Nathanaël Berthon

Nathanaël Berthon
Berthon at the start of the 2nd race at the 2010 Brno World Series by Renault meeting
Nationality	French
Born	(1989-07-01) 1 July 1989 Romagnat (France)
2013 GP2 Series
Debut season	2012
Current team	Trident Racing
Car no.	20
Former teams	Racing Engineering
Starts	26
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	12th in 2012
Previous series
2012 2010–11 2011 2008–09 2008–09	Toyota Racing Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP2 Asia Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC
Championship titles
2009	French Formula Renault 2.0

Nathanaël Berthon (born July 1, 1989 in Romagnat) is a professional racing driver from France.

Career

Karting

Berthon began his international karting career in 2006, with the highlights being a third place finish in the Copa Campeones Trophy ICA class and fifth in the French Championship Elite category. The following year he again finished fifth in the French Championship Elite class. He also finished eighth in the South Garda Winter Cup KF1 and 13th in the World Cup KF1 categories.

Formula Renault 2.0

In 2008, Berthon moved up to single–seaters, taking part in both the Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series for Boutsen Energy Racing. In the West European Cup he finished in the points on four occasions, scoring nine points to be classified in 18th place, whilst in the Eurocup he failed to score a point, with his best race result being a 12th place at the Nürburgring meeting.

2009 saw Berthon remain in both series for a second season, this time racing for the Spanish team Epsilon Euskadi. He won his first Eurocup race at the opening round in Barcelona after team–mate Albert Costa was disqualified for a technical infringement. He followed that up with a further podium at the Hungaroring to finish sixth in the standings.

In the West European Cup, Berthon took a victory at Spa–Francorchamps along with six other podium finishes to finish third in championship, behind Jean-Éric Vergne and champion Costa. He was also crowned as French Formula Renault 2.0 champion, with the series being run as part of the West European Cup season.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Nathanaël Berthon at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round

In October 2009, Berthon sampled a Formula Renault 3.5 Series car for the first time, testing for Tech 1 Racing at Motorland Aragón in Spain as a reward for winning the French Formula Renault 2.0 title. He drove for the recently–crowned champions Draco Racing during the next test at the Circuit de Catalunya and in December 2009 it was announced that he would drive for the team in the 2010 season. He was joined at the team by Colombian driver Omar Leal.

After finishing on the podium at the season–opener in Motorland Aragón and again at Brno, Berthon secured his first Formula Renault 3.5 Series win on home soil at Magny–Cours, holding off a stiff challenge from Tech 1 Racing's Daniel Ricciardo. He followed that up with another podium finish at Hockenheim to be classified in seventh place in the championship standings.

Berthon returned to the series in 2011, replacing Dean Stoneman at ISR Racing after the Briton was forced to pull out of the championship due to illness. Partnered variously by Ricciardo and Lewis Williamson, he took a first finish of third place to finish 13th overall in the drivers' championship.

Formula Three

In July 2010, Berthon made his Formula Three debut, racing for the ART Grand Prix team in the British Formula Three Championship round at Spa–Francorchamps as an entry in the Invitation class. During the weekend he finished all three races, taking a best result of 13th place in the sprint event.

GP2 Series

Berthon made his debut in the GP2 Asia Series in 2011, partnering Spaniard Dani Clos at the Racing Engineering team. He failed to score a point in the four races he contested and was classified in 23rd place in the championship. He returned to the main GP2 Series, again with Racing Engineering, for the non-championship race that concluded the 2011 season, and raced full-time for the team in 2012, alongside Fabio Leimer, eventually finishing 12th overall with a best race finish of second on two occasions.

Toyota Racing Series

In the winter of 2012 prior to the start of the GP2 season, Berthon travelled to New Zealand to compete in the five-round Toyota Racing Series in a grid which featured a mix of local and foreign drivers. As won of five drivers for the M2 Competition team, he finished seventh in the championship.

Formula One

On 16 November 2011, Berthon had his first experience of driving a Formula One car. At the Abu Dhabi young drivers' test at the Yas Marina Circuit, he drove the HRT F1 Team's F111 for nine laps. He set a best time of 1:48.646, which left him 13th fastest. The following day, Berthon had the whole day to himself with the car, completing 51 laps (283 kilometres (176 mi)) and finished the day in 12th position with a best time of 1:45.839. Berthon described the day by saying: "Today was a great experience but it felt like it was too short. I would like to spend some more time in the car but, as a first step, it was very good".

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup	Boutsen Energy Racing	15	0	0	0	0	9	18th
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		14	0	0	0	0	0	33rd
2009	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Epsilon Euskadi	14	1	0	0	2	67	6th
	Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup		14	1	1	1	7	120	3rd
2010	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	International DracoRacing	17	1	0	0	4	60	7th
	British Formula Three Championship	ART Grand Prix	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2011	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	ISR Racing	17	0	0	0	1	37	13th
	GP2 Asia Series	Racing Engineering	4	0	0	0	0	0	23rd
	GP2 Final		2	0	0	0	0	0	11th
2012	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	24	0	0	0	2	60	12th
	Toyota Racing Series	M2 Competition	15	0	0	1	0	755	7th

† – As Berthon was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2010	International Draco Racing	ALC 1 Ret	ALC 2 3	SPA 1 Ret	SPA 2 10	MON 1 Ret	BRN 1 8	BRN 2 2	MAG 1 9	MAG 2 1	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 13	HOC 1 9	HOC 2 3	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 Ret	CAT 1 6	CAT 2 12	7th	60
2011	ISR	ALC 1 12	ALC 2 8	SPA 1 14	SPA 2 16	MNZ 1 Ret	MNZ 2 Ret	MON 1 10	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 Ret	HUN 1 9	HUN 2 10	SIL 1 4	SIL 2 3	LEC 1 14	LEC 2 14	CAT 1 9	CAT 2 Ret	13th	37

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2012	Racing Engineering	MYS FEA 11	MYS SPR 8	BHR1 FEA 21	BHR1 SPR Ret	BHR2 FEA 12	BHR2 SPR 10	ESP FEA 5	ESP SPR 2	MON FEA 9	MON SPR 7	VAL FEA 6	VAL SPR 5	GBR FEA 12	GBR SPR 14	GER FEA 15	GER SPR 9	HUN FEA 7	HUN SPR 2	BEL FEA 14	BEL SPR 19	ITA FEA 15	ITA SPR 15	SGP FEA 10	SGP SPR 15	12th	60
2013	Trident Racing	MYS FEA Ret	MYS SPR 21	BHR FEA 17	BHR SPR 22	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 23	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 21	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	SGP FEA	SGP SPR	ABU FEA	ABU SPR			28th*	0*

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
2011	Racing Engineering	ABU FEA Ret	ABU SPR 14	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 13	23rd	0

External links

• Career details from Driver Database
• Nathanaël Berthon on Twitter

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jean-Éric Vergne	French Formula Renault 2.0 Champion 2009	Succeeded by Not awarded