Maurice Trintignant

Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917 - 13 February 2005), nicknamed "Le Petoulet" ("little rat droppings"), was a French racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1964, achieving one of the longest careers in the sport's history. Born in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes, Vaucluse, France, as the youngest of five sons to a prosperous vineyard owner, Trintignant learned to drive at age nine on the family estate. He was the brother of Bugatti race car driver Louis Trintignant, who was killed in 1933 during practice at Péronne, and uncle to renowned French film actor Jean-Louis Trintignant. Trintignant began racing in 1938 and won the 1939 Grand Prix des Frontières before World War II interrupted his career.

During the war, his Bugatti was stored in a barn for preservation. In 1948, Trintignant suffered a near-fatal accident during a support race for the Swiss Grand Prix. His heart stopped beating for one minute and fifteen seconds at the hospital and he was pronounced dead, but miraculously he revived and woke from a week-long coma. For six months he suffered from amnesia and loss of motor skills but eventually made an almost complete recovery.

His wife offered him a stuffed teddy bear during his recovery, and as a superstition, Trintignant kept it in his pocket while racing for the rest of his career, becoming one of motorsport's most enduring good luck charms. Trintignant's Formula One career spanned 15 seasons, during which he competed for 11 different teams, demonstrating remarkable versatility and adaptability. He participated in the first post-war liberation races in 1945 and continued racing in Formula One until 1964, witnessing the sport's complete transformation from its earliest days through to the mid-1960s. He became the first Frenchman to win a World Championship Grand Prix and scored two victories, both at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1955 and 1958.

Unusually for Monaco, both victories came from relatively far down the grid, as Trintignant started those races from ninth and fifth respectively, demonstrating his exceptional racecraft and ability to capitalize on attrition at the demanding street circuit. Trintignant finished fourth in both the 1954 and 1955 World Drivers' Championships while driving for Ferrari, his best championship results, demonstrating his competitiveness against the era's leading drivers including Fangio and Moss. In 1956, he drove the Bugatti Type 251 in the French Grand Prix, becoming the last driver to represent the famed marque at a Grand Prix race, a bittersweet moment in motorsport history. Between 1959 and 1966, Trintignant held the record for most World Championship Grand Prix starts, a testament to his longevity and consistency.

Even in his final season in 1964, at age 46, driving his own BRM P57, he scored points with a fifth-place finish at the German Grand Prix on the intimidating Nürburgring, proving his enduring competitiveness. Trintignant's nickname "Le Petoulet" came from an incident in 1945 when he retired from an event with a mechanical problem traced to the fuel filter, which had served as a nest for rats during the war and was full of rat droppings. Driver Jean-Pierre Wimille found this so amusing that he nicknamed Trintignant "Le Petoulet," and the name stuck throughout his entire career. Beyond Formula One, Trintignant entered 15 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1950 to 1965, winning in 1954 alongside José Froilán González driving a Ferrari 375 Plus, and finishing runner-up in 1959.

Known for his conservative, reliable driving style, Trintignant drove a huge variety of cars for many teams, earning respect as a dependable, intelligent driver who could extract competitive performances from various machinery. Following his retirement from racing, Trintignant returned to a quiet life as a wine-grower near Vergèze in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine-growing region, naming his vintage "Le Petoulet" in honor of his racing nickname. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by the French president in 1960 and served as Mayor of Vergèze. Maurice Trintignant passed away on 13 February 2005 at age 87, remembered as one of Formula One's most enduring competitors and a driver whose career bridged the sport's formative years through its evolution into the modern era.