Team story
Origins
Arturo Merzario did not simply look for another seat when his opportunities as a driver diminished. He announced his own team in 1977 and brought the A1 to its World Championship debut in Argentina in 1978. Gianfranco Palazzoli oversaw the organisation.
The driver who had raced for Ferrari and Williams also became the central figure of a small Italian constructor, with the Cosworth DFV as its engine.
The Formula 1 journey
The A1 qualified on a few occasions, but scored no points. In 1979 the team moved from the modified A1B to the A2, designed by Giorgio Valentini to exploit ground effect. Merzario and, at Monaco, Gianfranco Brancatelli were unable to qualify it.
The constructor’s last recorded World Championship start remained Long Beach, before the new car arrived.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Merzario
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Argentine Grand Prix
Arturo Merzario · Argentine Grand Prix 1978. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Merzario
No classified race result is documented for this part of Merzario’s record. The entries and cars listed elsewhere on the page provide the available reference points; they should not be read as completed races.
Latest recorded appearance · United States Grand Prix West
Arturo Merzario · United States Grand Prix West 1979. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
Mid-season, Merzario acquired the material from the Kauhsen programme. Gian Paolo Dallara worked on the transformation that produced the A4, but this too failed to reach a World Championship Grand Prix grid. The sequence A1, A1B, A2 and A4 comprises revisions and designs with different origins; it does not mean four individual cars, nor does it describe a straightforward annual evolution.
What remains
In 1980 the team left Formula 1 and adapted the A4 for Formula 2 with a BMW engine, calling it the M1. Other chassis followed, along with purchased March cars. The constructor therefore had a life beyond its thirty-one World Championship entries: moving to junior categories changed the engines and opponents while keeping Merzario in the dual role of driver and organiser of his own programme.