Philippe Adams (born 19 November 1969) is a Belgian racing driver whose career included championship success in Britain and a brief, privately financed spell in Formula One with Team Lotus.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Birthplace | Mouscron, Belgium |
| Born | 19 November 1969 |
| First Grand Prix | 1994 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix |
| Current/Last Team | Team Lotus |
Career
Early years
Born in Mouscron, Wallonia, Adams began karting at the age of 12 and graduated to car racing in 1984.
His strongest junior results came in Britain. Adams finished runner-up in the 1992 British Formula Three Championship, then stepped into the British Formula Two Series and won the 1993 title.
Formula One
For 1994, Adams and his financial backers reached an agreement to raise $500,000 in exchange for two Formula One appearances with Lotus.
Part of that budget came through an unusual arrangement involving an insurance policy connected to his Belgian Procar appearance at Spa, held alongside the Grand Prix weekend. Adams won the Procar race but retired from his Formula One debut.
His second World Championship start came in Portugal, where he reached the finish in 16th place. Regular Lotus driver Alessandro Zanardi had returned between Adams’s two appearances and qualified an impressive 13th at the Italian Grand Prix.
Adams was originally expected to contest a third race at Jerez, but Lotus ultimately returned the seat to Zanardi. He never raced in Formula One again.
Later career
After his short Grand Prix adventure, Adams returned to national-level competition. He subsequently concentrated largely on production-based machinery and sports-car racing.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 2 |
| Race Starts | 2 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | 25 |
| Best Race Finish | 16 |
| Retirements | 1 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 2 |
| Reached Q3 | – |
| 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 | Team Lotus | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 16 | 0 | 0 | NC |
