Olivier Henri Aldo Léopold Beretta (born 23 November 1969) is a professional racing driver from Monaco whose career has ranged from Formula One to some of endurance racing’s biggest prizes.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Monegasque |
| Birthplace | Monaco |
| Born | 23 November 1969 |
| First Grand Prix | 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1994 |
| Current/Last Team | Larrousse |
Beretta contested ten Grands Prix for Larrousse in 1994, making his debut on 27 March at the Brazilian Grand Prix alongside teammate Érik Comas. He scored no championship points and lost the seat when his sponsorship funding expired. Nearly a decade later, he returned to the Formula One world as a Williams test driver during 2003 and 2004.
Career
Born in Monte Carlo, Beretta found his true speciality in sports cars. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he collected class victories in an impressive variety of machinery. Driving a Viper GTS-R, he won his category in 1999 and 2000, finishing tenth and seventh overall respectively.
A highly successful partnership with Corvette followed. Beretta took three consecutive Le Mans class wins: sixth overall in a C5-R in 2004, fifth in another C5-R in 2005 and fourth in a C6-R in 2006. He also raced LMP900 prototypes at the French classic, recording class finishes of sixth in 2001, fourth in 2002 and third in 2003.
His endurance résumé also includes overall victory in the 2000 24 Hours of Daytona, confirming that his brief Formula One career represented only a small part of a much larger story.
Beretta made an unusual detour into American stock-car racing in 1999, entering the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series round at Heartland Park Topeka with Bobby Hamilton Racing. He qualified tenth and finished 17th, becoming the first European driver to compete in the series. The truck proved a very different animal from his usual machinery: Beretta found it considerably heavier than expected and was struck by how high his hands sat on the steering wheel compared with the low-slung racing cars he knew.
After a long association with Corvette, Beretta moved to Ferrari for 2012. He opened the season at Daytona in Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 458 Italia Grand-Am before joining AF Corse for an FIA World Endurance Championship campaign in the GTE-Pro version of the 458 Italia.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 10 |
| Race Starts | 9 |
| Did Not Start | 1 |
| Best Race Start | 18th |
| Best Race Finish | 7th |
| Retirements | 5 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 10 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Larrousse | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Stats by Constructor
| Constructor | Years | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larrousse | 1994 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Teammates & Qualifying Head-to-Head
| Teammate | Years | Races | Qualifying H2H |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erik Comas | 1994 | 10 | 0-10 |
