Jean Behra - The man with the checkered helmet

©KlemantaskiCollection

Only the older generation will recall French motor racing star Jean Behra who took part in 52 F1 world championship events in the 1950s with the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams, and who sadly died on this day in 1959.

He's pictured above at the 1957 non-championship Morocco Grand Prix, flanked by Rob Walker on his left and his lightweight Maserat 250F on his right.

A three-time French motorbike champion before transferring to F1, Behra finished on the podium on nine occasions but never managed to win a Grand Prix, making him one of the fastest drivers - along with Kiwi Chris Amon - never to score an F1 victory.

Famous for being sacked by Ferrari when he punched team manager Romolo Tavoni after the 1959 French Grand Prix, Behra sadly died less than a month later when he crashed his Porsche RSK in wet weather while competing in the sports car race that preceded the German Grand Prix at the AVUS Ring in Berlin on August 1.

He was thrown from his car and sustained fatal injuries when he hit a flagpole. Behra was just 38.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.