Olivier Beretta

Career Summary Picture Index
Text-Only Version Back to Driver Index
Last updated: 6-July-2001


Biography

Before Formula One Formula One After Formula One

Before F1
1983-90

Born in the right place; takes to French F3

If your name and birthplace has anything to do with where you are headed in life, then Olivier Beretta, born in Monaco, was destined for greatness as a racing driver. Well, greatness, I'm not so sure (not until the last few years, at least), but he did start off where most racing drivers do, in karts, from 1983 to 1988, including runner-up in the 125cc French national championship of 1985.

The first we hear of Beretta in racing cars is in 1989, when he raced in French F3 and came 8th in the FIA Inter-Nations Cup at Misano. The following year he stayed in French F3 and collected one win in his Ravarotto Dallara 390 Alfa Romeo, coming 3rd overall with 76 points, as well as placing 3rd in the Monaco F3 race.

1991-92

Spends a while in F3 with few top results, becomes Piquet protégé

For 1991, he split his time between the French and British F3 series, using a Ralt RT34 Mugen for the Formula Project team in the French series, and driving a both a Ralt RT35 and Bowman BC 1 Mugen for the Bowman Racing team in the British series. It wasn't a success ­ he came 9th overall in France with 39 points, and equal 11th overall in Britain with only one point. His season was hampered, though, by a broken wrist suffered at Monaco.

It was time to move on, and in 1992 Beretta was taken on by the legendary Nelson Piquet for his F3000 project, but the Piquet Racing Reynard 92D, coupled to both a Mugen engine and a Cosworth powerplant, failed to produce any top results, despite the team being well-funded. His best results were three 9th places at Silverstone, Nurburgring and Nogaro, but there were also 4 accidents, including 3 in a row at Pau, Barcelona and Enna.


Olivier performed brilliantly at the opening round of F3000 at Donington, but soon slipped back in the title race.
Olivier performed brilliantly at the opening round of 1993 F3000 at Donington, but soon slipped back in the title race.

1993

Wins the opening round of F3000, but drops back in close season

Switching to Forti Corse in 1993 to drive their Reynard/Cosworth 93D, Beretta came out of nowhere to win the opening round of the F3000 championship at Donington from pole, but thereafter he dropped back in the title chase. Three 4th places at Pau, Hockenheim and Nogaro, plus a 5th at the Nurburgring, were not enough to see him slip to 6th.

Mind you, it was close: Olivier Panis won on 32 points, from Pedro Lamy on 31, David Coulthard on 25, Gil de Ferran and Franck Lagorce on 21, and then Beretta on 20. By this stage he had already had a taste of F1, having tested for Lotus in 1992, and also for Larrousse in 1993.

Formula One
1994
Larrousse

Reasonably eventful season leaves Olivier with no real achievements

Beretta's ties with Larrousse held him in good stead, though, such that Gerard Larrousse signed him up for 1994, to drive the new LH94s with Cosworth V8 engine as team-mate to Erik Comas. In his first outing in Brazil, he qualified a lowly 23rd out of 26, with Comas ten spots ahead of him, and then he had the privilege of being involved in the first prang of the season, when he was clouted by Bertrand Gachot's Pacific on lap three whilst trying to avoid Eric Bernard's spinning Ligier.

At Aida, Larrousse changed to a temporary but distinctive Kronenbourg colour scheme, and Beretta obliged to qualify 21st before suffering electrical problems in the race only 14 laps into the 83-tour event. Comas, meanwhile, trudged home to score a point in 6th. Then at the fateful San Marino GP, Beretta had an engine failure after just 17 laps, having started 24th on the grid.


The Pacifc GP at Aida saw a startling new livery for the Larrousse, a decent qualifying performance, and an electrical failure that put him out of action early.
The Pacifc GP at Aida saw a startling new livery for the Larrousse, a decent qualifying performance, and an electrical failure that put him out of action early.

1994

France sees him qualify alongside the Simteks, engine always lets him down

Thus far, he had done quite well, not too far off Comas' pace. On home soil around the streets of Monte Carlo, he hoped for some improvement, and put his car 20th on the grid, a spot behind J.J. Lehto's Benetton, and drove solidly to finish 8th, well ahead of Comas who was 10th. His improvement seemed to continue in Spain, where he qualified a career-best 17th, only 0.1s behind Comas, but sadly his engine failed on the parade lap.

