Jean Behra

Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 - 1 August 1959): French racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1952 to 1959, contesting 54 Formula One Grands Prix across eight seasons for Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari, and Behra-Porsche. Originally a motorcycle racer for Moto Guzzi, he won four French national titles between 1948 and 1951 before switching full-time to four wheels in 1952, winning two non-championship races that year alongside a podium at his first race, the Swiss Grand Prix. He raced for Gordini from 1952-1954, achieving his first podium with third place on his debut at Bremgarten and finishing fifth at Nürburgring. At Maserati (1955-1956) he achieved nine podiums and one fastest lap, finishing fourth in the 1956 World Drivers' Championship with five podium finishes in his best F1 season.

He switched to BRM for 1958 but discovered the car was even more unreliable than Maserati—from nine races started, he finished only two, once on the podium. In 1959 he moved to Ferrari partnering Tony Brooks. Known for being hard-charging and temperamental, in 1955 he had an ear torn off from a collision. He was dismissed from Ferrari after assaulting a team manager shortly before his death. Although he never achieved victory in a World Championship Formula One race, he died at the AVUS circuit in Berlin on 1 August 1959 when he spun off on the banking during a sports car race preceding the Grand Prix, hit a flagpole, and suffered fatal skull fractures.