Formula One drivers from Belgium

Jacky Ickx, the most successful Belgian Formula One Driver and first Belgian to win a Formula One race

There have been 24 Formula One drivers from Belgium, of which Jacky Ickx and Thierry Boutsen were the most successful ones as they were the only Belgians to win races. The most recent driver is Stoffel Vandoorne who was called up as McLaren reserve driver to replace the injured Fernando Alonso for the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix.^[1][2]

Former drivers

In the early years of Formula One, Belgium was well represented with a highlight in 1953 when there were no less than seven Belgian drivers taking part in the championship. The first victory for a Belgian only occurred in 1968 however, when Jacky Ickx won the French Grand Prix. Ickx went on to win eight races in total, reaching the podium 25 times and becoming the runner-up both in the 1969 and 1970 season. The only other driver to win a grand prix was Thierry Boutsen, who won three races during his two-year stint with Williams-Renault in 1989-1990 and managed to reach the podium 15 times.

Besides Ickx and Boutsen, the only other Belgian riders to reach the podium are Olivier Gendebien (who scored two podium finishes) and Lucien Bianchi, Paul Frère and Willy Mairesse who each finished on the podium once.

Bertrand Gachot, who was born in Luxembourg as the son of French-German parents carried a French passport but raced under a Belgian FIA Super Licence until 1991. From the 1992 Formula One season he changed to a French licence.

Timeline

1950 to 1979

1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969-1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Claes					Claes
	Swaters		Swaters
	A. Pilette		A. Pilette			A. Pilette					A. Pilette		A. Pilette
		Laurent
		Legat
		de Tornaco
		Frère
			Berger
						Milhoux
						Gendebien		Gendebien
								Goethals
									de Changy
									Bianchi						Bianchi			Bianchi
										Mairesse					Mairesse
																	Ickx
																				T. Pilette			T. Pilette
																						Nève
																							de Dryver

1980 to 2016

1980-1982	1983-1988	1989-1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996-2010	2011-2012	2013-2015	2016
	Boutsen
		Gachot		Gachot		Gachot
			van de Poele
						Adams
									d'Ambrosio
											Vandoorne

References

1. Elizalde, Pablo (31 March 2016). "Alonso will not race in the Bahrain GP". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
2. https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/4/vandoorne--i-maximised-my-opportunity.html

External links