Robert Manzon (12 April 1917 – 19 January 2015) was a French racing driver.
He participated in 29 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 21 May 1950. He achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 16 championship points. At the time of his death, Manzon was the last surviving driver to have taken part in the first Formula One World Championship in 1950. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Robert Manzon participated in 29 Formula One World Championship races, taking two podiums, and spent most of his career driving for Equipe Gordini. He was also active in sports car races, competing at Le Mans seven times and at the time of his death was the last surviving driver to have raced in the first Formula One World Championship in 1950.
Born in Marseilles in 1917, he began his career as a mechanic then in 1947 bought a Cisitalia D46 to participate in the Robert Benoist Cup in Nimes. In his very first race he finished third, behind Wimille and De Saugé/Sommer but ahead of Harry Schell and Amedee Gordini. Shortly after this he finished second in Angouleme, after a win in the first heat and achieving the fastest lap of the day. Following this he went on to finish fourth in Reims and his performances attracted the attention of Amedée Gordini, who decided to hire him.
1948 began with a second place in Perpignan with his Cisitalia and in his first race in a Gordini he finished third in Geneva. Returning to Angouleme for the 12 Hours Paris race, he again won his heat and took fastest lap but retired in the final. During this time, at one race he saved Maurice Trintignant’s life after he was thrown from his car and onto the track. Unfortunately the driverless car rebounded on to the track and was heading towards him and he told in his biography “At this moment Manzon arrived at about 200km/h. If he had passed over me, he could have gotten out of this situation. But he did not hesitate to hit my car, risking his own life to save mine. Heaven thank him for his generous act and he was not injured. Ten years later I have not forgotten-these are things that cannot be forgotten-and I am still saying ‘Thank you Manzon’.”
In 1949 he finished second in F2 races at Angouleme (after taking the first heat) and Lausanne while in the Madrid sports GP he won his heat though retired while leading the final. There was a retirement from the 24 Heures de Spa Yves (co-driving with Giraud-Cabantous) while also leading but there were victories in the Bol d’Or at Montlhery plus a Mont-Ventoux hillclimb with a sports Gordini.
In 1950, the year of the first World F1 Championship, the team missed the first race at Silverstone but entered two Simca-Gordini T15s at Monte-Carlo for him and Maurice Trintignant. He qualified eleventh but unfortunately was among the nine drivers who had an accident at the Bureau de Tabac bend; he fortunately only suffered a jaw injury. After this came the French GP at Reims where he scored three points thanks to an impressive fourth place. Before Monaco, he had driven well and qualified on pole in the Marseilles F2 GP (but retired from the race) though finished fifth in Pau and second at Roubaix. Between the Monaco and French GPs he was third in Bremgarten and later in the year won an F2 race at Sambre & Meuse in Belgium (after two second places in the heats) and a week later won in Périgueux (again after winning his heat). There was a third place in sports cars at Rheinland Nurburgring while in June, Gordini entered Le Mans with their T15S though he and Maurice Trintignant retired after 34 laps with a broken radiator.
Returning to Le Mans the next year, he shared a Gordini T15S with Andre Simon but though they were fastest in class a broken engine ended their race after five hours. From March to June he took part in seven races, frustratingly retiring from six then finishing thirteenth at Monza. He finished fourth in the first heat of Silverstone’s International Trophy, fourth at Angouleme and then repeated his victory in the Sambre & Meuse Trophy. There were podiums in Rouen, Aix-les-Bains, Erlen and Cadours (victory and pole in the first heat) while in the F1 Championship, of the four races he entered his best results were sixth and seventh at Monza and the Nürburgring.
1952 saw him contest all the Championship races except Indianapolis and score his first podium in the Belgian Grand Prix with his Gordini T16 (behind Ferrari drivers Alberto Ascari and Nino Farina). He was third on the grid at the Swiss GP and challenging Taruffi in the race until a holed radiator ended his run. He was fourth in the French GP but retired in the British GP, after having qualified fourth on the grid. At the Nürburgring the front row was taken by Ferrari drivers Ascari and Farina, with Robert on the second row, but in the eighth lap his car lost a wheel while two weeks later he finished fifth at Zandvoort. The season ended in Italy where, after qualifying fourth, he drove a good race, fighting with N.Farina and F.Bonetto, until he dropped back after being forced to pit. After scoring points in three races he finished sixth in the World Drivers’ Championship. Besides being one of his best seasons, it was also a busy one as he contested more than 30 races. He was third and fourth in Temporada races, finished second in a shared drive with Prince Bira in Marseilles then won a heat of the International Trophy at Silverstone. The Monaco GP was not a part of the F1 World Championship that year and there were two races in two days. On the first day he won in the Gordini T15S, though on the second day, he was leading ahead of S.Moss’ Jaguar but crashed due to a pile-up. At Le Mans, he was teamed with J.Behra and after the Jaguars retired they became the leaders until forced to retire after nine hours. He later told reporters “As Behra and I drove, we never exceeded the engine speed limit fixed by Amedee Gordini. I was never at full speed. My best lap in 4’43” was easy. I could be as fast as 4’38” (best lap by Ascari in 4’40”5) because this engine operates perfectly. And the car is really great: good road holding, very precise and very safe. Then, a catastrophe: no more brakes! You see, the brakes made by Gordini are very powerful and efficient. Our brakes are so powerful that Behra and I did not pay any attention to them.” Shortly after his F1 podium at Belgium, he was on pole with a Gordini 19S for a Reims sports GP and told how ”My car was perfect: powerful and remarkably balanced. Thus there was a huge gap between Moss and me. At the end of the 16th lap, I was easily leading the race but a stub axle broke while I was braking before La Garenne. I was in 3rd gear. The wheel and the brakes went away: I suddenly had only three wheels left and no more brakes!” He was able to jump out before the car crashed against a pylon and was fortunate to only sustain slight injuries. At then end of the year he entered the Carrara Panamericana though retired from it with the T15S but had a victory in the Coupes du Salon at Montlhery.
