Born in Paris, Beltoise built his reputation on two wheels, claiming eleven French national motorcycle road racing titles across multiple classes in just three years. He competed internationally in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1962 to 1964, contesting the 50 cc, 125 cc, 250 cc, and 500 cc classes. His best international result was a sixth place in the 1964 50 cc World Championship.
His transition to four wheels began in 1964 when he raced a 1.1-litre René Bonnet sports car. That year, a catastrophic crash at the Reims 12-hour endurance race left him with a severely broken arm, permanently limiting its range of movement. Despite the injury, Beltoise returned to competition in 1965, won the Reims Formula 3 race, and graduated to Formula 2 for the following season.
Beltoise made his Formula One debut at the 1966 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, driving a Formula Two Matra MS5-Cosworth. Although he finished a lap down, he won the Formula 2 class — a harbinger of his ability to extract results even from inferior machinery.
His early years in Formula One were spent with Matra, initially in Formula Two specification cars before graduating to full Grand Prix machinery. In 1968 he finished second at the Dutch Grand Prix, and in 1969 he was placed alongside Jackie Stewart in Ken Tyrrell's Matra team, finishing second in the French Grand Prix and fifth overall in the World Drivers' Championship — the best result of his Formula One career. He returned to the works Matra team for 1970 and 1971.
The 1971 season brought serious controversy. During the 1000 km of Buenos Aires sports car race, Beltoise was involved in the accident in which Italian driver Ignazio Giunti was killed. His international racing license was suspended, though he was permitted to continue competing while his appeal was heard.
For 1972, Beltoise moved to BRM — a team already past its competitive peak. What followed was the defining moment of his career. The 1972 Monaco Grand Prix was run in torrential rain, conditions that transformed the race into a test of nerve and car control. Beltoise led from start to finish, exploiting the wet surface with exceptional sensitivity despite his limited arm movement, and crossed the line ahead of the field by a margin of nearly 38 seconds. It was not only his sole Formula One championship victory but also BRM's last victory in a championship-qualifying race.
Later that same year, Beltoise won a non-championship Formula One race at Brands Hatch, making his BRM victories the final wins ever recorded by the manufacturer in Formula One competition. He spent three seasons at BRM before retiring from Formula One at the end of 1974.
After Formula One, Beltoise continued racing extensively. He tested for the Ligier Formula One team, but a planned drive for the 1976 season went to Jacques Laffite. Beltoise instead concentrated on touring cars in France, winning the French touring car championship twice with BMW, and later moved into rallycross, taking the French title in an Alpine-Renault. In 1981 he returned to touring car competition and raced for Peugeot throughout the 1980s. He was also a regular competitor in ice racing.
His endurance racing career yielded one more notable result: a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1976, driving for Inaltéra.
Both of his sons, Anthony and Julien Beltoise, followed him into professional motorsport.
Beltoise is remembered primarily for his 1972 Monaco victory — a performance that entered the mythology of that circuit's history as one of the great wet-weather drives. His career defied the physical limitations imposed by his 1964 crash, and his versatility across motorcycles, Formula One, touring cars, and rallycross marked him as one of the most complete French racing drivers of his generation. He died on 5 January 2015 at his holiday home in Dakar, Senegal, following two strokes, aged 77.