Paul Belmondo

Paul Belmondo, born 23 April 1963, is a French racing driver who raced in Formula One for the March and Pacific Racing teams. He’s the son of famous actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 27 Grand Prix starts, in these at the time modest teams, he failed to score any championship point. He also participated 10 times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Paul Belmondo won the Volant Elf scholarship in 1982 before spending a season in Formula Renault. From there he graduated to French Formula 3 in 1984, racing in this series for three seasons. In 1987 he moved into Formula 3000 for five seasons, initially with the GBDA team (picture-above).

1992 saw him in Formula One with Leyton House March, his best result being a ninth place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Two years later, in 1994, he drove for the Pacific team (picture below at Suzuka) as team mate to Bertrand Gachot, though it would be a disappointing season for both drivers.

Following Formula One, he formed Paul Belmondo Racing, competing in the FIA and Le Mans Endurance Series championships. A highlight for him was racing a Chrysler Viper GTS to victory at Homestead in 1999 (with Emmanuel Clérico) and beating the works cars in this race. Eventually, Paul chose a career as an actor and the team closed in 2006.