Name	Peter Windsor
Birthname	Peter David Windsor
Birth date	April 11, 1952
Birth place	England
Nationality	United Kingdom

Peter David Windsor (born April 11, 1952 in Reigate, Surrey, England) is the former Sporting Director of the US F1 Team, a former Formula One journalist reporter, and a lifelong friend of Greg Rust. He was brought up in Australia, but now has residences in London and Sydney.

Windsor started his journalism career at the now defunct monthly magazine, Competition Car. He was the motorsport editor for the British weekly magazine Autocar from the late 1970s until 1985, and was lauded for his Grand Prix reports.

In 1985 Windsor became sponsorship manager at Williams. He then worked as general manager at Ferrari, only to return to Williams as team manager in 1991. Windsor has won five awards for his writing, and most of his early television work has taken place with networks of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. From 1998 to 2000, Windsor was the on-location reporter for FSN's Formula 1 coverage. He then joined Sky Sports as a pit reporter on their F1 Digital + package. He also worked as a pit reporter for the American Broadcasting Company's coverage of the 2002 United States Grand Prix. He also returned to WilliamsF1 as the narrator of the museum in the team's Interactive HQ website.

Shortly before the start of the 1986 season, Windsor was in an automobile accident when the car he was riding in with Frank Williams crashed on the way from the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France to the Nice airport, causing Windsor minor injuries but leaving Williams, who was driving, paralysed.

Windsor carried out on-location reports from Formula One venues for Speed; in contrast to SPEED F1 coverage team colleagues Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett, and David Hobbs, who covered the races from the studio, Windsor traveled to the various race venues to provide interviews with drivers and other F1 personnel during the race weekend. After the 2006 season this role increased in prominence with Speed's addition of a live camera on the pre-race grid, where Windsor wandered the grid to conduct pre-race interviews with drivers, race engineers, managers, team principals, FIA personnel and visiting celebrities. He also frequently chimed in during the race with his own analysis.

For several seasons Windsor was also the moderator for Formula One's post-qualifying and post-race press conferences. He handed the interviewer's microphone to James Allen from the 2009 British Grand Prix due to a concern over a potential or perceived conflict of interest as a future team boss; but returned to the interview room at the 2009 Italian Grand Prix. He also did reports and phones in from the pitlane before the start of each race for Network Ten (ONE) Australia's coverage.

Windsor was Grand Prix Editor of F1 Racing magazine, for which he wrote race reports, feature articles, and 'The Friction Circle' column.

He has spoken out against making changes to Formula 1 to improve the quality of racing by making overtaking easier. He said in 2007: "I would change nothing. I think F1 is fantastic as it is. If you want to watch a million meaningless overtaking manoeuvres and lots of shunts go and watch NASCAR or bikes or IRL or something."

On February 4, 2009, it was reported Windsor and engineer/designer Ken Anderson were to head an American entrant into the 2010 Formula One season called Team US F1. Their application was formally accepted by the FIA on June 12, 2009. Windsor's role would involve team management and driver development and selection. However, in March 2010, USF1 ceased operations due to sponsorship difficulties. On 25 June 2010 the FIA officially banned USF1 from any further participation in the sport, and the World Motor Sport Council fined them $380,000 USD for failing to meet their commitments for the 2010 race season.

In 2009 Windsor joined the management team of the inaugural Grand Prix Shootout to find a future Formula One World Champion. The winner was Tio Ellinas from Cyprus.

Windsor continues to write about the sport he loves on his blog: www.theracedriver.com.

References

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Motorsport announcers Category:Formula One people Category:Motoring journalists Category:Australian motorsport people

Sergio Rinland is an Argentine engineer best known for his work in Formula One. He is currently Engineering Director of the Epsilon Euskadi motor racing team.

Career

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 17, 1952, Rinland studied Mechanical Engineering at Argentina's Universidad Nacional del Sur, graduating in 1978. After two years working in Argentina's F2, he moved to England in 1980, where he soon found a job as a designer for PRS, a small Formula Ford constructor owned by Vic Holman, where he designed their Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000 cars for the 1982 and 1983 seasons, with success in the UK, Europe and US. After a short spell working for Ron Tauranac at Ralt, Rinland was hired by the RAM F1 team in to work on the design team, first with Dave Kelly and in 1985 with Gustav Brunner where they produced the RAM 03. For , he moved on to Williams and was part of the design team of the very successful FW11, led by Patrick Head.

