Jean-Maxime Bachot

Jean-Maxime Bachot (born September 19th, 1977, in Strasbourg, France) is a French racing driver, best known for his appearances in Formula One and F3000. He is loosely related to ex-Formula One and touring car driver Silvio Bachot.

Early Career

1998-2000: French Formula Renault Campus

Bachot started his open-wheel career like many French Formula One hopefuls in Formula Campus, having previously competed in regional karting championships since he was 13. Bachot would compete around the midfield for his first couple of seasons, before mounting a title challenge in 2000, losing by just 1 point, ensuring his promotion to Formula 3.

2001-2002: French Formula 3

Bachot moved to the more competitive French F3 series in 2001, and would initially struggle with the more powerful cars, scoring few points in his debut season, and generally competing amongst the backmarkers of the field. However, he achieved a shock pole position at Magny-Cours, and impressed some with ever-growing pace in qualifying. The young Frenchman improved in 2002, and took 9 pole positions and 2 race wins on his way to an impressive fourth in the championship. However, due to erroneous driving and several accidents that took him out of 4 races from strong positions, Bachot would fail to materialise a true championship challenge.

2003-2004: International F3000

2003 would see Bachot move to International F3000, although unlike in previous years, he would compete with an uncompetitive outfit, the inexperienced Brand Motorsport. Despite this, Bachot performed relatively well, and ended the year with 7 points.

Bachot would continue in F3000 in 2004, moving to the more competitive Super Nova team, and would finish a respectable ninth place in the series' final year, his season's highlight being 2 pole positions and 2nd place at the Hockenheimring, and being appraised by many as 'the best qualifier since Ayrton Senna', something Bachot himself would deny, before choosing to focus on his F1 commitments.

Formula One

2004-2005: BAR

Bachot's F3000 exploits in 2003 (and his not-unsubstantial financial backing) caught the eye of BAR team principal David Richards, resulting in the then-27 year old Frenchman being employed as one of the team's test drivers for 2004, alongside young British stars James Rositter and Adam Carroll. At the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix, Takuma Sato fell ill, and Bachot was appointed as his replacement for the race. He would qualify in an impressive 6th place, although a substandard strategy saw him finish the race in 12th place.

2006: Honda test driver and Super Aguri

In the 2005-06 off season, BAR was bought out completely by Honda and made their works team, although Bachot would remain in this test driver position. He would, however be called up to the Honda-backed Super Aguri team for the Brazilian and Uruguayan Grands Prix. He would perform terribly, finishing last and 7 laps down on the winner on both occasions, although he gained some notoriety when he crashed into the works Honda team driver and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso on the way to the grid at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and due to teammate Takuma Sato already using the spare car after a practice crash, the Spaniard failed to make the start of the grand prix. At Uruguay, he also caused teammate Frank Zimmer's race-ending puncture. After this, he would be dropped from Honda's Formula One program before the beginning of the 2007 season, and would be sent to Japan to participate in Formula Nippon and Super GT.

2007: Williams

However, all was not lost as Bachot was called up by Frank Williams to act as the test driver for his eponymous team - helped, no doubt, by the team running Honda engines and his backing from the Japanese manufacturer. He would be called up to race at the Brazilian Grand Prix after the team's regular driver Rubens Barrichello left the team preceding the event. He would put in a phenomenal qualifying lap to start 5th, the team's best starting position all season and ahead of his world champion teammate Rhys Davies. Come race day, he would get a good start and would run in 3rd position. However, when he came in to do his pit stop, he would enter the pit box too quickly and hit 2 pit crew members. The subsequent delay would thus put him down into 12th place, which his where he finished. However, the damage was done, and he was released from the team after the race.

2009: Brawn GP tester

Bachot would then be recruited by Ross Brawn in 2009 as test and reserve driver for his eponymous team, before their demise partway through the season.

After Formula One

FIA Prototype Challenge

2019: BORC

After his F1 stints, Bachot would drive in a number of different categories, including GP2, Formula Nippon/Super Formula and Super GT. He would then crop up in endurance racing, driving for BORC in the 2019 FIA Prototype Challenge championship. He would be chosen due to his affiliation with Honda, as well as the team's customer Honda status.

GT Super Series

2019: GB Racing

Bachot also drive in the GT Super Series for Silvio Bachot's team GB Racing part-time alongside young German Michael Rohnstock. The team would be horrendously off the pace, with the 575 GTC used being overweight and having the handling of a boat. The team would not pre-qualify for any races that year.

Trophée Andros

Like many French drivers, Bachot is a regular performer in the Tropée Andros winter ice racing series and currently drives for the Honda France team in a Honda e. Bachot won the series outright in the 2013–14 season driving in a BMW 1 Series but has remained a top contender in the series ever since.

Personal Life

Bachot has identified as being an avid rail enthusiast, with an expansive collection of model trains and railway memorabilia from all over the world. He intends to become a train driver when his motor racing career is over.

Motorsports Results

Complete French Formula Three results

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
2001	Epsilon by Graff	Dallara F399	Opel	NOG Ret	NOG 11	LÉD 8	MAG 4	VDV Ret	SPA 6	SPA 7	CRO 6	ALB 9	LMS Ret	MAG Ret				11th	51
2002	Saulnier Racing	Dallara F302	Renault	NOG Ret	NOG 2	LÉD 1	LÉD 4	DIJ 5	DIJ 2	CRO 4	CRO 5	ALB 7	ALB Ret	LMS 2	LMS 1	MAG Ret	MAG 11†	4th	139

Complete International Formula 3000 results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Pts
2003	Brand Motorsport	IMO Ret	CAT 11	A1R 14	MON 7	NÜR Ret	MAG 5	SIL 11	HOC 13	HUN 12	MNZ Ret	14th	7
2004	Super Nova Racing	IMO Ret	CAT 7	MON 6	NÜR 8	MAG Ret	SIL 5	HOC 2	HUN 7	SPA 5	MNZ Ret	9th	24

Complete Formula 1 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Points	WDC
2004	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR 006	Honda RA004E 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL TD	BHR	MON TD	CAN	USA TD	CHN	BRA TD	ARG	KOR C	JPN TD										N/A	N/A
2005	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR 007	Honda RA005E 3.0 V10	AUS TD	MAL 12	BHR TD	SMR TD	ESP TD	MON TD	EUR TD	CAN TD	USA TD	FRA TD	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR TD	ITA TD	BEL TD	BRA TD	URU TD	JPN TD	CHN TD	0	21st
2006	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri SA05	Honda RA806E 2.4 V8	BHR	MAL	AUS	BEL	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	GBR	CAN	USA	FRA	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BRA 18	URU 17	JPN	CHN	0	27th
2007	AT&T Williams	Williams FW29	Honda RA807E 2.4 V8	BHR TD	MAL TD	AUS TD	JPN TD	SMR TD	GER TD	ESP TD	MON TD	CAN TD	USA TD	GBR TD	EUR TD	FRA TD	HUN TD	TUR TD	ITA TD	BEL TD	CHN TD	URU TD	BRA 12	0	23rd