Didier Coton

Didier Coton (born 2 February 1959) is a Belgian businessman.
== Biography ==
Didier Coton studied in Brussels, at the prestigious Athénée Robert Catteau.
He first worked as a sales manager for an American company in various European countries. In 1990, he worked for Keke Rosberg, who then managed the career of young Mika Häkkinen, as well as that of JJ Letho. In 2000, he became the manager of Olivier Panis and allowed him to become third driver for McLaren Racing, following his departure from Prost Grand Prix. In 2001 Panis regained a starting position, at BAR, then at Toyota F1 Team in 2003.
In 2003, Didier Coton became the sole manager of the now double Formula 1 world champion Mika Häkkinen, after his sabbatical year.
At the end of 2004, he helped Enrique Bernoldi to return to Formula 1 by making him sign a contract as a third driver at BAR1.
In 2006, he allowed Alexander Wurz to leave his position as test driver at McLaren, to place him at Williams F1 Team. Wurz became a member of the Grove team the following year, then driver for Peugeot Sport in endurance racing from 2008.
With Toto Wolff and Mika Häkkinen, Didier Coton became the manager of Valtteri Bottas in 2008, while he was playing in Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup.
With Olivier Panis, he helped Charles Pic to make his Formula 1 debut in 2012 with Marussia F1 Team2. The same year, Didier Coton became the consultant to 2008 Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton3, for only one year. Bottas made his F1 debut with Williams in 2013, after being third driver.
In 2015, after working together for 25 years, Didier Coton and Mika Hakkinen ended their collaboration4. They nevertheless decide to continue their cooperation by taking full care of Bottas' career. At the end of 2016, after three seasons of collaboration, he also separated from Esteban Gutiérrez, when the latter left Haas F1 Team.
After working with his father, Didier Coton became Aurélien Panis' manager in 2014. In 2017, after a few years in a single-seater, the latter switched to passenger cars, in particular the WTCC5. The same year, when Nico Rosberg suddenly announced his retirement, Bottas signed with Mercedes6 and won his first Grand Prix victories.
Since 2002, he has worked for Aces Management Group. Married since 2013 and father of a daughter from a first marriage, Tanya, he now lives in Monaco.
Category:People
Category:Living people