In , Rinland joined Brabham where he designed the Brabham BT56 together with David North and John Baldwin. At the end of 1987, Brabham temporarily withdrew from F1 allowing Rinland to moved to Dallara to design its first F1 car raced by BMS Scuderia Italia in . Brabham returned in calling Rinland back as Chief Designer, a position he kept until the end of 1991. There, Rinland designed the Brabham BT58, Brabham BT59 and the ground-breaking Brabham BT60-Yamaha.

Rinland then established his own design company, Astauto Ltd in Tolworth, England. Astauto was then hired to design and build the F1 cars for Fondmetal. The car only did few races in 1992 before the team closed down due to financial difficulties. The Fondmetal GR02 was hailed as a very innovative design by reputable publications.

Rinland then was hired by Dan Gurney's All American Racers in the U.S. where he worked in the feasibility study of the Toyota Champ Car for CART.

Returning to Europe in 1995, Rinland worked briefly for the new Forti team and soon after was hired to work in the German Touring Car Championship with Opel by Keke Rosberg for the remaining of the 1995 season.

From to , Rinland worked for Benetton Formula 1 Team. At the end of 1999 Rinland was head-hunted by the Sauber F1 team to become their Chief Designer. As a Chief Designer he was responsible for the C20, Sauber's most successful F1 car to that point. This car featured several innovations, the most notable being the "Twin Keel" front suspension.

By September 2001 Rinland was tempted to join Arrows as a Chief Designer but one year later the team ran into financial difficulties and closed down.

After Arrows, Rinland decided to develop his consultancy company Astauto Ltd, doing work for Pankl GmbH, the Austrian F1 supplier, VLR Touring Car Team, Red Bull Cheever Racing in IRL, Coloni and Trident Racing in GP2 and Team Modena in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Le Mans Series for 2006 and 2007. In 2006 he also gained an MBA degree from Kingston University London.

Since December 2007, Rinland is Engineering Director of Epsilon Euskadi in Spain as well as developing his consultancy companies in Europe and the US. In his capacity at Epsilon Euskadi, Rinland was responsible for the 2008 Le Mans campaign as well as other racing and non-racing projects of the company.

Personal

Rinland has one sister, Liliana, and two brothers, Gabriel and David.

References

Grandprix.com biography, retrieved December 7, 2006.

Category:People from Bahía Blanca Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Argentine engineers Category:Argentine motorsport people Category:Formula One people Category:Formula One designers Category:Argentine people of German descent

Name	Sebastian Vettel
Caption	Vettel at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	German
Date of birth	July 03, 1987
2010 team	Red Bull Racing
2010 car number	5
2011 team	Red Bull Racing
2011 car number	1
Races	62
Championships	1 ()
Hat tricks	1
Wins	10
Podiums	19
Points	381
Poles	15
Fastest laps	6
First race	2007 United States Grand Prix
First win	2008 Italian Grand Prix
Last win	2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Last race
Last season	2010
Last position	1st (256 pts)

Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won in the 2010 season. In the same year he, along with teammate Mark Webber, helped Red Bull win the World Constructors' Championship.

Vettel was born in Heppenheim, Germany. He began racing karts in 1995, and rose quickly through the junior series before being brought into Formula One by BMW Sauber. By taking part in Friday practice for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest Formula One driver to drive at a Grand Prix meeting, at 19 years and 53 days. He went on to become the sixth youngest driver to start a Grand Prix at the 2007 US Grand Prix when he replaced the injured Robert Kubica and the youngest driver to score points in the same race. After moving to Toro Rosso, Vettel became the youngest driver to lead a race at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix. During qualifying for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest Formula One driver to secure pole position. He went on to win the race, making him the youngest F1 race winner by nearly a year. In 2009, he joined Red Bull Racing and finished the season as the youngest ever runner-up behind Jenson Button, before winning the title in 2010 and becoming the youngest driver ever to win the championship.

