Johnny Servoz-Gavin

Johnny Servoz-Gavin
Johnny Servoz-Gavin
Born	Georges-Francis Servoz-Gavin; 18 January 1942 (age 84); Grenoble, France
Died	29 May 2006 (aged 64)
Other names	Johnny
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	1965–1970
Known for	French Formula Three Champion (1966), European Formula Two Champion (1969), Formula One driver for Matra and Tyrrell

Georges-Francis "Johnny" Servoz-Gavin (18 January 1942 – 29 May 2006) was a French racing driver who competed in both sportscar and single-seater disciplines.

Between 1967 and 1970, he participated in 13 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, managing to qualify for all but one. Primarily racing for Tyrrell as the teammate to Jackie Stewart, he secured a single podium finish and accumulated nine points in the championship standings.

Early life

Born in Grenoble, France, Servoz-Gavin earned the nickname "Johnny" during his early years working as a ski instructor.

Lower formulae

He started his motorsport journey by developing sports cars with Matra and shifted from rallying to single-seater competitions. After completing training at the Magny-Cours racing school, he entered the French Formula Three Championship in 1965, driving a privately owned Brabham BT18. By the late 1960s, he had established himself as an emerging talent alongside Jacky Ickx and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, capturing the French Formula Three title in 1966 with a factory Matra MS5 and later winning the European Formula Two Championship in 1969.

Formula One

Servoz-Gavin’s achievements in Formula Three opened the door to a Formula One seat with Matra. His most notable year was 1968, during which he finished second at the Italian Grand Prix, earning six points. At that year's Monaco Grand Prix, substituting for Jackie Stewart, he started from the front row and led early before retiring due to a driveshaft failure after clipping a barrier—an incident reminiscent of Lorenzo Bandini’s fatal accident the previous year. In 1969, he became the only driver to score points in Formula One while piloting the four-wheel-drive Matra MS84 at the Canadian Grand Prix.

An eye injury sustained during an off-road event over the winter of 1969–70 raised concerns about his eyesight. Racing with Tyrrell in a March 701, he finished fifth (last) at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix but failed to qualify for Monaco and subsequently crashed into a barrier once more. Considering the dangers of racing alongside potential vision problems, Servoz-Gavin opted to retire from Formula One competition.

Other motorsport interests

In 1969, he also participated in endurance races for Matra, sharing driving duties with Pedro Rodríguez.

Later life

Renowned for his attractive appearance and social status, Servoz-Gavin was speculated to be the anonymous driver featured in Claude Lelouch’s 1977 short film C'était un rendez-vous, although Lelouch maintained that he drove himself.

After retiring, he lived aboard a houseboat and suffered severe burns caused by a gas explosion in 1982. He passed away in May 2006 at age 64 due to a pulmonary embolism following a period of declining health.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1966	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Matra Sports SARL	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra MS620-BRM	P 2.0	112	DNF	DNF
1967	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Equipe Matra Sports	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra MS630-BRM	P 2.0	155	DNF	DNF
1968	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Equipe Matra Sports	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Henri Pescarolo	Matra MS630	P 3.0	283	DNF	DNF
1969	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Equipe Matra Elf	Template:Country data CHE Template:Namespace detect showall Herbert Müller	Matra MS630	P 3.0	158	DNF	DNF

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold represent pole positions; those in italics denote fastest laps)

Year	Team	Car Model	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Points
Template:F2	Matra Sports	Matra MS5	Ford	SNE	SIL	NÜR Ret	HOC	TUL 8	JAR 5	ZAN Ret	PER 5	BRH		6th	15

|- ! Matra MS7 | | | | | | | | | | | |-

!Matra Sports !Matra MS7 !Ford | | | | style="background:#EFCFFF;" |PAL
| | | | ! NC! 0 |-

! Matra International ! Matra MS7 ! Ford | style="background:#DFFFDF;" |THR
5 | style="background:#DFFFDF;" |HOC
6 | style="background:#DFFFDF;" |NÜR
6 | style="background:#DFFFDF;" |JAR
4 | TUL | style="background:#DFDFDF;" |PER
2 | style="background:#FFFFBF;" |'VAL
| | | ! style="background:#FFFFBF;" |1st ! style="background:#FFFFBF;" |37 |}

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Team Name	Vehicle Model	Engine Type	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	WDC	Points
1967	Matra Sports	Matra MS5 (F2)	Ford Cosworth FVA 1.6 L4	RSA	MON Ret	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX		NC	0
1968	Matra International	Matra MS10	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA	ESP	MON Ret	BEL	NED				ITA 2	CAN Ret	USA	style="background:#EFCFFF;"#> 1968 Mexican Grand Prix#MEX {{{1}}}	rowspan=2#>13th	rowspan=2#>6
1968	Cooper Car Company	Cooper Car Company#Cooper#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B#T86B	British Racing Motors #BRM #P101 #3.0 #V12 engine #V12

|- |rowspan=2 |1969 Formula One season #1969

!rowspan=2 #Matra International

!Equipe Matra Sports #Matra #Matra MS7 #MS7 #F2

!Cosworth FVA #Ford Cosworth FVA #1.6 #Straight-4

|1969 South African Grand Prix #RSA

|1969 Spanish Grand Prix #ESP

|1969 Monaco Grand Prix #MON

|1969 Dutch Grand Prix #NED

|1969 French Grand Prix #FRA

|1969 British Grand Prix #GBR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;" #1969 German Grand Prix #GER

|1969 Italian Grand Prix #ITA

!rowspan=2 #17th

!rowspan=2 #1

|-

!Equipe Matra Sports #Matra MS84

!Cosworth DFV #Ford Cosworth DFV #3.0 V8

|style="background:#DFFFDF;" #1969 Canadian Grand Prix #CAN

|style="background:#CFCFFF;" #1969 United States Grand Prix #USA

|style="background:#CFCFFF;" #1969 Mexican Grand Prix #MEX

|-

1970

! Tyrrell Racing Organisation

! March 701

! Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8

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RSA Ret

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ESP 5

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MON DNQ

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20th

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2

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References