André Simon (5 January 1920 – 11 July 2012) was a racing driver from France.
He participated in Formula One from 1951 to 1957, competing in a total of 12 World Championship races but scoring no championship points. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
A key member of the Simca-Gordini marque in Grands Prix and F2, Andre Simon also raced for Ferrari and drove for Mercedes in GP and sports cars. Born in Paris in 1920, Andre’s father sadly died when he was only nine so he was raised by his uncle and eventually started working in the family’s garage business. After the war he bought a Talbot Lago and raced for the first time at Montlhery in 1948, and won the race and a friend then lent him a Delahaye for the Comminges GP in Saint Gardens, where he finished seventh.
In 1949 he drove a Gordini in an F2 race at the Circuit du Lac (in the streets of Aix-les-Bains) and soon after drove a Delahaye 135 with Pierre Flahault at Le Mans. At one point they were running second until mechanical problems forced a pit stop and after rejoining the race he even took fastest lap but at the nineteenth hour they were forced to retire. His performance brought him to the attention of Amédée Gordini who signed him to race for his team, alongside J.Behra, R.Manzon and M.Trintignant.
Racing for Gordini, he took a number of second-place finishes (German GP, Aix-les-Bains, Angouleme, Reims, Geneva and Perigueux) during 1950 plus also finished second behind Robert Manzon in the Mont-Ventoux hillclimb. He continued to race for Gordini in both Grands Prix and Formula 2 the following season, winning at Les Sables d’Olonne. In the following season he participated in the World Drivers Championship for the first time though retired from the first two races, the ACF GP and German GP. However he took a sixth place finish at the Italian GP and finished the championship with ninth in the Spanish GP. Competing in f2 events, Andre had a victory at Les Sables-D’Olonne, second at Mettet, third in Aix-les-Bains and achieved the fastest lap at Erlen. By now he had come to the attention of Enzo Ferrari, who hired him for the 1952 season though before he joined the scarlet team he contested the Temporada with Gordini, taking fifth in the Uruguayan GP at Piriapolis. Andre found himself racing against a formidable line up of team mates; all great Italian drivers in a great Italian team-A.Ascari, L.Villoresi, P.Taruffi and N.Farina. He contested six races with Ferrari, retiring in Naples but then qualified fourth at Bremgarten for the Swiss GP (behind Farina, Taruffi and Manzon). Andre made a good start and was fighting with Jean Behra for second place but after Farina retired he was asked to stop in order to be replaced by him; Farina would retire 11 laps from the end. In the Paris GP he finished second (sharing with Farina) though he took a second place at the Autodromo di Monza GP, after finishing third in the first heat and second in the second heat. Then came the Comminges GP, where, after Ascari retired, Andre had to hand over his Ferrari 500 to him but as he went on to win André was officially classed as winning a Grand Prix for the Scuderia. Following this was the Italian GP, where he gained four places in the first eight laps, and went on finish sixth. During the year he also competed at Le Mans, finishing fifth with Lucien Vincent in Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari 340 America.
At the beginning of 1953 Andre was badly injured by a garage fire and a troubled recovery meant he was rarely seen during this season. From then on, he raced intermittently as an independent in both Grands Prix and sports car events. There were some good results with a Gordini in 1954, taking third in the International Trophy at Silverstone (behind Gonzalez’s Ferrari and Behra’s Gordini) then fourth in the Rome GP at Castel Fusano, sharing with Jean Behra who had retired during the race. After buying a Maserati 250F he finished sixtth at Pau, though retired in Bordeaux, but he and his car were then incorporated into the Ecurie Rosier team and he went on to finish fourth in the International Trophy. Soon after, at short notice, he was asked to replace the injured Hans Herrmann at Mercedes for the Monaco GP and found himself lining up with J.M. Fangio and S.Moss. He started tenth on the grid though all three Mercedes retired, Andre’s after 25 laps but a week later at Albi he took pole, fastest lap and then victory at the wheel of his Maserati. Sadly, tragedy followed soon afterwards at Le Mans, where he was driving a Mercedes 300SL with Karl Kling when Alfred Neubauer called his drivers in after the appalling accident. He qualified eighth in the British GP for Maserati though retired but later contested the Tourist Trophy in Dundrod with Wolfang Von Trips, going on to finish third in a Mercedes 300SLR, following the other two 300SLR cars home in a dramatic one-two-three finish.
Driving a Maserati 250F, he won the Albi GP in 1955, and raced in several more Grands Prix after this with his best a second place podium in a rain-soaked 1956 Caen GP in a Gordini.
He drove an OSCA in the F2 support race at the 1957 Grand Prix de Reims but began concentrating more on sports car and GT racing. At Le Mans, he shared a Maserati 450S with Jean Behra and they were leading but retired after an accident affected the fuel tank. His final F1 appearance would come that year, finishing eleventh in a shared Maserati 250F with Ottorino Volonterio at the Italian GP. There followed a new chapter in his career and he bought a Ferrari 250 GT LWB and competed in various GT races and rallies. In 1960, he won the Paris GP at Montlhéry, taking victory by nearly twenty one seconds over second place Wolfgang Seidel and finished sixth in the Bordeaux Quest Rally with Jean Sage, (who later became Renault F1 team manager at the end of the 70s). He was third in the Paris 1000km at Montlhéry at the wheel of Jo Schlesser’s private Ferrari 250 GT.
In the following year he bought a new 250 GT and was third in the GP Rouen plus was victorious again on his return to the Prix de Paris.
1962 saw him contest the Targa Florio and Le Mans and he won what may be the most important victory of his career, the Tour de France with Maurice Dupeyron. There was also a third place in the Trophee d’Auvergne at the Circuit de la Charade, battling against cars such as Ferrari 250GTs, Porsche 718s and Aston Martin DB4s.
At Le Mans in 1963 he shared a Maserati Tipo 151 with Lucky Casner but after the traditional sprint to the cars at the start of the race, Andre was unable to open the door as it was locked! He finally managed to wrench it open but it struck his nose and he started a long way behind the others, with his nose bleeding. However despite being a long way behind when he finally got going, by the time he came round at the end of the first lap he was in the lead and they kept a number of Ferraris behind them for two hours until retiring after four hours.
There was a return to Le Mans in 1964 (with Maurice Trintignant) but due to problems with the throttle cable at the star, when they finally started it drove its first hours at the back, a long way from the front-runners. However, by 9pm they were running in third place though eventually retired at midnight with electrical problems. He and M.Trintignant also contested the Reims 12 Hours and the Paris 1000 km plus he and M.Dupeyron co-drove a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe in the Tour de France, though did not finish in them.
He continued racing in 1965 where he finished twelfth in the 1000Km Nurburgring race with a Ford France Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe with Jo Schlesser. He then retired but in 1966 he was involved in a serious road accident and spent 14 days in a coma though recovered and continued to run his garage until his retirement in 1984.
Andre passed away in 2012 at the age of 92.
André Simon – The relay runner – from 
