Baron Emmanuel "Toulo" de Graffenried (GRAFF-en-reed, born 18 May 1914 in Paris, Île-de-France, France – died 22 January 2007 in Lonay, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland) was a Swiss Grand Prix driver who took part in World Championship races from its inception in 1950 to the Italian Grand Prix of 1956.
Winner of the 1949 British Grand Prix, Toulo was usually a privateer but earned a factory Alfa Romeo drive in the 1951 season.
After his retirement from competition, Toulo was ever present in the paddock as a sporting ambassador for Marlboro until the 1980s.
Toulo took part at the 1998 British Grand Prix in their 50th Anniversary celebrations, driving an early Grand Prix car on a parade lap of the circuit.
Before the Formula 1 World Championship[]
De Graffenried's racing career began in 1936 in is native Switzerland, driving a Type 6C Maserati and a 3 Litre Alfa Romeo with some of his more memorable results coming at Bremgarten, his home track near Bern of which he would come a bit of a specialist.
Immediately after the war Toulo rose to prominence creating Team Autosport with former Mercedes driver Christian Kautz, driving their new four cylinder Maserati to 5th at the Nations Grand Prix.
De Graffenried racing in 1947
By 1947 Toulo was racing harder and achieved second behind Nino Farina at Geneva and third at Monaco, again behind Farina and Monaco specialist Louis Chiron but his season was overshadowed by the death of Kautz at Bremgarten.
It was in 1949 that the dapper, trim profile of "Toulo" would achieve his greatest success, taking victory in the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone in a Maserati San Remo 4CLT, backing up strong second-place finishes at Pau, Zandvoort, Sweden and Jersey.
Formula One Career[]
1950[]
During 1950 Toulo continued to race the Maserati San Remo 4CLT that he enjoyed much success with in 1949. The Baron raced his Maserati alongside follow nobleman Prince Bira under the Enrico Plate banner.
De Graffenried at 1950 Brit GP
Toulo was the second highest quaifying Maserati of the 8 entered in the season starting British Grand Prix, placed 8th on the grid, Bira 5th, both out pacing the factory cars but his race was cut short with a lap 36 retirement with engine trouble.
Onto round two and Toulo was involved in the first lap crash that accounted for ten cars at Monaco when the field entered the Tabac corner for the first time to find it flooded by a tidal wave and retired immediately as his teammate Bira collected two world championship points.
The next round that Enrico Plate took part in was the Swiss Grand Prix and Toulo finished at his home race on the same lap as his teammate Bira and fellow Maserati entrant Felice Bonetto but sadly behind the two in sixth with Bira now on five points.
The team missed the Belgian and French Grand Prix's but returned for the season ending Italian Grand Prix. With the now ageing Maserati and an increase of entrees from Alfa Romeo and Ferrari points were going to be a long shot, but in a race of high attrition Toulo finished a creditable sixth for the second race in succession, all be it one place outside the points again.
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Enrico Platé | Maserati | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1951 | SA Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 2 | 16th | Report |
| Enrico Platé | Maserati | ||||
| 1952 | Enrico Platé | Maserati | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1953 | Baron de Graffenried | Maserati | 7 | 8th | Report |
| 1954 | Baron de Graffenried | Maserati | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1956 | Scuderia Centro Sud | Maserati | 0 | NC | Report |
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 23 |
| Starts | 22 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 9 |
| Laps Raced | 922 |
| Distance Raced | 6,229 km (3,871 mi) |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||||||
| 1950 | 
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||||
| Ret | Ret | 6th | 6th | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1951 |
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2 | 16th | |||||||||||||||
| 5th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1952 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||||
| 6th | Ret | 19th | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1953 | 
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7 | 8th | ||||||||||||||
| 5th | 4th | 7th | Ret | 5th | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||
| 8th | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||||
| 7th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes[]
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