Bernard Marie François Alexandre Collomb-Clerc (7 October 1930 – 19 September 2011) was a French racing driver who competed in Formula One during the early 1960s, an era when independent drivers could still prepare their own cars and take it racing against some of the biggest names in the sport.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | French |
| Birthplace | Annecy, France |
| Born | 7 October 1930 |
| Died | 19 September 2011 |
| First Grand Prix | 1961 French Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1964 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1961–1964 |
| Current/Last Team | Privateer: Bernard Collomb Lotus |
Collomb made his Formula One World Championship debut on 2 July 1961. Over the course of his career, he took part in six World Championship Grands Prix. He did not score any championship points, but his record only tells part of the story: Collomb was very much an independent racer, generally competing in cars that he had prepared himself rather than enjoying the resources of a major works team.
For the first part of his Formula One adventure, Collomb raced Cooper machinery. His early appearances came at the wheel of Cooper-Climax cars, combining Cooper chassis with Coventry Climax engines – a familiar and highly competitive combination during this period of Grand Prix racing.
In 1963, Collomb changed direction and began racing Lotus machinery instead. The switch placed him in cars from one of the most innovative constructors of the era, although he continued to approach racing very much on his own terms.
Collomb’s finest Formula One finish did not come in a World Championship Grand Prix. In 1961, he drove his Cooper-Climax to fourth place in Vienna in a non-Championship Formula One race.
At a time when the Formula One calendar included a healthy collection of prestigious non-Championship events alongside the official World Championship, fourth place represented an impressive result for an independent driver preparing and campaigning his own machinery.
With six World Championship entries and no points to his name, Collomb was never one of Formula One’s headline stars. But that is also what makes his career an interesting piece of the championship’s history.
He belonged to a generation when Grand Prix racing was still accessible to determined private entrants who could acquire a racing car, prepare it themselves and line up on the same grids as established Formula One teams. Starting out with Coopers before moving to Lotuses in 1963, Collomb followed that independent route through one of motor racing’s most fascinating periods.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 6 |
| Race Starts | 4 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | 21st |
| Best Race Finish | 10th |
| Retirements | 2 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 1 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 2 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 6 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 2 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Privateer: Bernard Collomb Cooper | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | – | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1962 | Privateer: Bernard Collomb Cooper | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | – | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1963 | Privateer: Bernard Collomb Lotus | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1964 | Privateer: Bernard Collomb Lotus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | NC |
