The famous actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who died on Monday, loved fast cars and in the film Ho! from 1968, even as a pilot of François Holin, he drove around the Montlhéry circuit. But he did not find a way to the races. Only his son Paul discovered fast genes.
This year, a 58-year-old native of the suburbs of Paris made it to Formula 1. But the bad language claims that he would never have succeeded without his father’s money.
Paul started in karts and at the age of 19 he won the school formula Volant Elf. In the following 1983 season he headed to French Formula 3, where he won sixth place with one victory. He tested Formula 3 for another three years, assisted in his career by the current sports director of the Mercedes Mercedes F1 team, Ron Meadows.
“In France, I was taking care of a young rider named Paul Belmondo at the time, who had a famous actor as his father. I remember racing in Monaco and Paul was dating Princess Stephanie of Monaco at the time. All the newspapers were involved in their relationship. He had more publicity than any then an F1 driver, “recalled the British manager.
The French young man soon reached the starting grid of the 24-hour race at Le Mans. He made his debut in the best that the world of sports prototypes offered at the time: he sat in the Porsche 962C of the Joest Racing team. It was the first of his ten starts at the Circuit de la Sarthre.
However, he saw the Chessboard Battalion only twice and only in 2008 could it celebrate great success. In his own stable car, Paul Belmondo Racing was a member of the third best crew in the lower category of LMP2 sports prototypes. In the meantime, however, a number of very turbulent years have passed.
In the 1987 season, Belmondo advanced to Formula 3000, the final stage before F1 at the time. He didn’t do brilliant results in five seasons. He scored only three points, finished fifth best in the race and did not qualify at all eight times.
Even so, he got a chance to race in Formula 1. Twice. However, in both cases they were second-rate teams, where the place could simply be bought. The son of one of Europe’s most popular actors had the resources.
In 1992, he made his debut in the March monopost in the South African Grand Prix. But the premiere was not great. He did not advance from qualifying and lost more than five seconds to the pole position holder, Nigel Mansell in Williams. The Marche teammate Karl Wendlinger was seventh.
Belmondo lasted eleven races in March. In the last one, at Hungaroring, he drove the best result of his career. He finished ninth in the finish, but even that was not enough for points in the then system. He was then replaced by another paying pilot, Emanuele Naspetti from Italy.
The second comeback was even more bizarre. British mechanic Keith Wiggins fulfilled his dream with the Pacific team. The Pacific PR01 monopost had only a few tens of kilometers of tests on its account, which naturally resulted in poor results.
Belmond’s money didn’t help either. The Frenchman himself qualified for only two Grand Prix in the entire 1994 season, which he still did not finish.
Belmondo won much better results in the world of endurance. He founded the aforementioned Paul Belmondo Racing team. He fought with him at Le Mans and various endurance series.
The highlight was the triumph in the three-hour race at the GIA GT Championship in Homested, USA. In the winning Chrysler, the Viper GTS-R alternated with compatriot Emmanuel Cléric. Paul Belmondo Racing also beat the home team’s factory team.
The stable operated until 2008, when Paul Belmondo decided to focus on the career of an actor and film producer. He is also currently a studio expert on French Formula 1 Grand Prix broadcasts.
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