Louis Chiron

Louis Chiron

Nation:	Monaco
Automobile world championship
First start:	Great Britain Grand Prix 1950
Last start:	1955 Monaco Grand Prix
Constructors
1950  Maserati • 1951  Maserati , Talbot • 1953  OSCA • 1955  Lancia
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup tenth ( 1950 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 15th - - -
World Cup points :	4th
Podiums :	1
Leadership laps :	-

Alexandre Louis Chiron (born August 3, 1899 in Monte Carlo ; † June 22, 1979 ibid) was a Monaco racing car driver .

Career

The racing career of Louis Chiron, who was nicknamed "Old Fox", spanned over 30 years. He contested his first races in a private Bugatti in 1926 and was able to celebrate his first successes in smaller races and hill climbs in 1927 and 1928. In addition, Chiron was instrumental in organizing the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 , which, apart from minor interruptions, continues to this day. He drove for Alfa Romeo from 1933 to 1935.

Chiron was the most successful driver in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Among his victories are among 1928 the Grand Prix of Italy , Rome and Marne , in 1930 the Belgian Grand Prix , in 1931 the Grand Prix of Monaco , of France and Czechoslovakia , in 1933 the Spanish Grand Prix and in 1934 the Grand Prix of France .

For the Mercedes-Benz - factory team Chiron entered twice. At the Grand Prix of Monaco and Germany in 1936 , both races did not finish. After that, he retired a little from racing and only occasionally competed in Talbot , partly because there were no competitive cars apart from the Silver Arrows from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union . In Germany, he became popular in the 1930s primarily through his lifelong friendship with Rudolf Caracciola .

After the Second World War , Louis Chiron competed again with Talbot and Maserati . His last big win was the 1949 French Grand Prix . As part of the Formula 1 World Championship , which at that time was still called the Automobile World Championship, he achieved third place in Monaco in 1950 .

In 1955 he contested his last Grand Prix in Monaco in a Lancia D50 at the age of almost 56 years and finished the race in sixth place. This makes him the oldest driver to have ever participated in a Formula 1 World Championship race.

1956 Chiron resigned from active racing. Until his death in 1979 he continued to organize the Monaco Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo Rally .

The Bugatti Chiron was named after him in 2016 .

statistics

Pre-war Grand Prix results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	Points	position
1930								-
	1	NC
1931								13	6th
	DNF	1	DNF
1932								17th	5.
	DNF	4th	DNF
1933								-
	4th	DNF	DNF	DNF	1
1934								-
	2	1	3	DNF	4th	10
1935								40	10.
	5	DNF	3	DNF	DNF	DNS	DNF
1936								28	18th
	DNF	DNF

Legend
colour	meaning		EM points
gold	victory		1
silver	2nd place		2
bronze	3rd place		3
green	Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance		4th
blue	not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance		5
violet	not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance		6th
red	not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance		7th
colour	abbreviation	meaning	EM points
black	DSQ	disqualified	8th
White	DNS	did not start
	DNA	did not arrive
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1950	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 4CLT / 48	Maserati 1.5 L4s	5	-	-	1	-	-	4th	10.
1951	Enrico Platé	Maserati 4CLT / 48	Maserati 1.5 L4s	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-
1953	Louis Chiron	Osca 20	OSCA 2.0 L6	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1955	Scuderia Lancia	Lancia D50	Lancia 2.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
total				15th	-	-	1	-	-	-

Drivers world championship

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1950
	DNF	3		9		DNF	DNF
1951
	7th		DNF	6th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
1953
					NC	DNS		DNS	10
1955
		6th
1956
		DNS
1958
		DNQ

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
1928	Grand Garage Saint-Didier Paris	Chrysler 72 Six	Cyril de Vère	disqualified
1929	Société de Carrosserie Weymann	Stutz Model M Blackhawk	Edouard Brisson	failure	Clutch damage
1931	Bugatti team	Bugatti T50S	Achille Varzi	failure	withdrawn
1932	Guy Bouriat	Bugatti Type 55	Guy Bouriat	failure	Leak in the fuel tank
1933	Capt. GET Eyston	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM	Franco Cortese	failure	accident
1937	Luigi Chinetti	Talbot T150C	Luigi Chinetti	failure	Engine failure
1938	Ecurie Bleue	Delahaye 145	René Dreyfus	failure	no oil pressure
1951	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 340 America Barchetta	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	failure	Disqualified
1953	Scuderia Lancia	Lancia D.20 Compressor	Robert Manzon	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Lancia	Lancia D20	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					DNF
1954	Donald Healey Motor Company Monte Carlo Auto Sport	Austin-Healey 100 Osca MT4	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
					DNF			8th
1956	Monte Carlo Sports	Osca S750 Osca MT4	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
					DNF	DNF
1957		Citroën DS19	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
					103

Web links

Commons : Louis Chiron  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: Louis Alexandre Chiron (MC). www.kolumbus.fi, November 11, 2019, accessed on November 19, 2019 . 
• Louis Chiron in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bugatti: The new Bugatti is called Chiron - world premiere in Geneva 2016. (No longer available online.) In: Bugatti. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on March 1, 2016 .