Ottorino Volonterio (7 December 1917 – 10 March 2003) was a

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from Switzerland.

Biography

A member of

Swiss nobility Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a collection of semi-autonomous cantons. As membership of the confederation has fluctuated throughout history, each of these cantons has its own unique history and nobility. Typically, each ca ...

, he was born in Orselina and was trained as a lawyer, before he began participating in sports car racing. He debuted in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

at the

1954 Spanish Grand Prix The 1954 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 24 October 1954 at Pedralbes. It was the ninth and final race in the 1954 World Championship of Drivers. The 80-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Mike Hawthorn after he started fro ...

Pedralbes Pedralbes (, Old Catalan for ''white stones'') is a neighborhood in '' Les Corts'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in No ...

in a Maserati 250F which he shared with Emmanuel de Graffenried, but the compatriots retired with engine failure. He contested two other World Championship Grands Prix, the 1956 German Grand Prix on the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

''Nordschleife'' where he was unclassified having finished 6 laps behind race winner

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (, ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the ti ...

, and the 1957 Italian Grand Prix at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

with André Simon where he finished 11th some 15 laps behind the winner

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

. Volonterio continued to compete in non-championship Formula One races and sports cars, with his best result a second place in the Coupe de Paris at

Montlhéry Montlhéry () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located from Paris. History Montlhéry lay on the strategically important road from Paris to Orléans. U ...

in 1955. He also fielded Grand Prix cars for other drivers. He continued racing until 1973, and died in Lugano in 2003.

Complete World Championship Formula One Grand Prix results

( key) :''* Indicates shared drive with

Toulo de Graffenried Baron Emmanuel Leo Ludwig 'Toulo' de Graffenried (18 May 1914, Paris, France – 22 January 2007, Lonay, Switzerland) was a Swiss motor racing driver. He participated in 23 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1950, and scored a to ...

'' :''† Indicates shared drive with André Simon''

References

Swiss racing drivers Swiss Formula One drivers 1917 births 2003 deaths Sportspeople from Lugano Swiss motorsport people Swiss nobility Formula One team owners Swiss auto racing teams {{F1-bio-stub