André Simon (racing driver)

André Simon

Nation:	France
Automobile world championship
First start:	1951 French Grand Prix
Last start:	1957 Italian Grand Prix
Constructors
1951 Gordini  1952 Scuderia Ferrari  1955 Mercedes - Maserati  1956 Gordini - Maserati 1957 Maserati
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 11 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

André Simon (born January 5, 1920 in Paris , † July 11, 2012 in Évian-les-Bains ) was a French Formula 1 and sports car racing driver .

Life

André was born the son of a car workshop owner who also ran a dealership for Mathis in La Varenne . His father died at the age of nine, so that his uncle raised him. Just four years later, Simon was working in the family's workshop.

After World War II , Simon borrowed money for the purchase of a Talbot-Lago - sports car around with it in 1948 in Montlhéry a sports car race to contest. A friend lent him his own Delahaye for use at the Grand Prix du Comminges just a few months later.

In 1949 , the already experienced Eugène Chaboud asked him if he would like to share the effort in the Le Mans 24-hour race with him. His work there drew Amadée Gordini's attention to him, for whom he was racing in Formula 2 with great success in 1950 and 1951 . 1951 had Simon, also on Gordini, his first starts in Formula 1 world championship races, at the Grand Prix of Italy he reached the sixth place.

During the automobile world championship in 1952 , André Simon was invited as a guest driver by Scuderia Ferrari to compete for the red racers in France . But he did not have the desired success and a serious illness at the end of the year interrupted his career for a whole year. In 1954 he drove for Gordini again and when Hans Herrmann injured himself during training for the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix , he stepped in as a guest driver for Mercedes . Again Simon had no luck and had to give up due to a technical defect. He joined Maserati later that year . He celebrated his greatest success with a win at the Grand Prix d'Albi, which was not part of the World Cup . He was not successful in world championship races; his last appearance was at the Italian Grand Prix in 1957 .

André Simon later switched to the Scuderia Ferrari sports car team, where he achieved a number of victories between 1960 and 1964. Then he said goodbye to actual motorsport , but had a road accident in 1966 so badly that he was in a coma for two weeks .

Recovered from this, Simon continued his workshop until he retired in 1984.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1951	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T15	Gordini 1.5 L4s	4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1952	Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz W196	Mercedes 2.5 L8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-
1956	André Simon	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 2.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-
1957	Ottorino Volonterio	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
total				11	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
1951
	DNA			DNF		DNF	6th	DNF
1952
	DNF							6th
1955
		DNF				DNF
1956
					DNF			9
1957
		DNQ						11

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1949	Charles Pozzi	Delahaye 175S	Pierre Flahault	failure	Engine failure
1950	Automobiles Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15S	Aldo Gordini	failure	Gearbox damage
1951	Equipe Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15S	Robert Manzon	failure	Ignition distributor
1952	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta	Lucien Vincent	Rank 5
1954	Automobiles Gordini	Gordini T24S	Jean Behra	failure	Ignition damage
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Karl Kling	withdrawn
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 625LM Spider Touring	Phil Hill	failure	Power transmission
1957	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 450S	Jean Behra	failure	accident
1960	Automobiles OSCA	OSCA Sport 750	Jean Laroche	failure	Engine failure
1962	Fernand Tavano	Ferrari 250 GTO	Fernand Tavano	failure	Differential damage
1963	Maserati France Johnny Simone	Maserati Tipo 151/3	Lloyd Casner	failure	accident
1964	Maserati France	Maserati Tipo 151	Maurice Trintignant	failure	Electrics

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1954	Gordini	Gordini T24S	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						DNF	3
1956	Maserati	Maserati 300S	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
							DNF
1957	Maserati	Maserati 450S	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
							DNF
1960	Osca	OSCA Sport 750	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
							DNF
1962	Fernand Tavano André Simon	Ferrari 250 GT Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
							DNF			DNF	3						6th
1963	Maserati France	Maserati Tipo 151 Fiat 2300	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
												DNF											DNF
1964	Maserati France Ford France	Maserati Tipo 151 Shelby Daytona	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
											DNF	DNF							DNF			DNF
1965	Ford France	Shelby Daytona	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
											12

Web links

• André Simon at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary (English)