In Canada he was once again only a spot behind Comas, the Larrousses in 21st and 22nd places. However, after 57 laps, the Monegasque driver suffered yet another Cosworth engine failure. A troubled qualifying in France, though, saw Beretta only start a dismal 25th, recording the same time as David Brabham's Simtek, which nonetheless started a place ahead in 24th. But engine troubles hit for the third time in a row, this time exactly half-way into the race.

1994

Best result at Hockenheim demolition derby

He finally made it to the chequered flag again at Silverstone, where he came 14th, ahead of both Simteks, having started 23rd. However, it would be at the next race in Germany where Beretta would have his day of days, despite only qualifying 24th. When opening lap collisions and retirements took out some 11 cars, Beretta found himself running in tandem with Comas and gradually moving up the order as others fell by the wayside.

By race end, Gerhard Berger had won for Ferrari, with the Ligiers of Olivier Panis and Bernard 2nd and 3rd, the Footworks of Christian Fittipaldi and Gianni Morbidelli 4th and 5th, and the Larrousses 6th and 7th, Comas ahead. This 7th place finish would be the best in Beretta's career, and he can tell any future grandchildren that he finished ahead of Damon Hill in a GP! But how he would have given anything to finish one spot ahead, and score a priceless point.


Olivier holds a post-race conference at Germany in 1994 with his point scoring teammate, Erik Comas (left). Beretta finished one place behind him - 7th would remain his best result.
Olivier holds a post-race conference at Germany in 1994 with his point scoring teammate, Erik Comas (left). Beretta finished one place behind him - 7th would remain his best result.

1994

Results not enough to keep his place whe the money starts to run out

In Hungary, Beretta qualified 25th again and once more ran close to Comas, eventually finishing 9th, some ten seconds behind his team-mate. However, after this, Larrousse were beginning to run short of cash, and Beretta was forced to give way. Philippe Alliot, fresh from a brief fill-in stint with McLaren, drove the car in Belgium, followed by Yannick Dalmas and Hideki Noda in the remaining rounds. Talent obviously wasn't as much of an issue as money.

It was a shame, because although Beretta had probably been hired for his money in the first place, he had done a very "respectable" job in the words of the Autosport 1994 season review. He had stayed pretty close to the highly-rated Comas, and overall he stayed out of trouble and had the look of someone who could score points in the right car. But, after this quiet little dabble in F1, the top flight would never call again.

After F1
1995-96

No luck at Le Mans, but picked out by ORECA

Like so many F1 rejects before and after him, Beretta found his solace in sports car racing. He entered for Le Mans in 1995 in a Courage Chevrolet C41 GM for the Courage Competition team, shared with Eric van de Poele and Matiaz Tomlje, but the car failed to qualify. He also did some Monaco SuperCup testing for Venturi. Yet the famous ORECA team detected that little something in Beretta's sports car abilities, and in 1996 they hired him to drive what would turn out to be their dominant Dodge/Chrysler Viper GTS-R.

With Philippe Gache and Eric Helary at Le Mans, Beretta finished 21st, and then 11th with the same co-drivers at Global GT 1000km race at Suzuka. There were also Global GT 4hr races at Brands Hatch (8th), Spa (20th), and Nogaro (8th), shared respectively with Justin Bell, Alain Ferte and Dominique Dupuy. With 38 points, Beretta was 20th in the Global GT series, 21st in the European championship (counting rounds in Europe only).


Showing good reliability in the FIA GT Championship of 1997, Philippe Gache and Beretta came 3rd overall. Here they are on their way to a class victory at Donington.
Showing good reliability in the FIA GT Championship of 1997, Philippe Gache and Beretta came 3rd overall. Here they are on their way to a class victory at Donington.

1997-98

Consistency the key as Lamy and Olivier take 8 class wins

By 1997, Beretta was very much a part of the ORECA line-up, and in the FIA GT championship, he and Gache came 3rd in the GT2 class with 60 points. Showing good reliability, the pair finished usually on the fringes of the top 10, and took class wins at Hockenheim, Suzuka, Donington and Sebring. However, his Le Mans tilt with Gache and Dupuy ended in retirement, but with Dupuy and Tommy Archer Beretta came 15th at the Daytona 24hr race at the start of the year.

