Siegfried Stohr

Siegfried Stohr, born 10 October 1952, is a former racing driver from Rimini, Italy. A psychology graduate at the University of Padua, but the passion of racing led him to motorsport. He participated in 13 Formula One races in 1981 with a best result of 7th, at the Dutch Grand Prix held at Zandvoort (picture below).

Stohr won the Italian Formula 3 championship in 1978 in a Chevron and quickly progressed to Formula 2 in 1979. In 1980 he drove a Toleman in F2 for Alan Docking Racing and scored one win, at Enna-Pergusa. He finished 4th in the championship.

The Italian joined Arrows for the 1981 Formula One season, as teammate to highly rated Riccardo Patrese. At first, he couldn’t match Patrese pace, but gradually improved, qualifying closer to his team-mate.

Siegfried is a special character in and outside the F1 paddock: smart, savant and particularly relax, it seems. He was once seen sleeping in his F1 car, minutes before the start of the race!

Then came an accident in Zolder, where he injured one of his mechanics on the starting line… it was not his fault but a consequence of a series of unfortunate circumstances, it must be said. Stohr confidence was badly affected by the accident, and he retired from racing at the end of the season without having scored any championship point.