Formula 1 Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Robert Manzon, (born 12 April 1917 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France – died 19 January 2015 in Cassis, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France) was a former French racing driver who spent large amounts of his career racing for the Gordini team. He split from the team one race into the 1953 season when his wheel came off during the race, and joined the Lancia sports car team.

Manzon returned to Formula One for the 1954 season with the Equipe Rosier team and before rejoining Gordini in 1955. In total Manzon's time in Formula 1 spanned seven seasons, in which Manzon achieved two podium finishes, gained at the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix and the 1954 French Grand Prix.

Manzon was the second-oldest living F1 driver at 97, behind Frenchman, Robert La Caze. He also was the last living driver who has taken part in the first Formula One season in 1950.

Before Formula 1 World Championship[]

Manzon, a diesel equipment distributor, raced his own 1100cc Cisitilia in 1947, taking wins at Angouleme and Comminges. It was performances like these, against the Simca Gordini's, that encouraged the team to sign him midway through 1948. Manzon's first race for Simca Gordini was at Angouleme, a circuit he had won at before and always shone.

1948 Manzon

Manzon in his Cisitilia leads in 1948

Manzon didn't disappoint on his debut for his new team, leading the final and setting fastest lap before retirement.

Manzon became a regular for the team and finished second to Maurice Trintignant at Angouleme in 1949 as well as finishing second to Raymond Sommer at Lausanne. Manzon won the Bol d'Or in a production Simca too but his results were hampered by engine trouble with the Simca Gordini's revving very highly.

Formula One Career[]

1950[]

1950 Manzon

Robert Manzon at Pau

Manzon was entered in the Monaco Grand Prix, the World Championship debut for the Simca Gordini team, qualifying eleventh. But he was involved in the first race incident that accounted for 10 of the entries, when the field entered Tabac for the first time to find it flooded, and second placed Nino Farina spun causing a multi car accident.

Manzon's next grand prix was at the fifth round in France. Here, at this home grand prix, Manzon qualified thirteenth and battled home fourth. He was behind Alfa Romeo teammates Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, and privateer Ferrari entry Peter Whitehead, scoring 3 points.

At the final Grand Prix of the season at Monza, he qualified tenth and retired with transmission problems.

Manzon enjoyed more success in 1950 driving his Simca Gordini to a victory and podiums in Formula 2 races.

Formula One Statistical Overview[]

Formula One Record[]

Note: Italics denotes entries used only in non-championship races.

Year Entrant Team WDC Points WDC Pos. Report
Pre-Championship
1947 Robert Manzon Cisitalia-Fiat No championship Report
1948 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini No championship Report
Robert Manzon
1949 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini No championship Report
F1 Championship
1950 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini 3 14th Report
1951 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini 0 NC Report
1952 Equipe Gordini Gordini 9 6th Report
1953 Equipe Gordini Gordini 0 NC Report
1954 Ecurie Rosier Ferrari 4 15th Report
Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari
1955 Equipe Gordini Gordini 0 NC Report
1956 Equipe Gordini Gordini 0 NC Report

Career Statistics[]

Entries 31
Starts 28
Pole Positions 0
Sprint Poles 0
Front Row Starts 3
Race Wins 0
Sprint Wins 0
Podiums 2
Sprint Podiums 0
Fastest Laps 0
Sprint Fastest Laps 0
Points 16
Laps Raced 1001
Distance Raced 6,616 km (4,111 mi)

Career Results[]

Complete Formula One Results
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pts Pos
1950 Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of Switzerland Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of Italy 3 14th
Ret 4th Ret
1951 Flag of Switzerland 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of Spain 1945 1977 0 NC
Ret 7th Ret 9th
1952 Flag of Switzerland 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Italy 9 6th
Ret 3rd 4th Ret Ret 5th 14th
1953 Flag of Argentina 48-star U S flag Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Switzerland Flag of Italy 0 NC
Ret
1954 Flag of Argentina 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Switzerland Flag of Italy Flag of Spain 1945 1977 4 15th
3rd Ret 9th DNS Ret Ret
1955 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Switzerland Flag of Italy Flag of Spain 1945 1977 0 NC
Ret Ret C Ret C C C
1956 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy 0 NC
DNA Ret 9th 9th Ret Ret
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 Scored point(s) for 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[]


External links[]

v·d·e Nominate this page for Featured Article
Advertisement