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 Belgian driver is Stoffel Vandoorne, who was promoted to a full-time race seat in the McLaren Honda Formula One team for the 2017 Formula One season.

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 in both the 1969 and 1970 seasons. 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 drivers 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

Vandoorne driving for McLaren at the 2017 British Grand Prix
Current drivers
Stoffel Vandoorne 2016–2018
Former drivers
Johnny Claes 1950–1953, 1955
Jacques Swaters 1951, 1953–1954
André Pilette 1951, 1953–1954, 1956, 1961, 1963–1964
Roger Laurent 1952
Arthur Legat 1952–1953
Charles de Tornaco 1952–1953
Paul Frère 1952–1956
Georges Berger 1953
André Milhoux 1956
Olivier Gendebien 1956, 1958–1961
Christian Goethals 1958
Alain de Changy 1959
Lucien Bianchi 1959–1963, 1965, 1968
Willy Mairesse 1960–1963, 1965
Jacky Ickx 1967–1979
Teddy Pilette 1974, 1977
Patrick Nève 1976–1978
Bernard de Dryver 1977–1978
Thierry Boutsen 1983–1993
Bertrand Gachot 1989–1991*
Eric van de Poele 1991–1992
Philippe Adams 1994–1995
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 2011–2012

*Competed under French racing license in 1992 and 1994–1995.

See also

References

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