Bertrand Gachot

Gachot was born in Luxembourg City to a French European Commission official and a German mother. He began karting at 15 and attended the Winfield Racing School at Paul Ricard in 1983, competing for the Volant Elf prize alongside future F1 drivers Damon Hill, Jean Alesi, and Eric Bernard. In 1984 he raced in Formula Ford 1600, finishing third at the Formula Ford Festival, and won the European Formula Ford series in 1985 for Pacific Racing. He moved to Formula Ford 2000 in 1986, winning the British series in a fierce rivalry with Mark Blundell.

Gachot joined the British Formula Three series in 1987, finishing second in the championship for West Surrey Racing behind Johnny Herbert. In 1988 he contested Formula 3000, taking pole position at Silverstone and finishing fifth overall.

Gachot was signed by the newly formed Onyx team for 1989, having helped attract Moneytron sponsorship. He made his race debut at the French Grand Prix but was dismissed by team patron Jean-Pierre Van Rossem after publicly complaining about a lack of testing. He joined the struggling Rial team for the final two races, failing to qualify. In 1990 he moved to Coloni, which ran an underpowered and overweight Subaru flat-12 engine; Subaru withdrew mid-season and the car switched to a Cosworth DFR, allowing Gachot to escape pre-qualifying but still not reach the grid.

Despite this difficult two seasons, Gachot remained highly regarded as both a driver and a sponsor-negotiator. Eddie Jordan signed him to lead the new Jordan Grand Prix team for 1991 alongside the Ford HB-powered 191. The car was competitive and Gachot delivered promising results, finishing fifth in Canada. In parallel, he co-drove a Mazda 787B to victory at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Johnny Herbert and Volker Weidler.

On 10 December 1990, on his way to a meeting with Jordan and 7-Up sponsors, Gachot was involved in a road-rage incident with a London taxi driver at Hyde Park Corner. He sprayed the driver with CS gas, claiming self-defence. Arrested and charged with actual bodily harm and possession of a prohibited weapon, his trial at Southwark Crown Court coincided with preparations for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. Expecting a fine or suspended sentence, Gachot instead received an 18-month custodial sentence at HMP Brixton.

The situation prompted a public support campaign organised by Belgian driver Pascal Witmeur, with graffiti appearing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit during the Belgian Grand Prix and Witmeur's Formula 3000 car carrying prominent pro-Gachot sponsorship. Eddie Jordan replaced Gachot with a young Michael Schumacher for that race; Schumacher's performance at Spa launched a career at Benetton that changed Formula One history.

Gachot's sentence was reduced on appeal and he was released after two months. He returned to the Jordan paddock at Suzuka hoping to reclaim his seat but the team declined, instead assigning it to Alessandro Zanardi. Gachot raced the Australian Grand Prix for Larrousse as a replacement for the injured Eric Bernard.

Gachot remained with Larrousse for 1992, driving a Robin Herd-designed Venturi chassis with V12 Lamborghini engines. The team endured persistent reliability and financial problems; Gachot and teammate Ukyo Katayama managed only six classified finishes from 31 starts. Gachot scored the team's sole point of the year with sixth at Monaco. He also finished fourth for Mazda at Le Mans that year.

In 1993 Gachot competed in a CART one-off for Dick Simon Racing and raced in the Japanese touring car series for Honda while helping Keith Wiggins prepare the Pacific team for a 1994 Formula One entry. After becoming a shareholder, Gachot drove as Pacific's number-one driver in 1994, outqualifying Roland Ratzenberger to give the team its debut at the opening round, though the PR01's 1992-specification Ilmor V10 engines were not competitive and Gachot failed to finish any race.

He remained with Pacific for 1995 with an improved chassis and Cosworth ED power, but the team's finances were precarious. Gachot stood down mid-season to allow pay drivers to raise funds. He retook the seat for the Japanese rounds after planned replacements were denied superlicences, and drove the season finale in Australia, equalling the team's best result with eighth. It was his final Formula One start; Pacific folded at the season's end.

After racing, Gachot signed a distribution agreement with Hype Energy Drinks in 1997. By 2000 he had taken a leadership role and restructured the brand. In 2014 he returned Hype Energy to the F1 paddock with sponsorship of Andre Lotterer, and in 2015 the company announced a deal with Force India — the team that had previously been Jordan — bringing Gachot full circle to his first F1 employer. He continues as CEO of Hype Energy and also owns the Formula 1 news site F1i.com.

Gachot raced under a Belgian FIA Super Licence initially, despite holding a French passport, switching to a French licence from 1992. He describes himself as a European rather than belonging to any single nationality, and his helmet features the circle of yellow stars from the European flag.