André Simon

Born in Paris, this Frenchman, the son of a garage owner, started his motor racing career in 1948 in a Talbot-Lago bought with borrowed money. Simon's talent did not go unnoticed by the racing team owner and engine tuner of the time, Amédée Gordini, who entered him in his Simca-Gordini Formula 2 car in 1950 and 1951. Simon achieved a number of good results and established Simca-Gordini as the second force in Formula 2 behind Ferrari. After he had already had a taste of Formula 1 racing in 1951 in the Gordini T15, the Italians hired him as a guest driver for their Formula 1 team in the 1952 season, but this intermezzo at Ferrari remained without any countable successes for Simon.

After a lengthy break due to illness, Simon again drove a few races for Gordini in 1954, but was soon hired as a replacement for the Mercedes-Benz racing team. In 1955, he replaced Hans Herrmann in the W 196 R Formula 1 racing car after the latter's serious accident in Monaco and, together with Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, was able to achieve third place in the 300 SLR racing sports car at the Tourist Trophy in Dundrod, Ireland.

After this last outing in a Mercedes-Benz, three Grand Prix races in a Formula 1 Maserati followed until 1957, which remained without any repercussions. From 1960 onwards, Simon drove a private Ferrari in sports car races and took individual victories until 1964, for example in the Tour de France Auto in 1962. In 1965, the Frenchman ended his racing career. In 1966, he suffered life-threatening injuries in a serious traffic accident. After his recovery, he devoted himself to his car repair shop again until he retired in 1984.