1973 Von Opel's Formula One debut coincided with that of the team that provided him with his big break,
Ensign. Both began at
Paul Ricard in
France, the eighth race of the
1973 season, with von Opel qualifying his
N173 25th and finishing 15th, three laps down.
Great Britain was next, while von Opel finished 13th, six laps down, after starting from 21st. More promising signs appeared to be on the horizon at
Zandvoort for the
Dutch Grand Prix, where von Opel qualified a very creditable 14th, ahead of former World Drivers' Champions
Emerson Fittipaldi and
Graham Hill. However, on the morning of the race, cracks were found in the chassis. With too little time to make repairs, von Opel was unable to start and the same issues prevented the team from starting in
Germany too. Fuel system issues curtailed von Opel's
Austrian Grand Prix where he qualified 19th, and an overheating engine ended his
Italian Grand Prix, after qualifying 17th. The North American climax offered little better; von Opel qualified 26th and last in
Canada and was unclassified in the race, finishing 12 laps down, whilst in that year's
United States Grand Prix he once again qualified last, 27th, and retired on the opening lap with his throttle jammed open. Von Opel's debut season produced no points, and he was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.
1974 Ensign's car for the new season, the
N174, was much like the
N173, but at the opening round of
1974 in
Argentina, von Opel discovered how little progress had really been made. He qualified 26th, again in last position, more than seven seconds slower than pole-sitter
Ronnie Peterson and almost one and a half seconds slower than
Guy Edwards, who qualified 25th. The handling of the car was so flawed that he chose to withdraw from the meeting. Shortly afterwards Opel quit the team. Von Opel sat out the races in the
Brazilian Grand Prix and
South Africa until he took over the second
Brabham seat from
Richard Robarts, starting with the
Spanish Grand Prix. Their
BT44 was powered by the same
Cosworth DFV V8 as the Ensign, but the chassis was far superior, so hopes were raised. However, von Opel could not make the most of it and he struggled to match the performance of new teammate, Argentine
Carlos Reutemann. Retiring with an oil leak in
Spain, after qualifying 24th, and again a fortnight later in
Belgium with a blown engine, from which he started 22nd, were not the lift in performance Opel wished for.
Monaco was worse still, where he was the only driver that failed to qualify. Brief respite was found in
Sweden and the
Netherlands with his first top-ten finishes, ninth on both occasions (after qualifying 20th and 23rd respectively). The promise was short-lived though, as failure to qualify next time out in
France was the final straw for Brabham boss
Bernie Ecclestone, and von Opel was replaced by
Carlos Pace. For the second year running he was unclassified in the Driver's Championship with no points. A little over a year after his debut, the career of Liechtenstein's only Formula One driver was over. ==Personal life==