Heinz Rudolf Schiller, born on 25 January 1930, reached Formula One by a route that began on water. The Swiss racer was a speedboat champion before turning to sports cars in the mid-1950s, then trying single-seaters in hillclimbs and on circuits. His World Championship career lasted one race, but that statistic leaves out much of his racing life.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Birthplace | Frauenfeld, Switzerland |
| Born | 25 January 1930 |
| Died | 26 March 2007 |
| First Grand Prix | 1962 German Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1962 German Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1962 |
| Current/Last Team | Privateer: Ecurie Filipinetti Lotus |
In 1962, Schiller drove a three-year-old Porsche for Ecurie Nationale Suisse. He finished eighth on aggregate across the Brussels Grand Prix’s three heats and ninth at Pau. An outing with Ecurie Filipinetti at Naples brought no start: only ten cars were admitted to the race. An Ecurie Maarsbergen entry for the Belgian Grand Prix was withdrawn, while seventh at Solitude provided another non-championship finish.
His championship opportunity finally arrived at the Nürburgring. Driving a Lotus 24 in the German Grand Prix on 5 August 1962, Schiller retired with falling oil pressure and scored no points. Returning to the Porsche for the Mediterranean Grand Prix did not improve his mechanical luck; an oil leak ended that race too.
Pau in 1963 supplied a brighter result. Schiller finished third, albeit five laps behind the winner, in his only Formula One appearance that year. Sports cars then became his principal focus again, and in 1964 he shared a Porsche with Gerhard Koch to finish tenth at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Schiller died on 26 March 2007. His brief F1 appearance was one chapter in a career that crossed disciplines, surfaces and even the boundary between land and water.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 1 |
| Race Starts | 1 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | 20th |
| Best Race Finish | – |
| Retirements | 1 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 1 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Privateer: Ecurie Filipinetti Lotus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | – | 0 | 0 | NC |
Teammates & Qualifying Head-to-Head
| Teammate | Years | Races | Qualifying H2H |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heini Walter | 1962 | 1 | – |
| Jo Siffert | 1962 | 1 | – |
