Charles Pic made his F1 debut in 2012 with the Marussia outfit, but had an anonymous year. His most visible moment came when he lost tenth place in the championship for the team by dropping a position to Caterham, before moving to the latter team for the 2013 season. Pic joined the Lotus team for 2014 as a test driver but was left without a position at the end of the season.

F1 biography

Pic's early motorsport racing involved the Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 Series, and then two years in GP2 and GP2 Asia. Pic won a couple of races in GP2 and finished fourth in the championship in 2011. He was granted a drive with the Marussia team at the Young Driver Test towards the end of the year, and performed well enough to secure the race seat for the following season.

Making his debut in 2012, Pic was reportedly mentored by Olivier Panis - a previous French F1 driver with one win under his belt. If the mentoring made any difference, it’s hard to say, as the Marussia car did not have the pace or the presence to show off the skills of their drivers.

Pic was partnered with Timo Glock for 2012, and only managed to get the better of his more experienced teammate very occasionally. The highlight result of his season was 12th place at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, but that was tainted when he was passed by a Caterham driver.

When it was confirmed that Pic would join the Caterham squad for 2013, speculation was rife that he'd lost the position intentionally - although all involved deny that. His season with Caterham was similar to the previous one at Marussia, as the backmarker team didn't have the car to make any headway on the championship.

For 2014, Pic was left out of the lineup for Caterham and instead moved to Renault for a season as a test driver. At the end of the year, he left the sport and joined the brand new Formula E series.

Learn more about Charles Pic with the Pocket F1 Handbook.