It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember the Behra-Porsche entry.
Jean Behra was a French Formula One driver who had raced for Gordini in the 1950s and had gained many podium finishes during his career. In 1959, he joined Ferrari to race for them, although he also decided to make his own team.
He had Porsche build him a car. He entered the car into the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, allowing his friend Maria Teresa de Filippis, who was the first ever female Formula One driver, to drive the car. Unfortunately, the car didn’t qualify for the race.
While in a heated discussion with the Ferrari team manager, Romolo Tavoni, Behra punched Tavoni and another person. This led to his dismissal from the Ferrari team. However, this meant that Behra could drive his own car at the German Grand Prix. It was the first and only season that Formula One would meet at the AVUS circuit in Berlin. Behra had also entered a sports car in another race at AVUS that weekend.
However, it was at that race were Behra would suffer a fatal accident. Behra sailed over the top of the banked corner, being ejected from his car and striking a flagpole. Behra had died instantly. His car was not raced in the German Grand Prix.
Following his death, Berha’s car was sold to the Camoradi International team in 1960. It was entered into the Argentinian and Italian races that season. Although the car finished both races, it was many laps behind the race leader on both occasions. This meant that the Behra-Porsche would end it’s racing days without a single point in Formula One.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
