Vittorio Brambilla

Vittorio Brambilla is an Italian Formula One Racing Driver currently competing with March. He is participating in his second full time season after measured success in his 1975 campaign, and is looking to improve on his race win.

History
Born in the town of Monza itself, Brambilla began racing motorcycles in 1957 and won the Italian national 175 cc title in 1958. He continued to race motorcycles on a casual basis throughout his career, finishing 12th in a guest appearance at the 1969 Italian 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix riding a Paton. Before becoming a mechanic he also raced go-karts. His older brother, Ernesto ("Tino"), was also a racing driver.

Formula Three, Formula Two, Sports cars
He returned to racing in 1968, in Formula 3 and won the Italian championship in 1972; by the time he was already racing Formula 2, where he won several races and bought his way into Formula 1. Brambilla was 2nd to Jacky Ickx in a 1970 2-heat Formula Two race at the Salzburg Ring in Salzburg, Austria. He drove a March BMW to 4th place in Hockenheim, in a 1973 Formula Two race. There were two 10-lap heats covering 168.7 miles (271.50 km). Brambilla won the City of Enna Cup, the 5th 1973 event in the European automaker's championship for 2,000 cc cars. He averaged 121 miles per hour (195 km/h) over 180 miles (290 km). He drove an Abarth-Osella. Brambilla captured the pole for the Monza 4-hour auto race in a BMW 3.5 CSL.

Particularly adept at driving in wet conditions, his nickname his "The Monza Gorilla", due to his often overly aggressive driving style and sense of machismo.

Formula One
In his first year of Formula One, Brambilla was as quick as his teammate Stuck, although more accident-prone. In the Swedish GP he ran in fifth until an engine problem. Brambilla finished tied for 18th, last, in the 1974 Formula One World Championship standings. In 1975 he amazed many at the Belgian GP, where he led until encountering brakes problems after 54 laps, and at the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix, where he secured pole position until a transmission failure forced him to retire after 36 laps. His great day came at the Österreichring in 1975, when he won a wet Austrian Grand Prix. He spun off and wrecked the nose of his car as he took the chequered flag, and completed his slowing down lap with the front of the car destroyed while waving to the crowd. As the race was shortened, with 60% of it completed, he only received 4.5 points instead of 9 for the win. A more serious accident occurred that season when Brambilla crashed his March through a new curve at Watkins Glen during qualifying for the 1975 United States Grand Prix. He backed into a guard rail afterwards but was unhurt. The session ended at that point with Niki Lauda leading. Before his accident Brambilla was second fastest with a lap of 118.21 mph (190.24 km/h). For 1976, Vittorio Brambilla signed on to continue with March, and has yet to carve a niche out for himself.