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Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (TRARNT-ee-non; born October 30, 1917 in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes, Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur – died February 13, 2005 in Nîmes, Gard, Languedoc-Roussillon, France), nicknamed "les Petoulet", was a French racing driver who competed for 15 seasons from the second ever F1 race in 1950 to the 1964 Italian Grand Prix, a total of 84 races. During this time, Trintignant achieved two race victories, both at Monaco, and 10 podium finishes.

Son of a wealthy vineyard owner, Maurice was the youngest of five boys and was lured into Motor Racing despite the death of his brother Louis at Peronne in 1933.

He was chosen in 1939 to join the Bugatti team, the same team his brother drove for when he was killed. After being pronounced dead himself in 1948 after a serious accident, Maurice went on to score World Championship points in the little Simca-Gordini before factory drives at Ferrari and Vanwall followed.

Trintignant's greatest successes are the two F1 World Championship wins he achieved win the Ferrari at Monaco, 1955 and in 1958 with the Rob Walker Cooper at the same circuit.

He is also a Le Mans 24 Hour winner, sharing the winning Ferrari in 1954.

Before Formula 1 World Championship[]

1939 gp des frontieres - trintignant (bugatti 51) 1st

Trintignant wins the GP des Frontieres

Maurice started racing in 1939, taking 5th place at the Pau Grand Prix and winning the GP des Frontieres before the out-brake of the war.

In the first race after the war, Maurice took his trusty Bugatti but it retired with Fuel Starvation, the diagnosis of his car revealed this had been caused by "les petoules" left in hos tank during its time of inaction during the war. From then on, Maurice was given the nickname "les Petoulet" which he accepted in fine spirit, the translation of this is "rats dropping".

1947 was a transitional year for "les Petoulet", replacing his Bugatti with an Amilcar and winning at Avignon, he also spent half the year driving for the Gersac team in their Delage before moving to the Simca-Gordini team.

In 1948 he won races early on for his new team but at the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix, a tragic race that saw the death of three drivers, Maurice also suffered a serious accident where he spun his car and was thrown out onto the track where he lay unconscious with Nino Farina, Prince Bira and Robert Manzon swerved to avoid his body causing their retirements.

For 8 days Maurice lay in a coma and was pronounced dead but his pulse slowly returned. Suffering no ill effects of the accident, "les Petoulet" returned to racing at the start on 1949 with Simca-Gordini winning in Anglouleme.

Formula One Career[]

1950[]

In 1950, "les Petoulet" remained at the Simca-Gordini team and took the little blue car to victory at the non-championship Geneva race but would only enter two World Championship events, at Monaco, where he would be involved in a multi-car pile-up and Monza where he would suffer car problems.

In contrast his teammate Robert Manzon would race additionally at Reims in the French Grand Prix and secure 3 World Championship points.

Formula One Statistical Overview[]

Formula One Record[]

Year Entrant Team WDC Points WDC Pos. Report
1950 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini 0 NC Report
1951 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini 0 NC Report
1952 Ecurie Rosier Ferrari 2 21st Report
Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini
1953 Equipe Gordini Simca-Gordini 4 11th Report
1954 Ecurie Rosier
Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari 17 4th Report
1955 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 11.333 4th Report
1956 Vandervell Products Ltd. Vanwall 0 NC Report
Automobiles Bugatti Bugatti
1957 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 5 13th Report
1958 Rob Walker Racing Team Cooper-Climax 12 7th Report
Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati
Owen Racing Organisation BRM
1959 Rob Walker Racing Team Cooper-Climax 19 5th Report
1960 Rob Walker Racing Team Cooper-Climax 0 NC Report
Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper-Maserati
David Brown Corporation Aston Martin
1961 Scuderia Serenissima Cooper-Maserati 0 NC Report
1962 Rob Walker Racing Team Lotus-Climax 0 NC Report
1963 Reg Parnell Racing Lola-Climax 0 NC Report
Lotus-Climax
Scuderia Centro Sud BRM
1964 Maurice Trintignant BRM 2 17th Report

Career Statistics[]

Entries 89
Starts 84
Pole Positions 0
Sprint Poles 0
Front Row Starts 2
Race Wins 2
Sprint Wins 0
Podiums 10
Sprint Podiums 0
Fastest Laps 1
Sprint Fastest Laps 0
Points 72.333
Laps Raced 3486
Distance Raced 21,377 km (13,283 mi)
Races Led 3
Laps Led 78
Distance Led 261 km (162 mi)

Race Wins[]

Win Number Grand Prix
1 1955 Monaco Grand Prix
2 1958 Monaco Grand Prix

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 0 NC
Ret 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
DNA Ret Ret Ret Ret
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 2 21st
DNS 5th Ret Ret 6th Ret
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 4 11th
7th
[1]
6th 5th Ret Ret Ret Ret 5th
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 17 4th
4th 2nd Ret 5th 3rd Ret 5th 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 11.33 4th
2nd[2]
3rd[3]
1st 6th Ret C Ret C C 8th 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
Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret
1957 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Abruzzo bandiera Flag of Italy 5 13th
5th Ret 4th
[4]
1958 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands 48-star U S flag Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Portugal Flag of Italy Flag of Morocco 12 7th
1st 9th 7th Ret 8th 3rd 8th Ret Ret
1959 Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Portugal Flag of Italy US flag 49 stars 19 5th
3rd 8th 11th 5th 4th 4th 9th 2nd
1960 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco US flag 49 stars Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Portugal Flag of Italy Flag of the United States 0 NC
3rd
[5]
Ret Ret Ret 11th 15th
1961 Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States 0 NC
7th Ret 13th Ret 9th
1962 Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 0 NC
WD Ret 8th 7th Ret Ret Ret
1963 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 0 NC
Ret 8th 9th
1964 Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Austria Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 2 17th
Ret 11th DNQ 5th DNA 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
  1. Shared drive with Harry Schell
  2. Shared drive with José Froilán González and Guiseppe Farina
  3. Shared drive with Guiseppe Farina and Umberto Maglioli
  4. Shared drive with Peter Collins
  5. Shared drive with Stirling Moss. No Points awarded


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