He was predicted a brilliant future in Formula 1.
In 1977 Gunnar Nilsson had his big breakthrough when he won the Formula 1 race in Belgium's Grand Prix, defeating, amongst others, Niki Lauda. He had started car racing in Formula Vee at the age of 24, four years later he was a Formula 1 racing driver. Gunnar soon became a winner and was expected to be the successor to Sweden's great racing king Ronnie Peterson. With the 1978 season coming up Gunnar had signed a new contract with the Arrows team who had designed a new car with advanced aerodynamics. But he never had the opportunity to test the new car. Gunnar Nilsson died of cancer only a month before his thirtieth birthday.