Bruno Giacomelli Biography: Bruno Giacomelli is an Italian former racing driver. He won one of the two British Formula 3 Championships in 1976 and one of the two Formula Two Championships in 1978. He participated in 82 Formula One Grands Prix, as he was competing for the first time on 11th September 1977. To know everything about him read this blog till the end.
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Bruno Giacomelli Biography
Bruno Giacomelli was born on 10 September 1952 in Poncarale, Brescia, Italy. As of 2024, he is 71 years old. He began his career in Formula Italia, where he won the championship in 1975. In 1976, he advanced to Formula Three, competed with March, finished second to Rupert Keegan in the B.A.R.C Championship, and won the B.R.D.C. title in his debut season. He led the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race from start to finish in a March Toyota. His top speed was 74.84 miles per hour on average.
Bruno Giacomelli Wikipedia
Name | Bruno Giacomelli |
Date Of Birth | 10 September 1952 |
Age | 71 years old (as of 2024) |
Birth Place | Poncarale, Brescia, Italy |
Height | N/A |
Weight | N/A |
Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
Profession | Racing Driver |
Net Worth | N/A |
Car Collection | N/A |
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Bruno Giacomelli Career
After his solo F1 race in 1977, Giacomelli participated in five races for McLaren in 1978 when his Formula Two commitments were allowed. He obtained his best finish in the 1978 British Grand Prix, placing seventh. After winning the European F2 championship in 1979, he transferred to Alfa Romeo for their return to F1 car production. Alfa only entered their 177 and 179 models in a few races that year, and Giacomelli’s highest finish was 17th at the 1979 French Grand Prix.
The following season, however, the team appeared more promising. Giacomelli qualified Alfa Romeo for the 1980 British Grand Prix in Brands Hatch in an unexpected sixth place. Giacomelli qualified for the 1980 Italian Grand Prix at Imola in third position.
On the Friday before the race, three of his six mechanics were injured when their helicopter crashed en route to the track. In his Alfa Romeo, he claimed the pole position at the 1980 United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York.
Giacomelli’s 1 minute 33.29 seconds over a distance of 3.37 miles was 1.25 seconds faster than his first-day time. Despite these flashes of speed, Giacomelli only completed three of the season’s 14 races due to accidents or mechanical failures; however, two of his finishes were fifth-place finishes at the season-opening 1980 Argentine Grand Prix & the 1980 German Grand Prix, netting him four points and placing him sixteenth in the Drivers’ Championship.
In 1981, the car was somewhat more reliable, with Giacomelli being an overall finisher in 8th of the season’s 15 races; however, he struggled to achieve outstanding performances until the end of the year, with a 4th and 3rd in the season-ending Canadian & Caesars Palace Grands Prix; the latter was Giacomelli’s only podium finish in F1, & he achieved his best-ever championship finish by finishing 15th.
In 1990, Giacomelli returned to Formula One with the Life team, replacing Gary Brabham, who had departed the team two races into the season. Giacomelli failed to make it out of pre-qualifying at any of the 12 Grands Prix he competed in with the team.
The car was equipped with an ineffective and fragile W12 engine. At the Portuguese Grand Prix, the team reverted to a more conventional Judd V8 engine; however, the car had not been adapted for the new engine, and the team could not correctly fit the engine cover, resulting in their withdrawal from the event without completing a single lap.
Despite the new engine, Giacomelli was 18 seconds behind the leader when he could drive the Judd-powered car in Spain. Giacomelli’s F1 career ended when his team folded before the season’s final two races due to a lack of funds and little prospect of improving their desperately uncompetitive car.