Johnny Claes

Octave John 'Johnny' Claes (born 11 August 1916 in London, died 3 February 1956 in Brussels) was a Belgian racing driver and jazz trumpeter who competed in Formula 1 from 1950 until 1955. Starting off as the owner-driver of the initially competitive Claes Racing Developments, he competed as a privateer (employing other drivers alongside him) until significant rule changes in 1953 drove him to drive for other teams, notably Leader and Mercedes-Benz before buying into Jacques Swaters' Ecurie Nationale Belge in early 1955. After a couple of entries that year, Claes retired from racing due to ill health. He died shortly thereafter from tuberculosis, aged 39. He managed to score two solitary points at the 1952 Italian Grand Prix.

Complete Alternate Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	WDC	Pts.
1950	Claes Racing Developments	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	GBR Ret	MON Ret	500	SUI Ret	BEL 10	FRA 9	ITA Ret				NC	0
1951	Claes Racing Developments	Maserati 4CLT	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	MON 6	500	BEL Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER 6	NED Ret	ITA DNQ			NC	0
1952	Claes Racing Developments	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	MON Ret	ENG DNQ	BEL 14	FRA 6	GBR DNQ	GER Ret	NED Ret	ITA 5	USA Ret	AUS 7	18th	2
1953	Leader	Leader LF153	Mercedes-Benz UM153 4.5 V10	MON DNQ	NED DNQ	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ	GER 20	SUI 13	ITA DNQ	USA Ret		NC	0
1954	Mercedes-Benz Team Europe	Mercedes-Benz WM-2	Mercedes-Benz UM153 4.5 V10	MON DNQ	FRA Ret	BEL Ret	NED 8	GBR DNQ	SUI 11	GER 9	USA	ITA		NC	0
1955	Ecurie Nationale Belge	Cooper T41	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12	MON	FRA DNQ									NC	0
		Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4			BEL 16	GBR	SCO	SOV	ITA