A lawyer from Locarno, Count Ottorino Volonterio of Orselina was an enthusiastic Swiss amateur who rarely troubled the score sheets. With a pace that varied between slow and very slow his career was spent at a leisurely pace.
The only American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (Mario Andretti, an Italian American driver, won the World Drivers' Championship in 1978, but was not born in the United States). He also scored three wins at each of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races.