Jean-Maxime Bachot

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Jean-Maxime Bachot (born September 19th, 1977, in Strasbourg, France) is a French former racing driver, best known for his appearances in Formula One and F3000. He is the son of Silvio Bachot and grandson of Guillon Bachot, who both previously competed in Formula One as driver and team owner respectively, although with little success.

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, driving for his father's team Bachot Grand Prix. 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 with his father's team 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. The young Frenchman improved in 2002, and scored points consistently on his way to an impressive fourth in the championship.

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 a podium at Hockenheim, before choosing to focus on his F1 testing commitments.


Formula One

2004-2005: BAR Test Driver

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.