Early and personal life

Vettel was born in Heppenheim, West Germany in July 1987. Vettel suggested in an interview that he was terrible at school; he also mentioned that his childhood heroes were "The three Michaels", who were Michael Schumacher, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. He stated that he wanted to be a singer like Michael Jackson but realised that he couldn't as he didn't have the voice. He has one younger brother, Fabian and two older sisters Melanie and Stefanie. Vettel lives in Switzerland amongst other racing drivers and is a fan of German football team Eintracht Frankfurt. He is currently in a relationship with Hanna Prater, the two having known each other since school, but only beginning a relationship three years ago.

Career

Junior series

car in 2006]]

Vettel started racing karts in 1995, winning various titles such as the Junior Monaco Kart Cup (2001). In 2003, he upgraded to open-wheel cars, and won the 2004 German Formula BMW Championship with 18 victories from 20 races. In 2005 he drove for ASL Mucke Motorsport in the Formula Three Euroseries. He was placed fifth in the final standings with 64 points, winning the year's top rookie honours. He did not win any races, but this was largely due to the championship's domination by Lewis Hamilton. Despite this, he tested the Williams FW27 Formula One car on September 27 as a reward for this Formula BMW success. He then went on to test for the BMW Sauber team.

Vettel finished as runner-up in the 2006 F3 Euroseries, behind series leader and team mate Paul di Resta. He also made his debut in the World Series by Renault at Misano, winning after Pastor Maldonado was disqualified. However, at the next round at Spa-Francorchamps, his finger was almost sliced off by flying débris in an accident, and he was expected to be out of racing for several weeks. Nevertheless, he managed to compete in the Ultimate Masters of F3 at Zandvoort the following weekend, finishing in sixth place. He also set third fastest lap time, and it surprised his ASM team boss Frédéric Vasseur. Vasseur said: "I was impressed for sure, because at the beginning of the week I was sure he wouldn't race! But he showed good pace from the first practice session. I can't imagine he's 100 per cent but at least we know we can be competitive in the next F3 Euroseries round at the Nürburgring next weekend – that's important."

Vettel competed in the World Series by Renault in 2007, and took his first win at the Nürburgring. He was leading the championship when he was called up to Formula One permanently, and his seat was taken by Michael Ammermüller.

Formula One

, driving for BMW Sauber.]]

2006–2007: BMW Sauber

Vettel became BMW Sauber's third driver at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, when former incumbent Robert Kubica was called up to replace Jacques Villeneuve for the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Vettel impressed on his testing debut by setting fastest time in second Friday Free Practice before the race. The young German also impressed on his second testing session in the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, setting the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions, a race weekend in which all the BMW cars were quick, with his predecessor Robert Kubica finishing on the podium in the race.

He was confirmed as BMW's test driver for 2007. Following the serious crash of regular BMW driver Kubica at the , Vettel substituted for him at the and started in seventh position on the grid, finishing in eighth position to take his first World Championship point and became the youngest driver ever to score a point in Formula One (at the age of 19 years and 349 days), a record previously held by Jenson Button – who was 20 years and 67 days old when he finished sixth at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix.

2007–2008: Toro Rosso

2007

On July 31, 2007, BMW released Vettel to join Red Bull's Scuderia Toro Rosso team, replacing Scott Speed as one of its drivers from the onwards. He earned approximately US$165,000 for finishing the season with Toro Rosso. Before the race, it was also announced that Vettel would drive for Toro Rosso in , partnering Sébastien Bourdais.

at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix]]

Vettel struggled to keep up with Liuzzi's pace at Budapest, Istanbul, Monza and Spa, and never managed to progress amongst the lower-midfield pack (Toyota, Honda, Toro Rosso, Super Aguri). In the rain-hit at Fuji, Vettel worked his way up to third behind Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber, and seemed to be on course for not only his but also Toro Rosso's maiden podium finish. However, Vettel crashed into Webber under safety car conditions taking them both out of the race and prompting Webber to say to ITV reporter Louise Goodman "It's kids isn't it... kids with not enough experience – they do a good job and then they fuck it all up." He was initially punished with a ten-place grid penalty for the following race, but this was lifted after a spectator video on YouTube showed the incident may have been caused by Hamilton's behaviour behind the safety car, which Hamilton was also cleared of.

