Early life Siffert was born in 1936 in the town of
Fribourg,
Switzerland, 35 km (22 mi) from
Bern to a poor family. Aged 12, Siffert and his father went to Bern to see the
1948 Swiss Grand Prix at the
Bremgarten circuit, and it was at this event where Siffert wanted to be a racing driver.
Formula One in practice for the 1966
1000 km Nürburgring race In 1968, Siffert drove into the F1 history books by winning the
1968 British Grand Prix at
Brands Hatch in
Rob Walker Racing Team's
Lotus 49B, beating
Chris Amon's
Ferrari into second place after a race-long battle. This is regarded as the last GP victory by a genuine privateer. In 1971 as a
BRM team driver he scored his second Formula One Championship race victory at the
Austrian Grand Prix held at the
Österreichring.
Sports cars While Siffert's status in F1 grew slowly, his fame came as a leading driver for the factory
Porsche effort in its quest for the
World Sportscar Championship. In 1968, Siffert and
Hans Herrmann won the
24 Hours of Daytona and the
12 Hours of Sebring in a
Porsche 907, marking the first major outright wins for the company, apart from a few earlier victories on twisty tracks. . Later on, Siffert's driving displays in the
Porsche 917 earned him several major wins in Europe. In addition, Siffert was chosen by Porsche to help launch its
CanAm development programme, driving a
Porsche 917PA spyder in 1969 and finishing fourth in the championship despite few entries. In 1970, Siffert teamed up with
Brian Redman to drive a
Porsche 908/3 to victory at the
Targa Florio. That same year, Porsche bankrolled Siffert's seat in a works
March Engineering F1 since the German company did not wish to lose one of their prize drivers to rival Ferrari. His association with March in F1 was disastrous, so he was pleased to join rival Porsche racer
Pedro Rodriguez at
BRM the following season.
Death Siffert was killed in the non-championship
World Championship Victory Race at
Brands Hatch, Kent, England, the scene of his first victory in 1968. The suspension of his BRM had been damaged in a lap one incident with
Ronnie Peterson, and broke later. This was not admitted by BRM until much later when it was accidentally divulged by a BRM ex-mechanic. The BRM crashed and immediately caught fire. Siffert could not free himself from the burning car. In the subsequent Royal Automobile Club (the UK organising and regulatory representative of the FIA at the time) investigation, it was discovered that Siffert had only suffered a leg fracture in the initial crash but because three fire extinguishers failed to work properly no rescuers could reach Siffert for five minutes and he died of smoke inhalation. A fire marshall stated that if the fire extinguishers worked correctly then they could have reached Siffert within 20 seconds. This accident led to a rapid overhaul of safety, both in-car and on circuit. On-board fire extinguishers (using BCF—
bromochlorodifluoromethane, an aircraft product) became mandatory and also piped air for the drivers, direct into their helmets. Siffert's funeral in Switzerland was attended by 50,000 people and a Gulf-
Porsche 917 of Team
John Wyer led the hearse and procession through the streets of Fribourg.
Legacy In the final round of the
2007–08 A1GP season, at
Brands Hatch, the
A1 Team Switzerland car carried the message ''Jo 'Seppi' Siffert - 40th Anniversary - Brands Hatch''. This commemorated his
1968 British Grand Prix victory at Brands Hatch. ==Racing record==