8 replies to this topic

[Paul Taylor]

I was reading Motorsport magazine February 1980 and discovered the names Piercarlo Ghinzani and Arturo Merzario written in the Practice Times table for the Argentine GP, with the words "Did Not Take Part" written next to them. Their names strangely didn't appear in the Entry List, nor was there any mention of them in the 3-page article.

This was a full 16 months before Ghinzani's F1 debut and Merzario never raced in Formula 1 again after his effort in 1979 with his own (pathetically slow and ugly) car.

So, my question is - what team(s) were they entered with?

It's possible that Ghinzani was a reserve for someone, although according to the article, Brambilla was there as a reserve for Depailler in case he wasn't fit enough to race (after his paragliding accident I think) and Vittorio's name wasn't mentioned in the Practice Times list...As for Merzario, my best guess is that he took his car(s) there and decided not to race .There's no mention of either driver in the results at FORIX.

[David McKinney]

I can see no mention of either driver in the reports of Autocourse or Autosport, or in the weekly's preview

[JB Miltonian]

According to Autoweek's report on qualifying for the 1980 Argentine GP:

"Completing the 28-car lineup was a name new to Formula One - Osella - which has built successful F2 and Sports Cars in the past. As number one driver they chose the Italian-domiciled Eddie Chever (sic). It intends to run a second car for Italian F3 driver Carlo (sic) Ghinzani."

No mention is made of Merzario.

[Rob G]

None of my sources mention Merzario trying to continue in F1 in 1980; he was said to have been "blowing smoke" about his move to F2 with his self-built cars. Rather than taking his car to Argentina and not driving it, my guess is perhaps he simply filed an entry and didn't bring the car.

[Seanmac27]

And Piercarlo had to wait until San Marino in '81 for his GP debut, then till "83 for a full drive.

[edelweiss]

I found the following in the dutch magazine "Autorensport" from December 1979. Translated it says roughly the following.

Dates and drivers for 1980 were announced at a FIA press-conference on Thursday 13th December 1979.

The following drivers were announced:
1 Scheckter Ferrari
2 Villeneuve Ferrari
3 Jarier Tyrrell
4 Daly Tyrrell
5 Piquet Brabham
6 Zunino Brabham
7 Watson McLaren
8 Prost/Tambay McLaren
9 Surer ATS
10 Lammers ATS
11 Andretti Lotus
12 De Angelis Lotus
14 Regazzoni Ensign
15 Jabouille Renault
16 Arnoux Renault
17 ..... Shadow
18 ..... Shadow
20 Fittipaldi Fittipaldi
21 Rosberg Fittipaldi
22 Depaller Alfa Romeo
23 Giacomelli Alfa Romeo
24 Merzario Marzario (just for the European races)
25 Pironi Ligier
26 Laffite Ligier
27 Jones Williams
28 Reutemann Williams
29 Patrese Arrows
30 Mass Arrows
31 Cheever/Gabbiani Osella
32 Gabbiani/Ghinzani Osella (just for the European races)
So before the season Merzario and Gabbiani were entered for only the European races.
I found at stats.f1 at the first European GP 1980, Zolder/Belgium, that Merzario was entered, but didn't participate due to "car unavailable".
I just went through several magazines (Autosprint, l'Automobile, Rallye Racing, Auto Motor und Sport, SportAuto, Autorensport, Autorevue, Autovisie, Autokampioen) about Zolder 1980, no mention whatsoever of Merzario and/or Ghinzani.

About the races. This was the original 1980 calendar (in brackets real date)
13-01 Buenos Aires
27-01 Interlagos
01-03 Kyalami
30-03 Long Beach
13-04 Watkins Glen (05-10)
04-05 Zolder
18-05 Monaco
01-06 Jarama
29-06 Le Castellet
13-07 Brands Hatch
10-08 Hockenheim
17-08 Zeltweg
31-08 Zandvoort
14-09 Monza
05-10 Montréal (28-09)
02-11 Las Vegas

13-04 Watkins Glen was originaly a Mexican Grand Prix that was cancelled and the date was returned to Watkins Glen. There is talk of an extra USA GP at Las Vegas on 2nd November 1980 (in fact F1 raced there the first time in October 1981). It was later cancelled and the Glen moved to fall.

They had been considering re-instating Anderstorp/Sweden although there still were financial problems (indeed, we never had a Swedish GP ever since 1978) and Hockenheim was originally planned for 03-08, but postponed a week for the 1980 Olympics.

About driver-licenses: for 1980 there were superlicences for besided the above mentioned drivers for at least Michael Bleekemolen, Huub Rothergatter, Bernard de Dryver and Patrick Nève.

[edelweiss]

In an earlier edition of Autorensport I found the story that Chapman at the end of 1979 was reluctant to let Reutemann leave Lotus (Reutemann refused to drive the 80) and that Reutemann was willing to not drive in F1 in 1980 and was having contacts with several teams in the USA to race CART there.

[MattFoster]

Thanks edelweiss, that covers it very well, mystery somewhat solved.

[ghinzani]

In an earlier edition of Autorensport I found the story that Chapman at the end of 1979 was reluctant to let Reutemann leave Lotus (Reutemann refused to drive the 80) and that Reutemann was willing to not drive in F1 in 1980 and was having contacts with several teams in the USA to race CART there.

Longhorm IIRC, who were also linked to Rosberg should Fittipaldi fold. How different 82 might have been...