Past Driver Profile: Onofre Marimón

Onofre Marimón was born on December 23, 1923 in Argentina. As he grew up he became nicknamed Pinocchio as he resembled the character Pinocchio. As Marimón started racing, he became the protégé of fellow Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio. This helped Marimón come up into Formula 1 as he made his race debut in a Maserati at the 1951 French Grand Prix. On his debut, Marimón qualified a respectable 15th position on the grid but he unfortunately retired from the race on lap 2 due to an engine failure.

Marimón did not appear on the race track in Formula 1 again until 1953 in which he competed in the non-championship Buenos Aires Grand Prix driving a Ferrari. For this race Marimón once again did not make it to the end due to another engine failure but was classified in 10th place at the finish. The next time Marimón entered a World Championship race was the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix in which he was once again driving for Maserati. In this race, he qualified an impressive 6th place on the grid and then after some of the cars that qualified in front of him retired Marimón was able to claim his first career podium finish in just his second start with a 3rd place finish. Marimón was also the highest placed Maserati at the end of the race.

At the next race which was the 1953 French Grand Prix, Marimón was able to qualify in 8th place but the race was disappointing as he could only manage a 9th place finish. A couple weeks later at the British Grand Prix, Marimón was able to qualify in 7th position but was not able to finish the race due to an engine failure. Marimón then followed this up with a qualifying position of 8th for the German Grand Prix but once again retired in the race, this time due to a suspension failure. The next race was the Swiss Grand Prix and Marimón once again impressed in qualifying with a 5th place on the grid. However Marimón's bad luck in the race continued with another retirement due to his engine. The last World Championship race of the 1953 season was the Italian Grand Prix and Marimón was able to qualify in 4th position on the grid and for the first part of the race was running among the leaders. Disaster struck once again for Marimón as he had a radiator problem. He later rejoined the race and started to run with the lead pack again but the damage was already done and the race eventually ended up with another retirement for him. The retirements hurt Marimón throughout the season but the four points he earned at the Belgian Grand Prix was enough to secure him 11th place in the championship. Marimón had one more decent result during the 1953 season though as he finished in 2nd place behind Juan Manuel Fangio at the non championship Modena Grand Prix.

1954 saw some success for Marimón during some non championship races as he managed to finish in 5th place at the Syracuse Grand Prix and 4th place at the Bari Grand Prix. At the non championship Rome Grand Prix Marimón was able to breakthrough and take his first win although the field did not contain most of the frontrunners that competed in the World Championship.

Marimón  was brought up to the factory Maserati team for 1954 World Championship but the season started where 1953 left off. After qualifying in a solid 6th position on the grid he once again retired from the race with an engine failure. At the following Belgian Grand Prix, Marimón once again showed good pace in qualifying with a starting position of 4th but retired from the race on just the third lap with another engine problem. Marimón had yet another retirement at the following French Grand Prix after qualifying in 5th place. This retirement was due to a gearbox failure. The British Grand Prix looked like it would be more bad luck for Marimón as Maserati did not arrive in time to qualify so he had to start from the back of the grid. Marimón's luck finally changed in the race however as he managed to pass 19 cars on just the first lap. Marimón finally managed to finish a race and was able to secure his second career podium with a 3rd place finish. Marimón also gained a share of the fastest lap in this race along with six other drivers.

At the following German Grand Prix, Marimón had a qualifying time that was good enough to place him 8th on the grid. However Marimón was trying to improve his time but ended up going to fast through a sharp turn and fell into a ditch. As he fell into the ditch the car unfortunately landed on top of him which killed him instantly. This made Marimón the first driver to be fatally killed during a Formula 1 World Championship weekend. The points Marimón earned at the British Grand Prix was enough for him to earn a share of 13th in the Drivers' Championship at the end of the year. Marimón looked to be a driver that was destined for great things in Formula 1 in years to come until his life was tragically cut short.