François Hesnault is a racing driver from France who last raced in Formula 1 for Renault. Hesnault has recorded 0 wins and 0 podiums from 19 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 4,097 ranks Hesnault 1006th of 15,348 indexed drivers, on an Elo scale where the strongest reach the low five figures. It is built from every indexed race in the driver's file, decayed for time since their last race.
| 1985-08-04 | Nürburgring | DNF | −82 |
| 1985-05-05 | Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | DNF | −71 |
| 1985-04-21 | Autódromo do Estoril | DNF | −113 |
| 1985-04-07 | Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet | DNF | −87 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | ▸Formula 1 | Renault | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | P21 | −353 | 4,097 |
| 1984 | ▸Formula 1 | Ligier | 15 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | P21 | −350 | 4,450 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇹 Niki Lauda | 5,364 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% |
| 🇫🇷 Alain Prost | 6,204 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| 🇫🇷 René Arnoux | 4,563 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% |
| 🇮🇹 Riccardo Patrese | 5,627 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 33% |
| 🇬🇧 Derek Warwick | 4,993 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 33% |
| 🇧🇪 Thierry Boutsen | 4,852 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 33% |
| 🇮🇹 Michele Alboreto | 4,733 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 33% |
| 🇮🇹 Andrea de Cesaris | 4,262 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
François Hesnault was a French Formula 1 driver who competed in the sport between 1984 and 1985, accumulating 19 starts across two seasons, all of them for Renault. He never scored a championship point and retired without a podium finish. His average finishing position of 8.6 places him in mid-field territory, yet the calibre of drivers he regularly faced, including five-time champion Alain Prost, three-time champion Niki Lauda, and bronze-graded Riccardo Patrese, reveals the competitive depth of the grid he inhabited.[1]
Hesnault's head-to-head record against these peers was heavily one-sided. Against Prost he finished behind in all four shared races; against Lauda, behind in five of five. However, he occasionally extracted competitive moments against slightly lower-rated rivals, finishing ahead of Patrese and Derek Warwick once each, and once beating Gerhard Berger, a driver considerably stronger than his career average. His most frequent team, Ligier, fielded him for 15 of his 19 starts; that squad had won races in the index and counted Eddie Cheever among its drivers, establishing it as a functional if not front-running outfit. Hesnault's career was one of exposure to elite competition without the pace to establish himself; his retirement in 1985 after two seasons reflected the common attrition of capable drivers who could not match their championship-contending teammates.[2]