Born in Martigues, near Marseille, Bernard began competitive kart racing in 1976. Over the next seven years, he secured four French karting titles. In 1983, he attended a racing school at Paul Ricard and was a finalist in the Volant Elf competition, beating both Jean Alesi and Bertrand Gachot to earn a fully sponsored drive in Formula Renault for 1984.
After finishing sixth in the 1984 Formula Renault series, Bernard won the championship the following year. He then moved into French Formula Three in 1986, winning the series in 1987, finishing second to Alesi in the championship. In 1988, Bernard entered Formula 3000, initially driving for the Ralt Team before switching to Bromley Motorsport, who ran a Reynard chassis. He achieved a best finish of second at Dijon-Prenois and placed ninth in the championship with 13 points. He continued with DAMS in 1989, winning one race and finishing third in the championship with 25 points.
In mid-1989, Bernard received a call-up to the Larrousse Formula One team for the French Grand Prix, replacing Yannick Dalmas. He ran as high as fifth place on his debut, but an engine failure a few laps from the end ended his race. He also drove for Larrousse at the British Grand Prix before returning to his Formula 3000 commitments.
Bernard secured a full-season drive with Larrousse in 1990. He scored his first Formula One point with a sixth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, and his best result came at Silverstone, where he finished fourth in the British Grand Prix. He remained with Larrousse for the 1991 season, but the team faced difficulties, losing their Lamborghini engines and points due to an FIA decision, and experiencing sponsor issues. He took sixth place in the Mexican Grand Prix, the last points finish for Larrousse with Lola Cars, but failed to qualify for the Portuguese Grand Prix, partially due to a bereavement. He broke his leg in the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix later that year.
After recovering from his leg injury, Bernard spent the 1993 season as a test driver for Ligier. For 1994, he was promoted to a race seat alongside Olivier Panis, but the team were hampered by using a “B”-spec version of the 1993 chassis. Despite this, Bernard achieved his only Formula One podium finish, taking third place in the high-attrition German Grand Prix. However, he was dropped by Ligier after the European Grand Prix, replaced by Johnny Herbert. He then made a one-off appearance for Team Lotus at the same race, marking his final Formula One drive.
Following his departure from Formula One, Bernard moved to sportscar racing, enjoying success in GT and ALMS series. He finished runner-up in the 1999 American Le Mans Series with Panoz.
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