However, Vettel bounced back to finish a career-best fourth a week later at the having started 17th in mixed conditions. He collected five championship points, making it both his and Toro Rosso's best race result.

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz stated his belief Vettel would be one of Formula One's big stars in the future. "Vettel is one of the young guys with extraordinary potential [...] He is fast, he is intelligent, and he is very interested in the technical side."

2008

After four races of the season, Vettel was the only driver to have failed to finish a single race, having retired on the first lap in three of them. In each of these three instances, he was involved in accidents caused by other drivers, the other being an engine failure. However, at the fifth round at the , he finally saw the chequered flag, albeit finishing in 17th after qualifying 14th and suffered a puncture on the opening lap. In the next race at the , Vettel scored his first points of the season with a fifth place finish, after qualifing 17th. He scored again at the fighting off Heikki Kovalainen in the last few laps for the final championship point, having started from pit lane. Vettel finished 12th in France, before retiring on lap one at the wet after being clipped by David Coulthard and aquaplaned into the gravel trap along with Coulthard. He earned another point at the , fending off Fernando Alonso and securing eighth after Jarno Trulli ran wide. Vettel retired in Hungary after his engine overheated during his first pit stop. He impressed many at the by setting the fastest times in the first practice session and second qualifying session, before qualifying sixth on the grid. Vettel finished the race in sixth, two seconds behind Jarno Trulli.

at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix]]

At the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest driver in history to win a Formula One Grand Prix. Aged 21 years and 74 days, Vettel broke the record set by Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix by 317 days as he won in wet conditions at Monza. Vettel led for the majority of the Grand Prix and crossed the finish line 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen. Earlier in the weekend, he had already become the youngest polesitter, after setting the fastest times in both Q2 and Q3 qualifying stages, and his win also gave him the record of youngest podium-finisher. Toro Rosso team boss Gerhard Berger said, "As he proved today, he can win races, but he's going to win world championships. He's a cool guy". Hamilton praised the German, stating that this victory showed "how good he is". He then went on to finish fifth in Singapore. In Japan, he finished sixth after being promoted from seventh after team-mate Bourdais was penalised for contact with Felipe Massa.

In the , after running second for much of the race on a one-stop strategy, Vettel overtook Lewis Hamilton in the rain for fifth place on the penultimate lap to contribute to a thrilling climax to the season. He nearly deprived the McLaren driver of the championship before Timo Glock slowed dramatically on the last lap (he was struggling with dry tyres in the ever increasing rain) enabling both Vettel and Hamilton to pass him, earning Hamilton the title, and Vettel fourth place.

After the season had finished Vettel was named Autosport Rookie of the Year.

Red Bull Racing

2009

, where he took his fourth career win]]

At the start of the 2009 season, Vettel replaced the retired David Coulthard at Red Bull Racing, and began strongly at the , qualifying third and running in second for the majority of the race. However, a clash with Robert Kubica over second place on the third to last lap of the race forced both to retire. Vettel attempted to finish the race on three wheels behind the safety car to salvage some points, but eventually pulled off to the side. He thought that he would be able to attempt this because the yellow flag resulting from his incident forbids overtaking; instead he was given a ten-place grid penalty for the next race, the , and his team was fined for instructing him to stay on track after the damage occurred. In Malaysia he qualified in third position, but was demoted down to 13th due to his ten-place grid drop. He spun out of the race while eighth, just before the race was stopped due to adverse weather conditions. However in China he went on to take pole position, the first for the Red Bull Racing team. He went on to win the race ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, again a first for his team, which scored its first victory and one-two finish in the same race.

In the , Vettel qualified in third, and finished second behind Jenson Button in the race. In Spain, he qualified in second but finished the race in fourth, behind his team-mate Mark Webber who finished in third. Vettel won the after claiming pole position in qualifying. At the he qualified fourth and finished second, behind Webber, who won his first Grand Prix. At the , Vettel qualified second after an eventful qualifying, but had to retire from the race on lap 30 after his car sustained damage from contact with Kimi Räikkönen's car on the first lap.

