Hungarian GP winner quit F1 to sell planes and is now multimillionaire | F1 | Sport
Thierry Boutsen is one of 22 drivers to earn a win at the Hungarian Grand Prix (Image: Getty)
The Hungarian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday and it was the location of Thierry Boutsen’s last Formula One victory. The Belgian competed in the sport from 1983 to 1993, with his victory in Budapest coming in 1990.
Boutsen raced for Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan across his decade-long F1 career, boasting three race victories. Nearly 30 years on from calling time on his racing days, the 69-year-old has achieved tremendous success in his post-F1 life, thanks in large part to his entrepreneurial work in the aviation industry. Now based in Monaco, Boutsen has earned a staggering amount of money selling private aeroplanes.
Speaking to Monaco Life in 2020, he opened up about how his passion for planes was first ignited. He said: “I honestly had no idea that private jets existed until I was 18 years old. A family friend was CEO at Abelag (a private jet operator) in Brussels and he invited me to work there as a mechanic in the aircraft maintenance department.
“I enjoyed every minute of it – discovering these extraordinary flying machines. I was even invited on board to do a post maintenance test flight. That is when I promised myself, should I one day have earned enough money, I would buy and fly my own plane. I had to wait 12 years for that. Since then, flying has been a passion, like driving race cars.”
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He added: “I had no intention of starting a company in the beginning. I was always flying my own plane from racing event to racing event, or marketing event to marketing event, for private or business purposes.
Thierry Boutsen raced against some of the best drivers in F1 history (Image: Getty)
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The 69-year-old has built an impressive business since leaving F1 (Image: Getty)
“Then I had a request in 1997 from a colleague of mine, former F1 driver Heinz Harald Frentzen, who wanted to buy the same plane I was using at the time but he didn’t know how to get it or how to complete the paper work etc. So, I said I would do it for him, and he ended up being my first customer.
“Immediately afterwards, I had a request from Keke Rosberg to buy a similar airplane for him; then I had to buy one for Mika Hakkinen, and then Michael Schumacher came to me and said he wanted to sell his Challenger. I did about 10 transactions, just in the racing world. I was doing the job as if it was for me – with a lot of passion, dedication and attention to detail. People loved it.
“So, we decided to go further and explore Europe. My wife Daniela and I started Boutsen Aviation: she was in charge of the marketing and presentation and I was in charge of the commercial side. At the end of 2000 we had our first employee, Dominique Trinquet – who is still with us today and is now president of the company. We have nine people working with us here in Monaco, and we have representatives in India, Russia, northern Europe, eastern Europe and Switzerland.”
Discussing the success he’s enjoyed as a businessman, Boutsen continued: “We have sold 385 planes to date, and every time we make a sale, we celebrate it as a success for the whole team. Our team in aviation is like a racing team – everyone is working together to get the job done and using their capabilities to 100 per cent, or sometimes even more.
“It will be a very important milestone when we get to 400, but it is due to the hard work of everybody of the company. We have 16 planes for sale on an exclusive basis. We sell all types of business jets, but 70 to 80 per cent of our planes are transatlantic, like Challengers, Gulfstreams, Falcons… big planes that can travel from Nice to Los Angeles, for instance. We also sell biz-liners like the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ).
“These planes used to sell for between 20 and 35 million. Today, it’s between 15 and 25 million for exactly the same airplane. This is because the inventory has increased. During lockdown, some people wanted to get rid of their planes because they had no need for them. A plane is expensive to buy and maintain, so if you have one that just sits in a hangar for six months, it’s not worth it.”
