Anthoine Hubert

Anthoine Gérard Pol Hubert (22 September 1996 – 31 August 2019) was a French professional racing driver.

Born in Lyon, Hubert began his karting career in 2004 at age eight.

In 2010 he finished as runner-up in the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy.

In the 2011 and 2012 CIK-FIA "U18" World Karting Championships, he finished third.

In 2013, Hubert moved up to single-seater racing, joining the French F4 Championship.

He went on to win the series on his first attempt, finishing the season with eleven wins and two further podium finishes.

In 2014, he graduated to competing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Tech 1 Racing.

He finished fifteenth overall, with six point-scoring finishes throughout the season.

He also participated in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps as guest driver.

For the 2015 season Hubert remained in the Eurocup and with Tech 1.

He finished fifth in the championship with wins at Silverstone and Le Mans and another five podiums to his name.

He also contested selected events in the Alps series, where he won four of the six races that he started, and finished second in other two races.

In February 2016, it was confirmed that Hubert would make his debut in the European Formula 3 Championship, racing with Van Amersfoort Racing.

He took his first Formula 3 win in the second race at Norisring.

Hubert ended up eighth in the standings, three positions behind teammate Callum Ilott, but a long way ahead of his other two partners Harrison Newey and Pedro Piquet.

In November 2016, Hubert participated in F3 post-season testing with ART Grand Prix.

In February 2017, he was recruited by ART to compete in the 2017 championship.

He was the 2018 GP3 Series champion and a member of the Renault Sport Academy.

He remained with them for the 2018 season.

Despite only scoring two victories, two less than teammate Nikita Mazepin, the Frenchman won the title through his consistency, showcased by him finishing on the podium in eleven out of the 18 races.

This led to him gaining reputation with Formula 1 teams such as Renault.

In November 2018, Hubert participated in the F2 post-season test at Abu Dhabi with MP Motorsport.

In May 2018, Hubert became an affiliated driver with the Renault Sport Academy.

He died following an accident during the feature race of the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

In January 2019, Hubert joined F2 full-time racing with BWT Arden, partnering fellow GP3 graduate Tatiana Calderón.

He took two wins in the first half of his debut season, at Monte Carlo and at his home race in France.

Hubert's first F2 win, in Monaco, was just 0.059 seconds ahead of the second placed driver Louis Delétraz.

The second and final win was in his home country, a race he started from pole position and finished ahead of Juan Manuel Correa.

He scored points in seven further races that season and was seventh in the standings before the round at Spa-Francorchamps.

In 2019, Hubert received full backing from the Academy.

On 31 August 2019, Hubert was critically injured when he was involved in a serious crash on the second lap of the feature race of the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps FIA Formula 2 round.

As the second lap began, Trident driver Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car as he climbed the Raidillon curve, due to a puncture he had received earlier.

This caused his car to spin and hit the left wall of the circuit, tearing off his rear wing and spreading debris onto the track.

When another Trident driver, Ralph Boschung, reached the crest of Raidillon, he slowed down and moved towards the run-off area to avoid Alesi's damaged car and the field of debris.

Hubert, who was closely following Boschung, could not see where Boschung was, and the speed difference between their two cars.

Hubert moved right as well, clipping Boschung's right rear wheel with his front wing.

He lost control of his car, crashed into the tyre barrier on the right side of the track at an acute angle, and was deflected sideways into the path of Charouz driver Juan Manuel Correa, who struck the left side of Hubert's car.

Correa had lost control of his car due to hitting debris from Alesi's car, and was travelling at 218 km/h when he impacted Hubert's near-stationary car.

Hubert's car experienced 82 g-force as a result, while Correa was exposed to 65 g-force.

Both cars were torn apart by the force of the accident.