Arturo Merzario
Arturo Merzario (born
March 11,
1943) is a former
Formula One driver from
Italy.
Born in
Chiavenna,
province of Como, he participated in 84 grands prix, debuting on
July 15,
1972. He scored 11 championship points.
When he could no longer find a drive with established teams, he set up his own
Merzario team which competed in Formula One for two years, before 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.
(Note: grands prix in
bold denote
points scoring races.)