| Louis Chiron | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Chiron in 1931 | |||||||
| Born | Louis Alexandre Chiron (1899-08-03)3 August 1899 Monte Carlo, Monaco | ||||||
| Died | 22 June 1979(1979-06-22) (aged 79) Monte Carlo, Monaco | ||||||
| Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
| Nationality |  Monégasque | ||||||
| Active years | 1950–1951,1953,1955–1956,1958 | ||||||
| Teams | Maserati (works and non-works),Talbot-Lago,O.S.C.A.,Lancia | ||||||
| Entries | 19 (15 starts) | ||||||
| Championships | 0 | ||||||
| Wins | 0 | ||||||
| Podiums | 1 | ||||||
| Careerpoints | 4 | ||||||
| Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
| Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
| First entry | 1950 British Grand Prix | ||||||
| Last entry | 1958 Monaco Grand Prix | ||||||
| British Formula One Championship career | |||||||
| Champ Car career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| First race | 1929Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| |||||||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |||||||
| Years | 1928–1929,1931–1933, 1937–1938,1951,1953 | ||||||
| Teams | Chrysler,Weymann,Bugatti,Bouriat,privateer,Chinetti, Ecurie Bleue,Lancia | ||||||
| Best finish | DNF (1929,1931,1932,1933,1937,1938,1953) | ||||||
| Class wins | 0 | ||||||
Louis Alexandre Chiron (French pronunciation:[lwiʃi.ʁɔ̃]; 3 August 1899 – 22 June 1979) was a Monégasque racing driver who competed inrallies,sports car races, andGrands Prix.
Among the greatest drivers between the two World Wars, his career embraced over thirty years, starting in 1923,[1] and ending at the end of the 1950s. He is still the oldest driver ever to have started a race in the Formula One World Championship, having taken 6th place in the1955 Monaco Grand Prix when he was 55.[2] Three years later he became the oldest driver to enter a Formula One race, at 58.[3] TheBugatti Chiron takes its name from him. Until2024, whenCharles Leclerc matched his achievement, he was the only Monegasque driver to have won theMonaco Grand Prix.
Coming from a family of wine-growers, Louis Chiron's father gained employment as a butler in theHôtel de Paris at Monaco. As a teenager, Louis was employed as a bellboy at the hotel, and his interest in cars and racing started at that time. DuringWorld War I, he was seconded from an artillery regiment as a driver forMaréchal Pétain andMaréchal Foch, thanks to his persistence and a driving license financed by a Russian duchess he met at the hotel.[3][4]
Employed as a dancer after World War I, Chiron's racing career started in 1923, after a rich American woman he was friends with bought him a second hand Bugatti Brescia.[4][1] He started in local hillclimbs,[5] and moved to Grand Prix racing in 1926, after getting aBugatti T35, and befriending rich industrialist Alfred Hoffman.[1] He won the Grand Prix du Comminges that year, atSaint-Gaudens, nearToulouse.[6]
Starting in 1928, Chiron became a Bugatti factory driver in parallel to his role in Hoffman's private team. During that period, he became one of the dominant drivers in Grand Prix racing. He took major victories at the1928 Italian Grand Prix,1929 German Grand Prix, and1930 Belgian Grand Prix. In theIndianapolis 500 of 1929, he drove aDelage to 7th place.[7] He won the1931 Monaco Grand Prix and1931 French Grand Prix in aBugattiT51.[1]
Chiron's partnership with Hoffman ended in the early 1930s after he was found having an affair with his wife Alice. He was also fired from Bugatti's factory team at the end of 1932. He then founded with his friendRudolf Caracciola a new team, called Scuderia CC. At the team's first race, the1933 Monaco Grand Prix, Caracciola had a season ending accident, and Chiron switched toAlfa Romeo cars run byScuderia Ferrari mid-season.[1] He won the 1933Spa 24 hours race with specialist endurance racerLuigi Chinetti in anAlfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza.[8]
Chiron drove anAlfa Romeo P3 run by Ferrari for the1934 Grand Prix season. He won the1934 French Grand Prix atMontlhéry, against several works Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union entries, a race that is often considered one of the greatest victories of his career.[1][9] The Alfa Romeos struggled against the German cars in1935, and Chiron only salvaged a podium at the1935 Belgian Grand Prix and a minor victory at the Lorraine Grand Prix that year.[1]
Chiron moved toMercedes-Benz's factory team for the1936 Grand Prix season. He started the European championship campaign with a pole at his home race of Monaco, but his race ended after an accident on lap one. A more serious accident at the second round, the1936 German Grand Prix, left him with head and shoulders injuries. He decided to retire from Grand Prix racing after that. He won the1937 French Grand Prix, a race that was run for sports cars only that year.[1]
Chiron retired from racing in 1938,[1] andWorld War II curtailed motor racing a year later. When racing resumed after the War, he came out of retirement and drove aTalbot-Lago to victory in two French Grands Prix.[10]