At the , he qualified fourth but had to retire from the race with an engine failure. It was the second engine failure for Vettel during the weekend, and the RB5's reliability issues began to show. He finished third at Spa-Francorchamps, and struggled for pace at Monza, finishing 8th at a race he previously won. He qualified 2nd at Singapore, but was given a drive-though penalty for speeding in the pit lane and damaged the diffuser on a kerb, struggling to 4th. He subsequently won the from pole position.

At the , Vettel qualified 16th in a rain-hit session, behind title rival Jenson Button (14th) and Rubens Barrichello (1st), while his team-mate Webber qualified second with Adrian Sutil in third. Vettel needed to score at least second place in the race to keep his title hopes alive. He finished fourth with Button behind, giving Button the Championship and moving Vettel up into second place. He officially claimed second place by winning the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, again ahead of Webber with Button completing the podium. He also scored his third fastest lap of the year, drawing him level with team-mate Webber. However, as Vettel had more second fastest laps, he won the 2009 DHL Fastest Lap Award.

2010

at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, where he took the first pole position of the season]] Vettel continued with Red Bull for , and took the first pole position of the season at the . Vettel went on to lead most of the race but a spark-plug failure meant that his lap times slowed down, and as a result the two Ferraris and the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton passed him. After a brief challenge from Rosberg he brought the car home in fourth.

At the , Vettel was appointed as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. He took his second consecutive pole position in Australia, ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, but spun off when leading the race, due to a loose wheel nut. In Malaysia, he took his first win of the 2010 season with Webber coming in second place, having passed both him and Nico Rosberg at turn one.

Vettel qualified on pole at China alongside Webber. At the start of the wet race Fernando Alonso jump-started and Vettel was passed by Webber, dropping back to third. The increasing rain forced Vettel and Webber to pit at the same time for intermediate tyres that wore out after only a few laps and dropped them back into the midfield. Vettel slowly climbed back up to finish sixth, ahead of Webber. In Spain, Vettel was outqualified by team-mate Webber and claimed second on the grid. Despite having a major brake problem during the last eight laps, Vettel managed third place after Hamilton crashed on the penultimate lap.

In Monaco Vettel was again outqualified by Webber. In the race he passed Kubica at the start and stayed there for the remainder of the Grand Prix and made it a Red Bull 1–2. After the race the two Red Bull drivers were equal on points in the drivers' championship, with Webber championship leader based on total wins. At the he qualified third and was running second behind Webber when he made a passing move on the Australian. Vettel lost control of his car and the two collided, putting Vettel out of the race and dropping him to fifth in the drivers' championship, with neither driver accepting responsibility for causing the collision. He finished fourth at the , maintaining his position in the standings. He started the in pole position and led from start to finish to score his second win of the season.

At Silverstone, both Vettel and Webber's cars were fitted with a new design of front wing. Vettel's front wing was damaged in the third practice session, and Webber's sole surviving example was removed and given to Vettel. Vettel qualified in pole position ahead of his team-mate, but suffered a puncture caused by Hamilton on the first lap of the race and fell to the tail of the field. He fought back to finish seventh while Webber took the victory. At the he took pole by 0.002 seconds, and finished in third position in the race, behind the Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa, after a poor start. He also finished third in Hungary after serving a drive-through penalty for exceeding ten lengths behind the previous car, team-mate Webber, under neutralised safety car conditions. In Belgium, he had a tough race, hitting Button's car whilst attempting to pass, causing Button to retire. Vettel pitted and carried on, but then suffered a puncture whilst passing Liuzzi at the same place, completing a whole lap with a puncture. He eventually finished 15th. At Monza he finished fourth after a brake problem scare, and at the , Vettel qualified and finished second, sticking on Alonso's tail for most of the race. He passed Button for fourth place in the championship. At the , he dominated all practice sessions bar one, as it was postponed after heavy rain. He qualified on pole ahead of team mate Webber and went on to win with a lights-to-flag victory. At the first , Vettel took pole and led the first 45 laps of the race before retiring with engine failure, handing victory to Alonso.

