http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2009/1/8899.html Before Buemi - Switzerlands Formula One greatsWhen Toro Rossos Sebastien Buemi takes to the track in Melbourne in March, hell be the 25th Swiss driver to participate in a Grand Prix weekend. Given that motorsport was banned in the country for much of the 20th century, Switzerland has proved a surprisingly fertile breeding ground for driving talent over the years. We take a look at who Buemi will be aiming to emulate Clay Regazzoni Regazzoni was by far the most successful Swiss-born Formula One driver. After memorably taking fourth place on his F1 debut - for Ferrari - at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix, he scored a maiden win at Monza just four rounds later. His remains one of the all-time best debut seasons and Enzo Ferrari duly rewarded him with a permanent contract for 1971. But Regazzoni had to wait until 1974 to score a follow-up win. It came at the Nurburgring, during a season in which he recorded a further seven podiums. In fact, going into the championship finale at Watkins Glen, he was just one point shy of leader Emerson Fittipaldi and was within a hairs breadth of the title. Unfortunately for Switzerland, an ill-handling Ferrari ultimately saw Regazzoni lose out to the Brazilian, but to this day it remains the closest a Swiss driver has come to winning the drivers crown. It also proved to be the best campaign of Regazzonis career. Though he won a further two Grands Prix for the team, he was eventually dropped by Ferrari in 1977. He found a seat at Ensign, and then Williams, for whom he scored the team's first - and his last - F1 victory at the 1979 British Grand Prix. But at Long Beach the following season he crashed following a suspected brake failure and was left paralysed from the waist down. While it ended his Formula One career, he did go on to race a variety of other machinery using hand controls, as well as finding a new calling as an F1 commentator. His untimely death came, ironically, in a road accident in 2006. Jo Siffert Apart from Regazzoni, former motorcycle racer Siffert - or Seppi as he was affectionately known - remains the only other Swiss driver to have won a Grand Prix. He made his Formula One debut as a private entrant, driving a Lotus-Climax, in 1962. After two years spent honing his craft, he joined the Rob Walker team. It was a relationship that would last six years and culminate in a win at the 1968 British Grand Prix. Siffert continued to combine Formula One with a highly successful sportscar career for Porsche. In 1971 he took a second F1 victory in Austria driving for BRM, but it would prove to be his last. Whilst competing in a non-championship race at Brands Hatch later that season, he crashed and died in the flames that engulfed his wrecked car. He was just 35, but the estimated 50,000 countrymen who attended his funeral served as proof of the iconic status he had already attained in his homeland. Marc Surer Celebrated for his performances in the wet, Marc Surers best F1 finish from an eight-season career was a remarkable fourth place - he started the race 18th - for Ensign at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix. Despite enduring serious leg injuries in two heavy accidents, he fought back to match that result with Brabham in 1985 at Monza, but he never quite made the podium and 13th was his best finish in the drivers championship. His racing career ended the following year with a rallying crash that claimed the life of his co-driver. Since then Surer has continued his long-term association with BMW, enjoying roles in management, driver instruction and TV commentating. The best of the rest Another driver of unfulfilled promise was Rudolf Rudi Fischer, who clinched two podiums in privately-entered Ferraris in the early 1950s, before retiring at the age of 40 after an eight-race career. Beyond Fischer, only two other men have scored world championship points for Switzerland. Emmanuel Toulo de Graffenried, who appeared in the first-ever world championship round at Silverstone in 1950, racked up nine with the best result of his 22-race career a fourth place at Spa in 1953. And Silvio Moser managed three from his 12 starts, courtesy of a fifth place in the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix and a sixth at Watkins Glen the following year. The most recent Swiss driver to race in Formula One was Jean-Denis Deletraz. Now well established in the FIA GT series, Delatraz finished (in 15th place) just one of his three Grands Prix for Larrousse and Pacific back in 1994/95. Since then the nearest Switzerland has come to claiming an F1 star has been Neel Janis Friday practice outings for Toro Rosso in 2006, though given his subsequent strong showings in Champ Cars and A1GP, he could yet be a name to watch. So back to Buemi and - for the time being at least - it looks like the prospects of his emulating his F1 countrymen are not as daunting as those faced by rookies from certain other nations. A Swiss driver has never won the world championship, and with that in mind, Buemi can happily set his career ambitions as high as he wants.