For 1998, old F3000 sparring partner Pedro Lamy joined him as team-mate, and Beretta became GT2 class champion, finishing all ten FIA GT championship races between 6th and 9th in an astonishing show of consistency. The pair scored 92 points and racked up an incredible 8 class wins in a year of dominance. Their closest rival scored only 38! Their reliability was also a feature at Le Mans, where Archer joined them to finish 13th, although this was only good enough for 2nd in class behind the other team car of Bell, David Donohue and Luca Drudi.

1999

Olivier's Viper sweeps all before him in GT2 with Karl W

1999, though, has been Beretta's best year by far. New rules meant that GT2 class cars dominated the FIA GT championship, and now teamed up with Karl Wendlinger in the ORECA Viper, Beretta won 6 rounds (Monza, Silverstone, Zolder, Oschersleben, Donington and Zhuhai) to romp away as FIA GT champion. In the other three rounds at the Hungaroring, Homestead and Watkins Glen, the pair came 2nd. Scoring 78 points, they were utterly untouchable.

ORECA, though, also took part in the new American Le Mans Series, and Beretta became GTS class champ with 151 points, taking 3 class wins with David Donohue at Mosport, Sears Point and Portland, and two other class victories with Wendlinger and Marc Duez at Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca.


A familiar sight in 1999 ­ Beretta and Wendlinger on their way to another victory. Here they pilot their ORECA Chrysler Viper at Le Mans, taking a class win and 10th overall.
A familiar sight in 1999 ­ Beretta and Wendlinger on their way to another victory. Here they pilot their ORECA Chrysler Viper at Le Mans, taking a class win and 10th overall.

1999-2000

Takes a dive in NASCAR Trucks, victory at last at Daytona

With Wendlinger and Dupuy, Beretta also won the GTS class at Le Mans, covering a brilliant 325 laps over the 24 hours to finish a sensational outright 10th. However, Beretta's attempt at the Daytona 24hr race once again ended in failure, having shared the car with Donohue and Archer. That year also saw Beretta have a go at the NASCAR Craftsmen Trucks series in a Dodge, in the process becoming the first European driver to drive in that series. Coming 17th in his one start at Heartland Park was a super, if weird, effort.

For 2000, ORECA decided to ditch the FIA GT championship, but kept going in the ALMS. They also went to Daytona once again, and this time Beretta, Wendlinger and Dupuy managed to take victory. The same trio won the GTS class in the Sebring 12hrs, and again at Le Mans, where they were 7th overall. ORECA had also run Reynard 2KQ prototypes at Le Mans, driven by the likes of Dalmas and Nicolas Minassian. Throughout test and practice sessions Beretta also had a run in the Reynard, but he was left in the Viper for the race. For good reason, too.

2000-01

More class wins for Oli and Karl in dominant ALMS display

In the ALMS, Beretta drove with Wendlinger again in the Viper, recording class wins at Charlotte, Silverstone, the Nurburgring, Mosport and Portland, and 2nd places at Sears Point and Texas. The class win at Mosport came as part of an excellent 4th place overall. With 3rd place overall in the season-ending event in Adelaide on New Year's Eve, Beretta and Wendlinger easily won yet another class title.

For 2001, ORECA and Chrysler decided to invest their time and effort into preparing a prototype to debut at Le Mans, and planned to team Beretta up with Le Mans specialist Dalmas in their LMP car, sponsored by Playstation. In a preparation run at the Donington round of the ALMS/ELMS, the pair only came 21st. For Le Mans, Beretta ended up being paired with Wendlinger and Lamy instead, and together they came 4th, but 23 laps behind the victorious Audi.


Another year, another routing - here Beretta takes the newly liveried Viper to a class victory at the Nurburgring round of the ALMS.
Another year, another routing - here Beretta takes the newly liveried Viper to a class victory at the Nurburgring round of the ALMS in 2000.

Personal

On a personal note, Beretta continues to live in Monaco, and he is married to Paolo. They have one son, Riccardo.

F1 Rejects
Back to the top
Back to Career Summary
Main Page   |    Drivers Index   |   Reject Teams   |   Hall of Shame
Featured Rejects
Reject Statistics
Submit-a-Reject
FAQ / Copyright
Reject CENTRALE
• Latest GP Review
• Other Articles
• Links / Banner
Sign Guestbook
Read Guestbook
Current Poll
Previous Polls
Please send any corrections, comments or suggestions to
email@f1rejects.com
All original content Copyright © 2001 Formula One Rejects.