Bruno Giacomelli

Infobox F1 driver


image-size = 150
pixels = 150
Name = Bruno Giacomelli
Nationality = flagicon|Italy Italian
Years = F1|1977 - F1|1983, F1|1990
Team(s) = McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Toleman, Life
Races = 82 (69 starts)
Championships = 0
Wins = 0
Podiums = 1
Poles = 1
Points = 14
Fastest laps = 0
First race = 1977 Italian Grand Prix
First win =
Last win =
Last race = 1990 Spanish Grand Prix

Bruno Giacomelli (born September 10 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy.

He won one of the two 1976 British Formula Three Championships and the 1978 Formula Two championship. He participated in 82 Formula One grands prix, debuting on September 11, 1977. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points.

Formula Two and Formula Three

Giacomelli led from start to finish in a March Engineering Toyota in the 1976 Monaco Formula Three Monaco Grand Prix support race. His averagespeed was 74.84 miles per hour. ["Auto Racing", Syracuse Herald Journal, May 30, 1976, Page 72.] Giacomelli retired from the Formula Two Pau Grand Prix in May 1977, after his car made contact with one driven by Jacques Laffitte. ["G. Prix Won By Arnoux", Victoria, Texas Advocate, May 31, 1977, Page 13] However he managed to score three F2 wins in 1977, at Vallelunga, Mugello and Donington Park and finished fifth in the championship. Giacomelli dominated the following season, winning eight of the 12 races on his way to the title and beating runner up Marc Surer by 29 points. Giacomelli retained his Formula Two points lead with a third place finish in the Mugello Grand Prix at Florence, Italy, in May 1978. The race was won by Derek Daly in a Chevron Cars Ltd entry. ["Auto Racing", Syracuse Herald Journal, May 29, 1978, Page 21.] At the 1978 Grand Prix de Rouen Giacomelli solidified his lead in the European Driver's Championship for the Formula Two division. He drove a March to victory after starting from the pole. ["Sports Briefs", Syracuse Herald Journal, June 19, 1978, Page 25.]

Formula One

Giacomelli made his first foray into F1 driving a handful of races for the McLaren team in 1977 and 1978, with a best finish of seventh in the 1978 British Grand Prix. After winning the European F2 title, he switched to Alfa Romeo for their return to building F1 cars in 1979. Alfa only entered their 177 and 179 cars in a handful of events that year, and Giacomelli could only achieve a best of 17th place in the 1979 French Grand Prix. However the following year the team looked more promising. Giacomelli earned a surprise 6th qualifying position for Alfa Romeo at Brands Hatch for the 1980 British Grand Prix. ["French teams dominate", Syracuse Herald Journal, July 13, 1980, Page 46.] Giacomelli posted a third place qualifying time for the 1980 Italian Grand Prix at Imola. Three of his six mechanics sustained injuries on the Friday before the race, when their helicopter crashed en route to the track. ["Andretti May Drive for a New Team", Syracuse Post Standard, Page 15.] He won the pole position for the 1980 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York in his Alfa Romeo. Giacomelli improved on hisopening day time by 1.25 seconds, with a time of 1 minute 33.29 seconds over the 3.37 mile track. ["Formula Ones Go crazy at the Glen", Syracuse Herald-American, October 5, 1980, Page D13.] However despite these flashes of speed the car was severely unreliable - Giacomelli only managed to finish three of the season's fourteen races, although two of his finishes were fifth places at the season-opening 1980 Argentine Grand Prix and the 1980 German Grand Prix, thus netting him four points and placing him 16th in the drivers' championship. In 1981 the car was somewhat more reliable, with Giacomelli being a classified finisher in eight of the season's 15 races - however he struggled to achieve good results until the end of the year, with a fourth and a third in the season-ending Canadian and Las Vegas Grands Prix respectively - the latter was Giacomelli's only podium finish in F1, and he achieved his best ever championship finish by ending up 15th in the drivers' standings. For 1982 Alfa introduced their new Alfa Romeo 182 to replace the ageing 179, however the new chassis proved to be unreliable in the first half of the season. In the second half it was reliable enough to allow Giacomelli to finish all but two of the races, however the year only yielded one points finish for him with a fifth in Germany.Giacomelli was eliminated at the start of the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder when his Alfa Romeo collided with the two ATS cars of Eliseo Salazar and Manfred Winkelhock. ["Watson Wins Grand Prix", Syracuse Post Standard, May 10, 1982, Page 25.] Alfa recruited Mauro Baldi to partner Andrea de Cesaris for the 1983 Formula One season and Giacomelli joined Toleman. Giacomelli was outperformed by his team-mate Derek Warwick, though he did manage to pick up a final F1 point at the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

CART

He made 11 starts in CART in 1984 and 1985, 10 of which were for Patrick Racing. His best finish was a 5th place on the Meadowlands street course in 1985. He attempted but failed to qualify for the 1984 Indianapolis 500.

After his time in CART, Giacomelli drifted away from top line racing. However, in 1989 he re-emerged as an occasional test driver for the March Leyton House team, and in 1990 he attempted a full season with the Life team. Featuring an outdated chassis and a terrible (though innovative) W12 engine, the Life team was a disaster and Giacomelli failed to make it beyond pre-qualifying.

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References