At the , Vettel qualified second but took the lead at the first corner and led for the entire race to victory. With Webber taking second place, and Alonso finishing third, Vettel went into the final race of the season with a 15-point deficit to Alonso, and a 7-point gap to Webber. With the one-two finish in Brazil, Vettel and Webber secured Red Bull Racing's first Formula One World Constructors' Championship. He won the from pole again, to take the drivers' championship lead for the first time in his career and became the youngest world champion in the sport's history.

Future

On 21 August 2009 it was announced that Red Bull and Vettel have extended his contract until the end of the season with an option for .

Race of Champions

Vettel competed in the 2007 Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium, representing the German team alongside Michael Schumacher. Vettel and Schumacher won the Nation's Cup Title, after exciting finals. Vettel had to beat two RoC champions, Heikki Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm, after Schumacher stalled his car. Vettel lost the individual competition however, in first heat, in his second battle against Kovalainen. Vettel also competed in the 2008 Race of Champions, alongside Michael Schumacher. Once again they won the Nation's Cup Title after a close final against Scandinavia. In the Driver's Cup, Vettel beat Troy Bayliss in Round One, but lost to Sebastien Loeb in the Quarter-Finals. Again Vettel teamed up with Michael Schumacher for the 2009 RoC Nations Cup, which they went on to win in a run-off against the Great Britain team of Jenson Button and Andy Priaulx. In the 2010 edition, on home ground in Düsseldorf, Vettel again teamed up with Schumacher to win the Nations Cup for the fourth time in a row. In the Driver's Cup, Vettel was eliminated in the semi-finals by Filipe Albuquerque, who went on to win the event.

Helmet design

coat of arms that appears on the chin area of Vettel's helmet]]

Vettel's helmet, like most of Red Bull's drivers, is heavily influenced by the energy drink company logo. Apart from minor changes and sponsorship differences, it has rarely changed over the years since he has been backed by Red Bull.

New to Vettel's helmet since the start of 2008 has been the incorporation of the Kreis Bergstraße coat of arms on the front, just underneath the visor, in honor of the region of his birthplace, Heppenheim.

During pre-season testing for 2010, Vettel debuted a helmet resembling a Red Bull drink can complete with graphics of a stay-tab opener on top—which would become a recurring element in his helmets for this season. During the 2010 season, Vettel has used three main helmet designs, although he made some minor changes to some in certain races: besides his standard black helmet, he has used one with the same design but in chrome colors. For the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix, Vettel had a special white-red helmet design, with black kanji for "gives you wings".

Comparison to Michael Schumacher

After Vettel's unexpected win in Monza, this led for the media to dub him the "Baby Schumi", "New Schumacher", but Vettel plays down the comparison stating he wanted to be the "New Vettel". He wasn't just dubbed for his nationality but also because of his driving style, his concentration and the hands-on role he plays behind the scenes with his team of engineers. One difference is that Schumacher doesn't name his car but Vettel does, Julie (2008), Kate, Kate's Dirty Sister (2009), Luscious Liz and Randy Mandy (2010). The Luscious Liz chassis was notably flawed and Vettel complained about the problem after the Monaco GP; citing handling issues as a possible explanation for his lack of pace compared to teammate Webber. The damaged chassis was later given to Mark Webber after repairs, escalating intra-team tension prior to the front wing dispute at the 2010 British Grand Prix. Webber went on to win the British Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the repaired chassis.

Nevertheless, the similarities are marked. Like Schumacher, Vettel grew up in a small town with an everyday background—Schumacher's father a bricklayer and Vettel's a carpenter. Both had their first taste of racing at the Kerpen karting track near Cologne, not far from the Nürburgring. Vettel began driving in his garden lapping the garden many times, not even stopping to eat or shower, before he could legally take to the roads, and says his passion for cars was nurtured by watching Schumacher compete. He did not know that he would actually get to race his hero.