According to aLos Angeles Times review of fellow driverHellé Nice's biography, Chiron accused her, at a 1949 party inMonaco to celebrate the first postwarMonte Carlo Rally, of "collaborating with theNazis". The review says biographerMiranda Seymour is "circumspect on Nice's guilt".[11] A review of the same book inThe New York Times says Nice was accused of being a "Gestapo agent"; that Seymour "rebuts" the charge; and that it made Nice "unemployable".[12] Seymour's book says that in a letter toAntony Noghes, the head of the Monte Carlo Rally committee, Hellé Nice "protested her innocence"; that she told him she would appeal to the Monaco court unless Chiron wrote an apology; that no letter from Chiron has been found; and that the court has no record of such a case between 1949 and 1955.[13]
Chiron took part in the first ever Formula One World Championship season in1950, as a factory Maserati driver.[2] At his home Grand Prix of Monaco he finished in third, at age 50,[14] the only points scoring finish of his career.[15]
Paired with the Swiss driverCiro Basadonna, Chiron won the 1954Monte Carlo Rally. His last race was in 1955,[16] when he took aLancia D50 to sixth place in theMonaco Grand Prix a few weeks before his 56th birthday,[17] becoming the oldest driver to compete in a Formula One race.[16] He is also the oldest driver ever to have entered for a Formula One race, taking part in practice for the1958 Monaco Grand Prix when he was 58.[2]
Chiron retired after 35 years in racing but maintained an executive role with the organizers of the Monaco Grand Prix, who honoured him with a statue on the Grand Prix course and renamed the Swimming Pool corner after him.[18] As he had achieved the greatest number of podium finishes in Bugattis, the 1999Bugatti 18/3 Chiron concept car and the 2016Bugatti Chiron are named in his honour.[19][20]
Chiron was so popular inCzechoslovakia, whoseGrand Prix he won three consecutive times, that even after 75 years his name still lives in a popular saying "He drives like Chiron", used mainly when referring to speeding motorists or generally to people who drive very quickly.[18]
Chiron was the only Monegasque driver to score points in a Formula One race untilCharles Leclerc did so at the2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the only one to achieve a podium until Leclerc at the2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, and the only Monegasque to win theMonaco Grand Prix until Leclerc’s victory in the2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | EDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Automobiles Ettore Bugatti | BugattiT51 | Bugatti 2.3L8 | ITA Ret | FRA 1 | BEL Ret | 6th | 13 | ||||
| 1932 | Automobiles Ettore Bugatti | BugattiT54 | Bugatti 5.0L8 | ITA Ret | 5th | 17 | ||||||
| BugattiT51 | Bugatti 2.3L8 | FRA 4 | GER Ret | |||||||||
| 1935 | Scuderia Ferrari | Alfa RomeoTipo B/P3 | Alfa Romeo 2.9L8 | MON 5 | 10th | 40 | ||||||
| Alfa Romeo 3.2L8 | FRA Ret | BEL 3 | GER Ret | SUI Ret | ITA | ESP Ret | ||||||
| 1936 | Daimler-Benz AG | MercedesW25K | Mercedes ME25 4.7L8 | MON Ret | GER Ret | SUI | ITA | 18th | 28 | |||
Source:[21] | ||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Ecurie Auto-Sport | Maserati4CL | Maserati 4CL 1.5L4s | SUI 13 | ||||
| Ecurie France | Talbot-Lago MC | Talbot 4.5L6 | BEL Ret | FRA 1 | ||||
| Enrico Platé | Maserati4CL | Maserati 4CL 1.5L4s | ITA Ret | |||||
| 1948 | Ecurie France | Talbot-Lago MC | Talbot 4.5L6 | MON 2 | SUI 6 | FRA 9 | ITA Ret | |
| 1949 | Ecurie France | Talbot-LagoT26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5L6 | GBR Ret | BEL | SUI | FRA 1 | ITA |
Source:[7] | ||||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Officine Alfieri Maserati | Maserati4CLT/48 | Maserati 4CLT 1.5L4s | GBR Ret | MON 3 | 500 | SUI 9 | BEL | FRA Ret | ITA Ret | 10th | 4 | ||||
| 1951 | Enrico Platé | Maserati4CLT/48 | Maserati 4CLT 1.5L4s | SUI 7 | 500 | NC | 0 | |||||||||
| Ecurie Rosier | Talbot-LagoT26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5L6 | BEL Ret | FRA 6 | GBR Ret | GER Ret | ITA Ret | ESP Ret | ||||||||
| 1953 | Louis Chiron | OSCA20 | OSCA 2000 2.0L6 | ARG | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA 15 | GBR DNS | GER | SUI DNS | ITA 10 | NC | 0 | ||
| 1955 | Scuderia Lancia | LanciaD50 | Lancia DS50 2.5V8 | ARG | MON 6 | 500 | BEL | NED | GBR | ITA | NC | 0 | ||||
| 1956 | Scuderia Centro Sud | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | ARG | MON DNS | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | NC | 0 | |||
| 1958 | André Testut | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | ARG | MON DNQ | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | NC | 0 |
Source:[22] | ||||||||||||||||
|
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| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | No Team Name |  Cyril de Vere | Chrysler Six Series 72 | 5.0 | 66 | DSQ | DSQ |
| 1929 | C. T. Weymann | Édouard Brisson | Stutz DV32 | 8.0 | 65 | DNF | DNF |
| 1931 | EquipeBugatti |  Achille Varzi | Bugatti Type 50S | 5.0 | 24 | DNF | DNF |
| 1932 | Guy Bouriat | Guy Bouriat | Bugatti Type 55 | 3.0 | 23 | DNF | DNF |
| 1933 | L. Chiron | Franco Cortese | Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM | 3.0 | 177 | DNF | DNF |
| 1937 | Luigi Chinetti | Luigi Chinetti | Talbot T150C | 5.0 | 7 | DNF | DNF |
| 1938 | Ecurie Bleue | René Dreyfus | Delahaye 145 | 5.0 | 21 | DNF | DNF |
| 1951 |  Luigi Chinetti | Pierre-Louis Dreyfus | Ferrari 340 America Barchetta | S 5.0 | 29 | DSQ | DSQ |
| 1953 |  Scuderia Lancia | Robert Manzon | Lancia D20 | S 8.0 | 174 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[24] | |||||||
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