really had the number one status at Monza; just before the race, Jacky Ickx had left the Scuderia after three years. For the last races, Arturo tried everything, but there were no great results either.
Merzario was welcomed with open arms at the Iso-Team of Frank Williams for the 1974 F1 season; Frank could not get his favourite driver, Jacky Ickx. The Iso-Marlboro-IR01-Ford looked good and more. Merzario was highly motivated to fight against the Ferrari-team and their new drivers, Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni. It seemed to work. In South Africa he was third on the grid, before Regazzoni and sixth at the finish. And at Jarama and Nivelles he qualified with the top 7. In the rest of the season, it was clear that the Iso was not up to Ferrari and only a fourth place in Monza (where the 2 Ferrari’s had to stop) was his best finish.
In the Sports cars, he drove in five races with the Alfa Romeo 33TT12. Together with Mario Andretti he won the 1000 km Monza.
For 1975, he stayed at Williams with the Williams FW 03-Ford. After 6 races and a team that was not developing technically, he quit. For his home race at Monza, he got a drive in the Copersucar-Ford (P11). Arturo was also a full time driver for Willy Kaushen Alfa Romeo team in Sports car. Together with Jacues laffite, he won the 1000 km Dijon, the Monza 1000 km and the 1000 km Nurburgring. He also won the 1000 km Enna with Jochen Mass and the Targa Florio with local hero Nino Vaccarella. With his former rival Ickx, he was second in Mugello and in the Spa 1000 km and with Italian Brambilla in the 1000 km Zeltweg.
For the 1976 season, Merzario used his sponsor money from Ovoro to buy a place in the March team. With the 761/4 he was a member of the “B”-team and had Ronnie Peterson, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Vittorio Brambilla as team-mates. He entered 7 races, got 2 non-qualifications and a P8 at Paul Ricard as best result. When Jacky Ickx lost his drive at Williams after the Brands Hatch race, Arturo decided to switch teams. He never got a decent Walter Wolf Racing-FW 5-car for the rest of the season. Again a podium in the sportscar with a second place in the 500 km Imola in an Alfa Romeo 33SC12 with Brambilla.
This was also the year of his much later ‘good relationship’ with Niki Lauda. At the Nürburgring, after the Bergwerk corner, the suspension of the Ferrari 312T2 broke, forcing Lauda to the right side and hitting the guardrail. The car returned to the track engulfed in flames and was hit by German Harald Ertl and American Brett Lunger who were unable to brake. Merzario stopped and tried to help with Ertl and Lunger to get the Austrian out of the car in one of the most horror- scenes in motorsport. It was Arturo who climbed on the cockpit, unbuckled the central belts and lift the 60 kg heavy unconscious Lauda out of the car. He even administered heart resuscitation and mouth to mouth breathing. After the race he got a golden Rolex watch from Lauda; he refused to accept it. It is only many years later that Bernie Ecclestone brought them together for a reunion.
Merzario was always strong in attracting sponsors and used his limited budget to acquire a March 761B-Ford and created his own team Merzario for the 1977F1 season. In an Italian red painted car, he was often quicker than the works cars, but failed to qualify three times, retired from three races and was only 14th in Belgium. His could not race in his home race because he did not get a pits to install his team.
There were wins in the European Sportscar championship with Alfa Romeo. With Jean-Pierre Jarier, he won the 500 km Dijon, Enna, Estoril and Paul Ricard and was second at the 400 km Vallelunga and the 300 km Salzburgring. In between with the 33SC12 he won an interserie race in Hockenheim.
Arturo entered the 1978 F1 season as a constructor. He reworked his March 761 into a Merzario A1. It was a black livery bulky short-wheelbase machine with outboard springs. He did a full season, but failed to qualify in half of them. He retired in the rest of the races. In august there was a second chassis ready. He entered the car for Alberto Colombo in Italy; not pre-qualified. Arturo started the 1979 season with a modified A1B car. For the fifth race in Spain, he entered the A2-Ford, build on Kaushen F1 remains. This car was designed as a ground-effect car, but was too wide to generate enough down-force. He never got the car qualified.
After the season, he continued with his own cars in the F2 and a BMW M1 in the Procar championship. He later continued as team manager in F2 and F2 with modified March and Ralt cars until in 1984 when Team Merzario was declared bankrupt.
It was not the end of his racing. Merzario concentrated on Italian sports car racing, starting in 1985 and enjoyed it for many years. He took part in the Italian GT championship between 1994 and 1996. He won the inaugural MaseratiBi Turbo cup in Imola in 1995, and raced in the Porsche Super Cup. He went racing in the Italian Prototype championship, first with Lucchini and later with a Centenari M1 and a Tampoli AR. He kept on winning some races in the period 1992 until 1999. In 1998, he drove the M1 in the 1000 km Monza with Giovanni Li Calzi, Robin Donovan and Fulvio Ballabio. In 1997, he did a full International Sports Racing Series in the new M1 Alfa Romeo. He won four races. He was back with the Centenari in 1998 finishing 4th at Paul Ricard. But after a few appearances in the European Championship in 1999 with the Tampoli he stepped down from International competition.
But still, now 80 years old, you can see him behind the wheel of a Ferrari in some historical events. (below: Historic GP Zandvoort 2023)
