Michael Johnson Parkes (24 September 1931 – 28 August 1977) was a British racing driver and engineer, who competed in Formula One at six Grands Prix from 1966 to 1967.

Amidst a successful sportscar racing career, he returned to Formula One with Ferrari in 1966, achieving one pole position, two podiums, and a total of 14 championship points.

[2] In 1957 he raced a Lotus and came to the attention of Colin Chapman who invited him to act as reserve driver for the works team at Le Mans.

[2] In May 1962, Mairesse and Parkes came second in the 1000km Nürburgring race in a Ferrari behind the winning car of the same marque driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien.

[3] Parkes finished a mere car length behind Graham Hill in the 28th Royal Automobile Club tourist trophy race in August 1963.

Tommy Spichiger, 30, of Switzerland, died instantly on the 34th lap of the race when his Ferrari 365 prototype went off the track and burst into flames.

Parkes and Guichet led most of the race in their Ferrari prototype, after taking the lead from John Surtees and Ludovico Scarfiotti.

[8] Dan Gurney eclipsed the time of Parkes in the sole factory Ferrari in the final practice for the 1966 12 Hours of Sebring.

He continued the season racing on the Filipinetti Ferrari 512S, reaching 5th place at the Targa Florio and 4th at the Nurburgring 1000 km together with Herbert Muller.

Parkes competed in a 1,000 kilometre sports car race in Argentina in January 1971, he was just ahead of Ignazio Giunti's Ferrari 312PB when the Italian driver crashed on the Beltoise's Matra.

He was paired with Joakim Bonnier in a five-litre Ferrari entered and owned by the Swiss Filippinetti stable which maintained operations in Modena.

[citation needed] Parkes-Pescarolo were running well at Le Mans when a mechanical failure during the night ended their race.

[citation needed] Parkes first entered a World Championship Grand Prix at Aintree in 1959 driving a Formula 2 (F2) Fry-Climax 1.5-litre Straight-4.

[18] Parkes was returning home from Modena to Turin—driving his Lancia Beta—when he rear-ended a 43-ton lorry in wet conditions; he was killed instantly.