Bas Leinders

Bas Leinders (born 16 July 1975) is a racing car driver from Bree in Belgium. A former British Formula Ford and German Formula 3 champion, winning the titles in 1995 and 1998 respectively, he became a Formula One test and reserve driver in 2004 for the Minardi F1 team, taking part in the Friday practice sessions during Grand Prix week-ends, making 17 appearances in all.

Leiders started his career in karting, winning his first race. At the age of 14, very fast and determined, he was already a European Champion, beating drivers like Jarno Trulli or Ralph Firman. Bas then progressed to single-seaters and obtained the pole position at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival, at his first participation.

With modest backing, Bas Leinders then graduated to the German Formula 3 Series with the VAR team. The Belgian finished second in his maiden F3 weekend just behind Nick Heidfeld. In his second year, he won the championship and was invited by the McLaren Junior Team in the last race of the F3000 season. Leinders obtained his best Formula 3000 results in 2001, finishing second twice.

In 2002 and 2003 Leinders was a front-runner in the World Series by Nissan, where he finished third in the championship, in both occasions. His good performances gave him the opportunity to test with the Jordan F1 team, which resulted in a test and reserve driver contract with the Minardi F1 Team in 2004.

Picture below: Bas Leinders at speed in the Minardi PS04B, during practice for the 2004 British Grand Prix. Unfortunately, these 17 very competent outings did not lead to a full-time F1 drive, and Leinders later became team manager of the VDS touring car team, that won the 2015 24 Hours of Spa, then sporting manager of the McLaren GT factory programme and F1 TV commentator.