Bertrand Gachot (GASH-oh; born 23 December 1962 in Luxembourg, Canton of Luxembourg, District of Luxembourg, Luxembourg) is a Luxembourg-born French former racing driver, probably best known for his arrest that lead to the début of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher. He initially drove in Formula One under a Belgian racing licence, but switched to French in 1992.
He made his début at the first race of the 1989 season for Onyx, failing to pre-qualify for the first six races and only finishing twice before being fired after complaining about the amount of testing time. He drove for the Rial team for the final two races, failing to qualify both races. 1990 was even worse. Driving for Coloni, he failed to qualify for all sixteen races, not getting out of pre-qualifying for the first ten.
1991 was a completely different season. Driving for the new Jordan, Gachot was able to show his talent, scoring four points in ten races, setting fastest lap in Hungary and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Mazda. However, his season was interrupted by a two-month prison sentence for spraying CS gas on a London taxicab driver after a traffic altercation, which allowed Schumacher to make his F1 début. Once released, he joined the Larrousse team, failing to reach the grid in Australia.
Gachot drove the 1992 season with Larrousse, scoring a solitary point but retiring in most of the races. He failed to find a seat in 1993. He returned in 1994 for the Pacific team, only qualifying for five races in his first season and only making two finishes from eleven starts in his next season, 1995. Pacific folded at the end of the year and Gachot's career was over.
Formula One Career
Formula One Statistical Overview
Formula One Record
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Moneytron Onyx Formula One | Onyx-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
| Rial Racing | Rial-Ford Cosworth | ||||
| 1990 | Subaru Coloni Racing Coloni Racing Srl |
Coloni-Subaru Coloni-Ford Cosworth |
0 | NC | Report |
| 1991 | Team 7UP Jordan | Jordan-Ford Cosworth | 4 | 13th | Report |
| Larrousse F1 | Lola-Ford Cosworth | ||||
| 1992 | Central Park Venturi Larrousse | Venturi-Lamborghini | 1 | 19th | Report |
| 1993 | Did not compete | ||||
| 1994 | Pacific Grand Prix Ltd | Pacific-Ilmor | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1995 | Pacific Grand Prix Ltd | Pacific-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
Career Statistics
Template:Statbox
Career Results
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pts | Pos
Template:1989 Results/17 Template:1990 Results/17 Template:1991 Results/17 Template:1992 Results/17 | ||||||
| 1993 | Did not compete
Template:1994 Results/17 Template:1995 Results/17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||