Christine Beckers, F1 80

The scene takes place at the Zolder circuit, a track that Belgian driver Christine Beckers knows like the back of her hand. Nestled in the middle of the Hasselt forest east of Brussels, Zolder is an old-fashioned, fast and technical route. For her 80th birthday, former pilot Christine Beckers (alias “Christine”) wants to recapture the emotions of her illustrious career. The journey has taken her to four 24 Hours of Le Mans and 11 24 Hours of Spa. The icing on the cake: “Christine” aspires to become the oldest driver to drive a modern Formula 1 car.

The first challenge was completed last June. To celebrate her half-century of class wins (2-litre) at Sarthe, she made a tour as a prelude to Ferrari winning both towers in 2024, at the wheel of the Chevron B23 she shared with Marie Laurent and Yvette Fontaine. We remember that “Christine” was associated with the birth of Jean Rondeau’s Inaltera prototype at Sarthe. In 1976, she shared the French prototype with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Jean Rondeau. Sorry! She would also complain about not driving enough. The following year, she shared the Inaltera car with Italian Lella Lombardi, the only woman to score points in Formula 1.

It’s 2024. Fifteen days after Le Mans, the Belgian driver discovers another temple of speed: Spa. “Christine” takes to the Francorchamps, the prologue to the 24 Hours of Spa, in an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV identical to the one in which her brother Lucien, nicknamed “James”, won the famous Coupe des Rois in 1974.

The Belgian champion is known for participating in a wide range of motorsport disciplines, including rallying, single-seaters, touring, hillclimbing, rallycross and even the NASCAR 400 Miles of Daytona, but she regrets not having raced in Formula 1. She certainly had the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car a few times, but never in a race. For her 80th birthday, she was keen to reconnect with these single-seaters. So “Christine” did a few laps on the Zolder track in a 1985 Arrows A8, equipped with a BMW turbocharged engine, formerly owned by Belgian collector Thierry Boutsen. She described the experience as so fantastic that it should have landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records.