Bertrand Gachot has left an indelible mark in the history of Formula 1. However, it isn’t for all the good reasons. Before the 1991 Belgian GP, the former Jordan driver was arrested for an altercation he had with a London cab driver. This led to Michael Schumacher receiving his debut with Jordan.
A lot has changed for Gachot since then, though. Today, the 62-year-old Belgian-French driver has turned his life around and sits at the helm of a successful energy drinks company that he built up from scratch for the last 25 years.
On the Formula for Success podcast with his former F1 boss Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard, Gachot revealed last year the milestone he’s about to achieve with his brand ‘Hype’. “What is interesting is we’re going to celebrate our first billion cans of one product that we make,” he revealed.
“It’s a ‘Carbon Fiber’ and we did it because of the Formula 1 history and all that and we have made now one billion… we will do [it] this summer,” he added. What really swells Gachot with pride is the fact that he has been able to hold his own against big companies like Coca-Cola and Red Bull.
Gachot credits F1 for his business acumen
Many would argue that Gachot was never really able to achieve his full potential strapped into an F1 car. However, the 62-year-old has taken plenty of lessons back home with him from racing at the very pinnacle of motorsport.
Today, he uses them to advance his business. “I develop our products like a Formula 1 car. Constant development [and] we never stop. I have a team and we constantly try to improve our products and we try to make them better,” he explained.
Even in underdeveloped markets such as Africa, the Belgian-French racing ace finds the most competitive brands that he needs to go toe-to-toe against to hold his own in the market — a challenge that he relishes.
