Born and raised in Monza, Brambilla competed in Formula One for March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo.

A wet weather specialist, Brambilla won the curtailed Austrian Grand Prix in 1975 with a 27-second margin over James Hunt in only 29 laps.

Born in the town of Monza itself, Brambilla began racing motorcycles in 1957 and won the Italian national 175cc title in 1958.

[4] Brambilla won the City of Enna Cup, the 5th 1973 event in the European automaker's championship for 2,000 cc cars.

[8] A more serious accident occurred that season when Brambilla crashed his March through a new curve at Watkins Glen during qualifying for the 1975 United States Grand Prix.

[11] He lost the right rear wheel on his March on the 35th lap of the 1976 United States Grand Prix after holding fifth place for a time.

In reaction to that race, in which Ronnie Peterson sustained fatal injuries, it was announced in October 1978 that the Italian Grand Prix would move to the Autodromo Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola for the next three years[16] although this did not actually happen until 1980.

The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was at Monza again, and Brambilla recovered and returned to participate in that race.

Alfa Romeo announced that it was working on a 1,500 cubic centimeter turbocharged engine which was to begin track testing in a Formula One car in the summer of 1980.

In the early 1990s he opened a Formula One memorabilia shop in Milan, occasionally driving the safety car during the Italian Grand Prix.