| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
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Background
French film idol's son |
Paul Belmondo of France was born on 23 April, 1963, the son of film idol Jean-Paul Belmondo. The cynics will say that the latter fact no doubt helped him progress all the way to F1 despite some rather mediocre performances in lower formulae.
So mediocre, in fact, that I am at a loss to explain why Formula One magazine, previewing the 1992 season, proclaimed him as the most accomplished rookie that year along with Christian Fittipaldi, better than Eric van de Poele and Ukyo Katayama. |
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1979-86
The Cockney slides down the F3 standings |
Belmondo began his career strongly enough, racing karts in 1979 and winning the Yamaha karting challenge in 1981.
In 1982, he won the prestigious Volant Elf series, and moved up to Formula Renault in 1983, where he collected one win. He then raced in French F3 for three seasons, strangely doing worse as he continued, finishing 4th in 1984, then 6th and 11th. A quick sideline: during these years with a British team manager, Dave Price, Belmondo picked up a cockney accent which he maintains to this day when he speaks English. |
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1987-91
Just one point in four years of F3000 |
Anyway, he took the step up to F3000 in 1987. In a GBDA Lola in 1987, he came 5th at Pau and finished 18th in the series. Failing to score points the next two years, he came 6th at Le Mans Bugatti in 1990, finishing 22nd in the series. He failed to scored again in 1991, and even failed to qualify once. Not particularly glorious.
In 1991, just to do something different, Belmondo also competed in the Paris-Dakar rally. |
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| FORMULA ONE | ||
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1992 March Money, money, money! |
How he then managed to get into Formula One in 1992 can be explained in one word: money. Plus the fact that the March team had none. As team-mate to the talented
Karl Wendlinger, Belmondo was made to look decidedly ordinary. Out of 11 entries, he qualified only 5 times, but did something which probably no one else that year managed: he finished in every one of his starts.
He achieved his first start in fortuitous circumstances in Spain. Having qualified 23rd on the Friday, when it rained hard on Saturday he was assured of his first F1 race. Despite treacherous conditions on race day, Belmondo kept it together and finished a creditable 12th. He then finished 13th in San Marino, 14th in Canada, and 13th again in Germany. But it was in Hungary where he did best, qualifying a very good 17th and completing the race in 9th. Unfortunately, just as he was beginning to get on the pace, his money ran out and he was replaced by Emanuele Naspetti. |
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| 1993 | In 1993, Belmondo did not race in F1, but did test for Benetton. His main focus that year was the French Supertourisme series, in which he drove a works Opel Vectra, recording a best finish of 7th. | |
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1994 Pacific Early season qualification |
He jumped at the chance, though, to join the Pacific team in its debut year in F1 in 1994. Despite beginning race-winners in lower categories, Pacific was totally out of its depth in F1, with no money, a powerless Ilmor engine, and a car with the structural rigidity of paper. As team mate to Bertrand Gachot, Belmondo was with the team for all 16 races of the championship, but only qualified twice, at Monaco and Spain. Both those achievements need to be put into context. Belmondo only got on the grid at Monaco by default, after both Simtek and Williams only entered one car (in the wake of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna's deaths), and after Sauber withdrew both its cars after Carl Wendlinger's serious practice accident. Regardless, Belmondo withdrew after doing 53 laps as a mobile chicane, succumbing to fatigue. Similarly, his start in Spain was due to the fact that Andrea Montermini, the new Simtek recruit, also crashed in practice and broke his leg, while Sauber only fielded one car for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Qualifying 26th and last, Belmondo spun out on the third lap. |
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1994
Pathetic Pacific |
Some other quick snippets from his dismal 1994. In Belgium, where pit lane space was at a premium, Belmondo found himself squeezed between the Williams and Benetton pits. Cynics suggested this was so that the big boys could get more garage space after qualifying ... In Adelaide, he described his car as one which required you to look in the mirrors if you wanted a clear lap. Gachot summed up the abilities of the car when he said on Saturday night that it was a very happy time for him, because it meant he would never have to drive the PR01 chassis ever again. High praise indeed ... |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
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1995-97
Off to Le Mans with Frenchie friends |
Briefly, in 1995 Belmondo drove a Venturi 600LM in the Le Mans 24hrs as well as a BPR Ferrari F40 in sports car racing. He drove the Ferrari again in 1996, using it at Le Mans with co-drivers
Eric Bernard and Jean-Marc Gounon, but the car retired.
During this time he kept up his links with Pacific, and with Bertrand Gachot in particular. In 1997, Belmondo landed two races in a Toyota Supra in the Japanese GT championship, sharing the car with Gachot, finishing 5th at Fuji. That year he also began racing in the Porsche Supercup series. |
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1998-99
Victory at Homestead, Florida |
In 1998, he continued racing in the Porsche Supercup, sometimes sharing his car with Claude-Yves Gosselin. He also competed in the FIA GT championship, eventually forming his own team, Paul Belmondo racing. Sharing a car with Gosselin and Rostan, he was OK without being any good, either. In 1999, he has continued in the FIA GT championship with his own team, racing a Chrysler Viper GTS-R. He raced at Le Mans with Gosselin and Rostan, while Monteiro and Drudi have also shared his car during the season. He won at Homestead in Florida with Emmanuel Clerico, but missed the Oschersleben 500 km in August due to a recent operation from which he has recovered. |
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