Vittorio
Brambilla

Vittorio Brambilla was born in 1937 and raised in Monza. His racing career began on two wheels: he started competing on motorcycles in 1957 and won the Italian 175cc national title in 1958. He returned to racing in 1968 in Formula 3, and in 1972 he became Italian champion, by which time he was also racing in Formula 2. His nickname was "Monza Gorilla". His older brother Ernesto was a racing driver as well.

Brambilla made his Formula One debut with March in 1974. In 1975 he led in Belgium until brake trouble ended his run after 54 laps, and in Sweden he took pole position but retired after 36 laps with a transmission failure. At the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix he won a rain-soaked race that was stopped early after 29 laps, finishing 27 seconds clear of James Hunt. As he took the chequered flag he spun and damaged the nose of his car. It was the first win by an Italian driver since Ludovico Scarfiotti at the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. As only 60 per cent of the distance had been run, half points were awarded. His 11th place in the 1975 championship was his best final position. In 1976 he scored just one point for March, at the Dutch Grand Prix, and finished 19th.

In 1977 he joined Surtees. He scored six points, finished eighth at Monaco and ended the championship in 16th. He also drove for the Alfa Romeo sports car team, which won the World Championship that year. He stayed with Surtees in 1978 and finished 19th. At the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza he was caught up in the multi-car collision on the first lap in which Ronnie Peterson lost his life. Brambilla recovered and drove for Alfa Romeo in 1979 and 1980, making just two starts in each season.

He retired at the end of 1980. Across his 74 starts he achieved one win and one pole position. In the early 1990s he occasionally drove the safety car at the Italian Grand Prix. He died in 2001, aged 63.

Source: Wikipedia, “Vittorio Brambilla”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.