At the first race of 1953’s World Championship in Buenos Aires, a serious accident sadly resulted in nine spectators being killed when N.Farina crashed into the crowd. The race continued and after Fangio’s retirement, he was running second, though dropped to sixth after pitting for new tyres but his race would eventually end after losing a wheel. He stated afterwards “This is the third time I lost a wheel during a race. It is a pity because my strategy was good and I could have scored a good result” but told how “spectators were unconscious of the danger, they were crossing over the track. On lap 7 I nearly hit a policeman’s horse!” By now he had had enough of the retirements and accidents, due to the cars’ frailties, and he and Maurice Trintignant wrote a letter to Amedee Gordini, explaining that this situation could not last any longer. However, Gordini did not reply and so Robert, after five seasons with them, left the team. He then drove for Scuderia Lancia in sports cars and early races at Nimes and Marrakesh saw him finish third and fourth. Although he raced in the Targa Florio, 12 Hours Hyeres, at Porto, Monza, the Nurburgring (with P.Taruffi), Le Mans (with L.Chiron), he retired from them though late in the season finished second in the Coppa Inter-Europa.
He continued driving for Lancia the following year and made his debut at the Sebring 12 Hours, though retired the Lancia D24 (shared with P.Taruffi) but towards the end of the year he was third with the D24 at the Tourist Trophy in Dundrod. He contested the Mille Miglia with Fugolc in a Renault 4CV while in the May he was in the Targa Florio though retired after an accident. In the middle of the year he joined Scuderia Ferrari to drive a Ferrari 375 Plus at Le Mans, with Louis Rosier, and they were among the front-runners until a transmission broke and forced them to retire after fifteen hours. Soon after he raced a Ferrari 625 for Louis Rosier’s team in the French GP at Reims and took his second career podium, finishing third behind Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling’s Mercedes. There were a further four Grand Prix races with the Ferrari, finishing ninth in Germany though retiring in Great Britain, Italy and Spain.
After being contacted by Amedee Gordini to return and race for them, 1955 saw him back with Gordini but it was a disappointing time. His best result was fifth in a minor F1 race in Bordeaux but at Le Mans he did not even start the race as his team mate Elie Bayol destroyed the car during practice. He raced a Renault 4CV 1063 with Louis Pons and Jean Hebert in the Sebring 12 Hours, though retired due to an accident but finished third in a Ferrari 860 Monza with Eugenio Castellotti in the Targa Florio. The year would be rounded off with a journey to Venezuela where he and Jean Lucas finished seventh at Caracas with the Gordini T24S.
1956 was his last season and in Championship races he seemed on course for a fifth place at Monaco with the Gordini but the engine failed ten laps from the finish. He was ninth at Reims and Silverstone though retired at Nurburgring and Monza while at Le Mans, he and Jean Guichet retired after seven hours while they were running sixth. He did take two victories that year, the first in the Naples GP, which would also be the last one by a Gordini in F1 while the second came in a Gordini T15S at Pescara and this was also the last victory by a sports Gordini. Also in sports cars, he contested the 1000Km Nurburgring with Cesare Perdisa in a Maserati 350S, raced a Ferrari 500TR to fifth in the 12 Hour Reims (with Francois Picard) and contested the Mille Miglia with Borsa in a DB Panhard.
In February of 1957, he was entered to race a Gordini for the Cuba GP but due to a strike by dockers there, the cars were not unloaded from the boat and he had to miss the event. After racing, he ran a garage and also operated his own diesel equipment distribution business. He died at his home in Cassis, in the south of France in 2015 and was the last living driver who had taken part in the first Formula One season in 1950.
Robert Manzon – The first musketeer – from 
