Rain, Monaco and BRM's last win

Jean Pierre Beltoise came to cars from motorcycle racing, spent years with Matra, and won the wet 1972 Monaco Grand Prix for BRM.

Jean Pierre Beltoise was born in Boulogne Billancourt, France, on April 26, 1937. He first made his name on motorcycles, winning 11 French national titles in three years and racing in the motorcycle Grand Prix world championship from 1962 to 1964. A heavy crash in the 1964 Reims 12 hour sports car race left one arm with permanently limited movement, yet he returned in 1965 to win the Reims Formula 3 race and moved up to Formula 2.

His World Championship debut came at the 1966 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, where he drove a Formula 2 Matra and won that class. From 1968 Matra gave him proper Formula 1 machinery, and he finished second at the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix. In 1969 he partnered Jackie Stewart in Ken Tyrrell's Matra team, finished second in the French Grand Prix and placed fifth in the championship. He returned to the works Matra team for 1970 and 1971.

Beltoise joined BRM for 1972, and at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix, run in heavy rain, he won. It was the only World Championship win of his career and the last for BRM. He stayed with the team through 1974, taking second place at the 1974 South African Grand Prix, and made his final start at the 1974 United States Grand Prix.

Our record shows 86 starts, 1 win, 4 fastest laps and 8 podiums across nine seasons, with Matra and BRM. He later won French touring car titles for BMW and a French rallycross title, and he died in 2015.

0 world titles, 1 wins, 0 pole positions, 86 starts.

Teams

Victories

• Monaco Grand Prix 1972