Servoz-Gavin developed sports cars for Matra in his early career before moving to single-seater competition. He had attended the racing drivers' school at Magny-Cours — from which he was reportedly thrown out — and entered the French Formula Three Championship in 1965 in a private Brabham BT18. He became French Formula Three Champion in 1966 driving a works Matra MS5, following in the footsteps of contemporaries such as Jacky Ickx and Jean-Pierre Beltoise. He then progressed to Formula Two, winning the European Formula Two Championship in 1969 with a Matra.
His performances for Matra in sports car racing ran alongside his single-seater career; in 1969 he co-drove with Pedro Rodriguez in Matra endurance events.
His Formula Three results attracted Matra's attention, and he made the step into Formula One. His best individual season was 1968. At Monaco he stepped in as Jackie Stewart's stand-in and qualified on the front row, leading ahead of Graham Hill before clipping a barrier and breaking a driveshaft — a similar incident to the one that had cost Lorenzo Bandini his life at Monaco the previous year. Despite the retirement, the performance announced him as a serious prospect. Later in 1968 he delivered his best result: second place at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, scoring six championship points.
In 1969 Servoz-Gavin scored a sixth place at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park. That result gave him a unique distinction in Formula One history: he became the only driver ever to score a World Championship point in a four-wheel-drive Formula One car, the Matra MS84.
During the winter of 1969–70, Servoz-Gavin suffered an eye injury in an off-road event. Concerned about damage to his eyesight, he continued into the 1970 season, driving a March 701 for the Tyrrell team. He finished fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama — last of the classified finishers — and then, after failing to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix following another barrier impact, he retired from racing entirely. He was 28 years old. While vision problems appear to have influenced his decision, Servoz-Gavin also cited the inherent dangers of Formula One as a reason he felt the risks were no longer worthwhile.
His departure opened the door for François Cevert, who joined the Tyrrell Formula One team as Stewart's new number two for the remainder of 1970.
Servoz-Gavin later lived on a houseboat, and in 1982 suffered serious burns when a gas bottle exploded on board. He died in May 2006 as the result of a pulmonary embolism following a period of ill health. He was 64 years old.
After his racing career, Servoz-Gavin was among a number of Formula One drivers rumoured to be the unidentified driver in Claude Lelouch's 1976 short film C'était un rendez-vous, a high-speed run through Paris at dawn. Lelouch himself claimed to have driven the car, though the rumours surrounding the film's identity persist.
Servoz-Gavin remains a significant figure in French motorsport history for his 1969 Formula Two Championship, his brief but spectacular Formula One appearances, and his unique distinction as the sole scorer of a World Championship point in a four-wheel-drive Grand Prix car. His career was cut short not by accident or injury on track but by the compounding effects of an off-road mishap and the genuine physical and psychological demands of front-line Formula One at its most dangerous era.