Prince Bira

Prince Bira, a Thai driver born in 1914, competed in the World Championship from its inaugural season in 1950 through 1954, making nineteen starts across five consecutive years. He remains one of the very few drivers from Thailand to have raced at this level.

His first season was his best: driving a Maserati in 1950, he scored five points and finished eighth in the Drivers' Championship, his highest final classification. He was around 35 years old when the championship began.

The following seasons saw him move between teams — Maserati again in 1951, Simca in 1952 and Connaught in 1953 — without adding to his tally, before a return to Maserati in 1954 brought three further points and seventeenth in the standings.

Bira ended his championship career with eight points from nineteen starts, earned entirely in the first five years of the World Championship, with his top-eight finish in the standings in the inaugural season standing as the high-water mark.