Ghinzani debuted in
Formula One on 17 May at the
1981 Belgian Grand Prix at
Zolder, when
Enzo Osella asked him to replace the injured
Miguel Angel Guerra. In Ghinzani was invited to test for
Tyrrell. Despite lapping faster than
Michele Alboreto,
Danny Sullivan,
Chico Serra and
Stefan Johansson,
Ken Tyrrell deciced to retain Alboreto and Sullivan, and Ghinzani signed with Osella for his first full Formula One season. Despite achieving no points finishes, Ghinzani stayed with the team for . After qualifying 20th for the second race of the season at
Kyalami in
South Africa, he crashed in the morning warm-up at high speed through the Jukskei Sweep. His Osella hit the wall and with almost a full fuel load of 220 litres, went up in flames and he suffered burns to his hands and face that kept him out of the race. He recovered to score his first and only career points when he finished fifth at the
1984 Dallas Grand Prix in a race marked by high attrition, crumbling tarmac and oppressive heat. After beginning with Osella, Ghinzani was hired by the
Toleman team halfway through the season to partner fellow Italian
Teo Fabi. Although the
car at times displayed flashes of competitiveness (Fabi managed to qualify on pole in
Germany), it was marred by unreliability problems, and both drivers were forced to retire for the rest of the season. In he returned to Osella, but his second stint with the team, which was running a turbocharged
Alfa Romeo V8 engine, was unsuccessful. For , Ghinzani was contracted to the
Ligier team, alongside former Grand Prix winner
René Arnoux. The team planned to run the new turbocharged
4 cylinder Alfa Romeo engines, but those plans were scuppered by Arnoux's scathing pre-season comments that likened the engine to dog food, leading Alfa's parent company
Fiat to pull the plug on the engine project. This forced the team to hastily adapt their
cars to fit
Megatron engines. (The Megatron was actually the
BMW engine used by
Brabham and previously by
Arrows and
Benetton before BMW retired from the sport). However, while both the Alfa and Megatron were 4-cylinder engines, their respective plumbing was completely different, forcing the team to miss the opening race of the season in
Brazil while the rear suspension was re-designed to fit the new engine. Ghinzani occasionally ran in the points for Ligier, notably in
Germany, before being forced to retire. During qualifying for the
British Grand Prix, Ghinzani's Ligier ran out of fuel in front of the pits. His mechanics jumped the pit wall, refuelled him on the track and then push-started him, a clear violation of the rules leading to Ghinzani's exclusion from the remainder of the event. Before the incident, the Italian had set a time which would have put him 19th on the grid. In , Ghinzani drove for the German
Zakspeed team, which ran its own 4 cylinder turbo engine, though generally without success. His best finish for the year was 14th in the
German Grand Prix at a wet
Hockenheim. Despite being one of the few teams to use turbo powered engines in 1988, Ghinzani and his teammate, young German
Bernd Schneider, struggled to qualify for races and were often slower than the
atmospheric cars. Ghinzani's final Formula One season was , where he once again raced with Osella as teammate to young Italian driver
Nicola Larini. Ghinzani announced his decision to retire from Grand Prix racing before official practice of the final race of the 1989 season in
Australia. He had qualified 21st, but his race ended when his Osella was hit from behind by the
Lotus of triple World Champion
Nelson Piquet on lap 19. Ghinzani holds the record for the most Formula One appearances without qualifying in the top-ten. ==Sports cars==