Ah, you're making my heart warm. Thank you. Gotta dig out my pics of Swiss greats. Seppi: Siffert was before my time, so can't say much. But in 2005 a Swiss movie was released, which I greatly recommend to anybody who can get their hands on it: "Jo Siffert - Live fast, die young". The movie is a documentary with lots of great footage from the times. Many of his friends and family talk on camera. Rega: I had the chance to meet Rega once. I was a child and just got his autograph, no other memories (Glickenhaus should chime in here who met him at the Targa Florio revival). Watching Rega take the first victory for Williams at the 79 Silverstone GP really got me hooked on F1. My loyalty soon switched to his team mate who took the title a year later. I remember watching the Long Beach GP live on TV (in the middle of the night in Europe) and see the horror of his crash unfold. I was alone at home and totally shocked when my parents came home. After his partial recovery I was happy to see him duke it out with the best at the (real) Paris-Dakar. Like everybody else I was saddened to learn about his untimely death. Marc: When I went to the 84 Monaco GP, our group was invited to a cocktail reception with Marc Surer. Needless to say I was thrilled. He was always the lady's man and had some of the hottest chicks for girlfriends and wives. Yolanda wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box (a friend of mine went to High School with her), but boy she was smoking. I remember him having his horrible crash at the South African GP, which mangled his feet. But worse yet, I remember his horrible accident at the Hunsrueck Rally where he got on a patch of grass with one wheel and the Ford went sideways into a small tree. The impact killed his co and the car engulfed in flames, which burnt Marc pretty badly.
A couple of shots with Rega. Williams had a 1-2 victory. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here some shots I took of Surer in the ATS: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Surer switched teams to Teddy Yip: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Surer with an Arrows in the rain of Monaco. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Jim is right, well sortof: After the Le Mans crash in the fifties the government banned all racing of cars in a field. Meaning there was no more GP of Switzerland and the like. However time trials were still allowed. So a new tradition of racing against the clock on all kinds of terrain developed, the most popular being the hill climbs. Below a picture of such a time trial: Yours truly in a quarry against the clock. We drove right hand bugs that used to belong to the Swiss Post Office. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Andreas, I remember reading that the head of Porsche Racing in the 69 or 70 commented that the best driver they had for their sports cars (917s) was Seppi to Rob Walker who ran the F1 team Seppi raced for according to Nigel Robeuck of Autosport.
One can only imagine what would have been, if Siffert hadn't died. He was just about to get to the very top of F1. He even beat the great Jim Clark in the (non Championship) GP of Sicily. He was a super talent and I'm not saying that for chauvinistic reasons (I equally admit that Surer never had it).
There are some great articles published about Jo Siffert in the books I have by Nigel Robeuck, who was a big fan of his and Pedro Rodriguez.
I attended the GP that Seppi won. Pre-race all the press was expecting a big showing from the Ferrari. Jeff
If anyone remembers, there was a "Swiss" Grand Prix held a number of years ago, but it was actually held at the track in Dijon, France, which is fairly close to the Swiss border. I think it's about time the Swiss government lifted the ban, considering how much safer racing is than in 1955. I was sitting in the grandstand overlooking the Queens Hairpin in Long Beach when Regazzoni's brakeless Ensign wooshed by directly in front and below. Then we heard him sideswipe Zunino's abandoned Brabham sitting in the escape road before running hard into the tire wall and the concrete behind. Because of looking through the fence at an angle, we really couldn't see what was happening after that. But walking out to my car after the race, you could see that the concrete wall had actually moved, such was the force of the impact. Clay was really lucky to survive at all; using the abandoned car to slow down may have been the difference. I'm glad that he still managed to live life to a full extent after that, and was saddened greatly when he was killed.
Wow, impressive! Equally impressive! Thanks Jim! Yes I remember that farce. Any GP (well maybe with the exception of San Marino) should be held on the nation's territory. The Swiss had a beautiful GP in Bremgarten near Berne. You can still walk parts of that track today. I couldn't agree more with your comment about lifting the ban, but that will never happen: Every few years somebody is trying, but there is too much leftwing/green opposition. Switzerland would have enough room for it, there are some abandoned former military airports (eg. Duebendorf near Zurich/Kloten), which could be built out to a race, but those are all pipe dreams. Sadly. Today's Swiss have to find their racing education outside of their home country. Luckily for them Europe has plenty of places to go in France, the UK and Italy to name a few. But it is certainly not easy to find sponsors etc.
