Frederick "Rikky" von Opel (born October 14, 1947) is a former racing driver who represented Liechtenstein in the Formula One World Championship, the only driver to have done so. He won the Lombard North British Formula 3 Championship in 1972. He participated in 14 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix for the Ensign and Brabham teams, debuting on July 1, 1973. He scored no championship points. Formula One career 1973 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 Opel qualifying his N173 25th and finishing 15th, three laps down. Great Britain was next, while 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 he 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, Opel was unable to start and the same issues prevented the team from starting in Germany too. Fuel system issues curtailed 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; he 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 dead last, 27th, and retired on the opening lap with his throttle jammed open. 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, Opel discovered how little progress had really been made. He qualified 26th, again dead last, 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. He 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