OBSCURE F1 A-Z: XAVIER PERROT

In this 26 part series of posts I will be going through the alphabet and for each letter, a profile piece on an obscure driver - some you may have heard of before some you may never knew even sat in an F1 car let alone raced one. I have chosen a driver for each letter choosing them based on their surnames.

Xavier Perrot was a Swiss racing driver who in 1969 found himself on the grid for his first and last Formula One Grand Prix - the 1969 German Grand Prix held at the Nurburgring, race seven that season.

Perrot entered the race in a non-works Brabham car which in the technical regulations counted as an F2 car which meant even if Perrot had finished inside a points paying position he would not have been awarded those points as he didn't enter the race in an official Formula One spec car.

In qualifying Perrot finished 53 seconds behind first pole position man Jacky Ickx. Perrot started the race in 24th out of 26 cars. However he would be bumped up to 21st after various non-starters and the untimely death of German racer Gerhard Mitter who was involved in a fatal accident during practice.

In the race 16 cars failed to finish with varying issues from suspension failures to oil leaks. Xavier Perrot ended up just one lap down in an F2 car crossing the line in tenth place. Pole sitter Ickx would go on to win the race 57 seconds clear of second placed Jackie Stewart and three minuted clear of third place Bruce McLaren - the race was 14 laps long.

At this time in F1 only the top four drivers scored points - first gets nine points, second gets six, third takes home four points and fourth gets three points.

Perrot never drove a full Formula One season - but then again not everyone can say they have raced in a Formula One and crossed the line.