Thierry Boutsen

Thierry Marc Boutsen (born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One.

He competed in 164 World Championship Grands Prix (163 starts), winning three races, achieving 15 podiums and scoring 132 career points.

His best finish in the World Drivers' Championship was fourth in whilst driving for Benetton.

He also twice finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race (in in a Peugeot 905 and in in a Porsche 911 GT1).

After winning the "Volant V" in 1977 at the André Pilette Racing School, Zolder, Boutsen entered the Belgian Formula Ford 1600 championship and won it in 1978 with 15 victories in 18 races.

He also entered the 1978 Spa 24 Hours race, the last auto race on the old 14 km (8.7 mi) Spa-Francorchamps circuit- driving a Toyota Trueno.

For 1979 he moved to Formula 3, winning three races in 1980 and second place in the European title race, behind Michele Alboreto.

In 1981 he moved to Formula 2 and was again second in the European championship, including winning at the 14-mile Nürburgring- this time behind Geoff Lees.

He also entered the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The race started at 3pm in unusually hot weather – one hour earlier than usual due to the Parliamentary elections held on the same weekend.

At 4:06pm Boutsen suffered a massive accident just after the Hunaudières kink, some 400 m before the Mulsanne bosse (the "hump") when his WM P81-Peugeot was travelling at some 350 km/h.

A suspension piece had failed and the car hit the guard-rail losing the entire rear end.

Boutsen was untouched, but the debris field of hurled parts and bodywork was spread over 150 m. Three marshals and a gendarme were struck by the debris.

One of them, Thierry Mabilat, was killed - struck in the chest by a detached piece of the guard rail.

The other two marshals, Claude Hertault and Serge David (who lost an arm), and the gendarme were all seriously injured.

In 1983 Boutsen drove in the European Touring Car Championship and in World Sportscar races, where he won the very first Group C race, the Monza 1000 km with Bob Wollek driving a Porsche 956.

In 1983 he paid $500,000 for a drive in Formula One and made his debut with Arrows at his home race, the 1983 Belgian Grand Prix at the shortened 7 km (4.3 mi) Spa.

While he scored no points in 1983 his careful handling and close performance compared to experienced teammate Marc Surer allowed him to foster a positive reputation within the team.

With backing from Barclay cigarettes he remained with Arrows for a further three seasons.

The first saw Arrows struggle with their difficult first turbocharged car, with powerful BMW turbo engines but poor handling.

Boutsen scored points twice in the old Cosworth DFV powered A6 and once in the turbo machine.

His second season saw several notable results, including 2nd place at Imola.

Boutsen crossed the line third, behind Alain Prost and Elio de Angelis but after the race, Prost was disqualified because his car was 2 kg underweight.

He also won the famous Daytona 24-hour race in 1985, co-driving the Porsche 956 from the Preston Henn Racing with Bob Wollek, A. J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr.

Boutsen was considered a promising driver, testing for McLaren and Brabham.

He was briefly attached to the Spirit Honda F1 project before losing out to his Formula Two teammate Stefan Johansson.

Fabi scored no wins in his F1 career but did have 3 poles to his name while at that stage Boutsen could only boast his 2nd place at Imola in 1985.

saw Boutsen with a new teammate, the Italian Alessandro Nannini.

A final season with Arrows saw no points for Boutsen in an uncompetitive car, but in parallel to F1 he drove for the Walter Brun team in Group C and clinched the World Championship title with them in 1986, winning that year's Spa 1000 km.

Boutsen got his big chance when he switched to the works Ford Europe F1 team, Benetton, for the season as teammate to Teo Fabi.

While the package wasn't a race winner, it did allow him to run regularly in the top 6.

He scored points in six races, his best being awarded 3rd place in Adelaide after the disqualification of Ayrton Senna's Lotus and moved to 8th overall.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Boutsen was furious with Fabi when the Italian refused to let his teammate lap him for a number of laps.

When Boutsen confronted Fabi about this after the race, a frustrated Fabi (who had been unable to find an F1 drive for ), told the Belgian to "come back and see me when you have a pole position".

Frank Williams signed Boutsen in the summer of 1988 to replace Nigel Mansell for 1989 as Mansell had signed to move to Ferrari.

Boutsen's reputation as a reliable, fast driver with good development skills saw Williams sign him on a two-year contract.

When Cosworth stopped development of their turbocharged V6 engine, Benetton were forced to switch to normally aspirated Ford DFR V8 engines in anticipation of the banning of turbos in 1989.

For 1989, he drove the new V10 Renault powered Williams FW12C.

Three more points scores saw him 11th overall in the standings.

Boutsen's consistency, mechanical sympathy and speed in the Rory Byrne designed Benetton B188 saw him score points in 10 of the 16 races, including five 3rd-place finishes (all behind the all-conquering McLaren-Honda cars), and place 4th overall as the best non-turbo driver in the field.