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Baguette rolls out for Renault F1 test

With a surname that lends itself to more dodgy puns than a month's worth of tabloid headlines, Bertrand Baguette is a driver who has been steadily climbing up the racing career ladder in the past five years and now looks poised to realise his Formula 1 ambition, having clinched this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 title and secured a test with the Renault F1 team in the process.

The accountancy graduate from the Belgian city of Verviers took a fairly ordinary route to where we currently find him today. Mixing karting with his studies during his teenage years, Baguette won a scholarship through a shootout arranged by the RAC Belgium, which landed him a place in the national Formula Renault 1600 championship. After relative success in his debut season, he progressed on to Formula Renault 2.0 for 2005 before graduating on to FR3.5, skipping the more-customary apprenticeship in Formula 3.

Despite mixing with the front runners during the early period of his career, Baguette’s driving attributes where not immediately apparent and remained under the radar, especially during his tenure driving for the Kurt Mollekens-run KTR team, as the likes of future Formula 1 star Sebastian Vettel and GP2 winner Alvaro Parente took up the column inches in the press.

A decision taken to drive for the Italian team Draco for the following season can be judged as an astute one. It is here, under the guidance of team boss Adriano Morini – a man who is seen as having contributed to the success of Rubens Barrichello’s and Felipe Massa’s careers in Formula 1 – that has lead to Baguette growing in both self belief and maturity.

It seems all that was required to showcase Baguette’s championship-winning attributes was for the 23-year-old to be surrounded by people who could give him the psychological boost and encouragement that he needed, and under the often intense work ethic, family-like atmosphere of Draco, he received that in abundance. As Morini explains:

"I look at Bertrand and I don't think he has changed, but he has more confidence. Say, you have a driver who in karting was a winner, and in Formula Renault 2.0 was a winner - they'll have that winning mentality embedded in them. But when in karting, or maybe FR2.0, if they are not champion they haven't got the security to say, 'I'm a winner.' The moment I understood his mentality and potential I pushed, pushed, pushed Betrand. I told him, 'You're a possible winner - one day you will win.'

Bertrand has the possibility to go to F1, but it is important he is surrounded by people who can encourage him, saying 'Go! Push!' because it is very difficult."

This year was when Baguette finally grew in stature, winning five races to secure the FR3.5 title at the Nurburgring with a round to spare. While Spanish racer Marco Martinez initially filled the limelight with his early large points lead, Baguette remained consistent all year long, producing an almost faultless performance, culminating in a mammoth end-of-season points advantage over second place Fairuz Fauzy.

The Belgian youngster has recently become the latest name to land the chance to test at next month’s young drivers’ session at Jerez and will be in action for Renault at the Spanish circuit on December 1, as a reward for winning the FR3.5 series. An excellent opportunity that should see his stock rise even further. A brilliant racer, who sometimes lacks that vital one-lap qualifying pace. If he can overcome his shortcomings, the future looks bright for him.

The first driver from Belgium to win an international single-seater championship since Jacky Ickx won his Formula 2 title in 1967, Baguette will be hoping to replicate his fellow countryman's performance, and with his manager Manfredi Ravetto rumoured to be working hard on Formula 1 negotiations, it doesn't look like those bread-related puns will go stale anytime soon.