- Robert Manzon 1917-2015
1950 veteran Manzon dies aged 97
ESPN Staff
January 20, 2015
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The last surviving man to race in F1's inaugural championship in 1950, Robert Manzon, has died aged 97.
Manzon started 28 world championship grand prix races, including six for Ferrari in 1954, finishing on the podium twice. Considered one of the rising starts of the immediate post-war era, he was third in Belgium in 1952 and repeated the achievement at his home race with the Prancing Horse two years later.
Though he missed the inaugural world championship race at Silverstone, Manzon debuted at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix for Simca-Gordini. The championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina.
Friends of Manzon, a founding member of the former Grand Prix Drivers' Club, say the Frenchman died at his home in the south of France.
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ESPN Staff
