Philippe Étancelin (28 December 1896 – 13 October 1981) was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver who joined the new Formula One circuit at its inception. Biography Born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in Normandy, he worked as a merchant in the winter and raced cars during the summer. His wife, Suzanne, served as his crew chief. Their three children were placed in a school in Rouen while she traveled with her husband to races around the world. She communicated with Étancelin through French sign language as he raced around the speedway. Suzanne told a reporter Étancelin bought a racing car to celebrate the birth of their second child, Jeanne Alice. He did not intend to race the car but merely use it for pleasure driving around the countryside. The couple once drove it up to a speed of . After two years of recreational motoring, Étancelin decided to enter a race. He began racing a privateer Bugatti in 1926, entering local events and hillclimbs. His first victory was the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims in 1927, the same year he recorded a third at the Coppa Florio in Saint-Brieuc. He repeated his victory at Reims in 1929, ahead of Zenelli and friend Marcel Lehoux, making a Bugatti sweep of the podium. Étancelin took a victory at the Grand Prix de la Baule and the Antibes Prix de Conseil General. Nicknamed "Phi Phi", Étancelin also earned Bugatti a win at the 1930 Algerian Grand Prix, followed home by Lehoux. At the Formula Libre French Grand Prix, he defeated Henry Birkin's Bentley, and won the Grenoble Circuit de Dauphine, with a third at Lyons. He began the 1931 season in a Bugatti, placing behind Czaykowski at the Casablanca Grand Prix at Anfa. He won the Circuit d'Esterel Plage at Saint-Raphaël. For major events, run to Formula Libre rules to a 10-hour duration, he shared with Lehoux. They dropped out of both the Italian and French Grands Prix. After Étancelin switched to Alfa later in the year, he came fourth in the Marne Grand Prix and won the four-hour Dieppe Grand Prix, ahead of Czaykowski's Bugatti and Earl Howe's Delage. He added wins at Grenoble and the Comminges Grand Prix at St. Gaudens. While Étancelin was a top privateer, he was consistently beaten by works teams in 1932, earning only one win, the Picardy Grand Prix at Peronne. In 1933, Étancelin's