Maurice Trintignant | |
|---|---|
 Trintignant at the1954 Buenos Aires Grand Prix | |
| Born | Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (1917-10-30)30 October 1917 Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes,Vaucluse, France |
| Died | 13 February 2005(2005-02-13) (aged 87) |
| Relatives | Jean-Louis Trintignant (nephew) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Active years | 1950–1964 |
| Teams | Gordini,Rosier,Ferrari,Vanwall,Bugatti,Walker,Centro Sud,BRM,Aston Martin,Serenissima,Parnell,privateerBRM |
| Entries | 86 (81 starts)[a] |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 10[b] |
| Careerpoints | 721⁄3 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| First entry | 1950 Monaco Grand Prix |
| First win | 1955 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1958 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1964 Italian Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1950–1962,1964–1965 |
| Teams | Gordini,Rosier,Ferrari,Aston Martin,Porsche,Serenissima,Maserati,Ford |
| Best finish | 1st(1954) |
| Class wins | 2(1953,1954) |
Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (French pronunciation:[mɔʁisbjɛ̃v(ə)nyʒɑ̃pɔltʁɛ̃tiɲɑ̃]; 30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a Frenchracing driver andwinemaker, who competed inFormula One from1950 to1964. Trintignant won twoFormula One Grands Prix across 15 seasons. Inendurance racing, Trintignant won the24 Hours of Le Mans in1954 withFerrari.
Trintignant competed in Formula One for 11 teams, winning two Grands Prix across 15 seasons. He finished fourth in the1954 and1955 World Drivers' Championships withFerrari. He entered 15 editions of the24 Hours of Le Mans from1950 to1965, winning in1954 alongsideJosé Froilán González, driving theFerrari 375 Plus, and finished runner-up in1959.
After retiring from motor racing, Trintignant moved into thewinemaking trade, owning avineyard inLanguedoc-Roussillon, where he named hisvintageLe Petoulet.[c] Trintignant's nephew,Jean-Louis, was a highly successful actor in post-World War II France.
He began racing in 1938, and won the 1939Grand Prix des Frontières, but his career was interrupted by theSecond World War, during which his own Bugatti was stored in a barn. When he rebuilt it for an event of 1945, theCoupé de la Liberation, he overlooked a clogged fuel filter, which caused him to drop out of the race. It transpired that the filter was plugged with rat droppings, earning him the unenviable nickname, from another celebrated racer, Jean-Pierre Wimille, ofLe Petoulet, "the rat-droppings man".[4]
In 1948, Trintignant suffered a very serious accident during a support race for theSwiss Grand Prix. He was thrown in the air, and landed in the middle of the race track. His heart stopped beating for one minute and 15 seconds at the hospital, and he was pronounced dead. However, he survived, and woke up after a week-long coma. He kept a very peculiar looking abdomen scar, as the surgeon stitching a large wound did it at a very irregular pace while his heart had stopped beating. For six months, he suffered from amnesia and a loss of motor skills, but he eventually made a near complete recovery.[5] The corner at which he crashed was later named after him.[6] His wife offered him a stuffed teddy bear during his recovery, and as a superstition, Trintignant kept it in his pocket while he was racing for the rest of his career. He returned to racing in 1949 and won aFormula Two race at theCircuit des Remparts that year.[7]
By 1950Le Petoulet was successful enough to be offered aworks drive for theGordini team, in the newly formedFormula One World Championship racing series. He competed in Formula One every year until his retirement after the 1964 season. During this long career Trintignant scored two victories, both at theMonaco Grand Prix, in1955 and1958.[8] Unusually for Monaco, both victories came from relatively far down the field, as Trintignant started those races from 9th and 5th respectively.1954 and1955 were his best Championship years and he finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship in both.
Trintignant won the1954 24 Hours of Le Mans withJosé Froilán González in aFerrari 375 Plus, despite a seven minutes pitstop with one and a half hour to go, due to a faulty ignition wiring caused by the torrential rain.[9]
Known for his conservative and reliable driving style,[10][11] Trintignant drove a huge variety of cars, for many different teams: both works and privateer. Unusually, at the1955 Argentine Grand Prix Trintignant shared both second and third places, a product of theScuderia Ferrari policy of passing cars to their top drivers, should their original car break down. In 1956 he drove theBugatti Type 251 in theFrench Grand Prix, becoming the last driver to represent the famed marque at a Grand Prix race.[12] Even in his final season, driving his ownBRM P57, he scored points, taking fifth place at the1964 German Grand Prix on the intimidatingNürburgring. Between 1959 and 1966, Trintignant held the record for most World Championship Grand Prix starts.[13] Following his retirement from racing, Maurice Trintignant returned to a quiet life as a wine-grower (naming his vintageLe Petoulet),[14] near the town ofVergèze, in theLanguedoc-Roussillon wine growing region.
Trintignant competed in the2000 Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, reunited with theCooper T45 he had driven to victory there in 1958.[15]
Trintignant died, aged 87, in 2005.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 |  Ferrari Factory |  Peter Collins | Ferrari 315 S | S5.0 | 187 | 6th | 5th |
Source:[20] | |||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Pts | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Ford Motor Company | Ford Zodiac Mk 3 | C | SNE | GOO | AIN | SIL ? | CRY | AIN | BRH | OUL | 22nd | 6 | 3rd |
Source:[21] | ||||||||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1954 With:José Froilán González | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Most Grand Prix entries 84 entries, 82 starts (1950–1964) 68th at the1961 French GP | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