Although winning his first championship in 2010, and being hailed as the 'Next Schumacher', he has stated he does not want to aim for Schumacher's record after learning how hard it was to get one championship under his belt, though he would like to win more.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Sebastian Vettel website

Vettel's career details

BBC Profile

ESPN Profile

|after=Fernando Alonso}}

Category:1987 births Category:Formula BMW ADAC drivers Category:Formula One World Drivers' Champions Category:Formula Renault 3.5 Series drivers Category:Formula Three Euroseries drivers Category:German Formula One drivers Category:German racecar drivers Category:Kart racing drivers Category:Living people Category:People from Kreis Bergstraße Category:Spanish Formula Three Championship drivers

.]] Martin Whitmarsh (born 29 April 1958) is the CEO of McLaren Racing, a subsidiary company of the McLaren Group and Chief Operating Officer of that group, as well as Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, following Ron Dennis' retirement on 1 March 2009. Whitmarsh is also the chairman of the Formula One Teams Association and therefore has the responsibility of representing the F1 teams' interests.

Career

Whitmarsh graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic (now University of Portsmouth) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1980, and started work at British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) as a structural analysis engineer at its Hamble-le-Rice facility. He was promoted to an advanced composite structures research and development role and transferred to BAe's Weybridge facility. In 1988 he was promoted to the rank of Manufacturing Director and was put in charge of Hawk and Harrier airframe production. He left to join McLaren as Head of Operations in .

In , Whitmarsh was promoted to Managing Director, where he was responsible for managing the F1 operation and its partners and sponsors. This allowed Team Principal Ron Dennis to concentrate on other aspects of the McLaren Group. In April , he was again promoted, this time to the position of CEO of the company's F1 operation.

McLaren

On 1st March 2009 Ron Dennis stepped down as head of McLaren Racing to take a role in McLaren Automotive as he planned to expand the company's operation in car manufacturing. Whitmarsh became team principal as a result.

Having started 2009 with an uncompetitive car, McLaren improved to beat Ferrari to third in Constructors' championship by a single point. McLaren scored the most points of any team in the second half of the season, immediately ahead of Ferrari..

In March 2010, Whitmarsh was elevated to president of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), replacing Ferrari Chairman and FOTA founder, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

References

Category:Living people Category:1958 births Category:Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Category:English chief executives Category:McLaren Group Category:Formula One people

{| style="float:right; background:transparent;" |

Name	Mark Webber
Caption	Webber at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	n
Date of birth	August 27, 1976
2010 team	Red Bull Racing
2010 car number	6
2011 team	Red Bull Racing
2011 car number	2
Races	159 (157 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podiums	20
Points	411.5
Poles	6
Fastest laps	6
First race	2002 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2009 German Grand Prix
Last win	2010 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last race
Last season	2010
Last position	3rd (242 pts)

|} Mark Alan Webber (born 27 August 1976) is an Australian Formula One driver.

After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team.

Webber made his Formula One debut in , scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After his first season Jaguar Racing took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team Webber several times qualified on the front two rows of the grid and outperformed his team mates. His first F1 win was with Red Bull Racing in the 2009 German Grand Prix, which followed second places at the 2009 Chinese, Turkish, and British Grands Prix. By the end of 2009, Webber had scored eight podiums, including another victory in Brazil. His eight podiums in compares to only two podiums in the first seven years of his career. He has since added ten more podiums in , including victories in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. Webber finished the 2010 season in third place having led for a long period, losing out to teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Webber was also a long-term director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the Formula One drivers' union.

Early life and career

Webber was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, son of Alan, a local motorcycle dealer. He started his relationship with sport at a young age, working as a ball boy for premiership winning rugby league team, the Canberra Raiders, during the late 1980s. However, motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost and Grand Prix motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz as his childhood heroes. Starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991, taking up karting at the age of 14. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, and moved straight into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex-Craig Lowndes Van Diemen FF1600. Working as a driving instructor at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway between races, Webber finished 14th overall in his debut season. Continuing in the series in 1995, Webber scored several victories, including a win in the support race for the at Adelaide. He finished the series in fourth place but, perhaps more importantly, teamed up with Championship coordinator Ann Neal, who secured him a seven-year sponsorship with Australian Yellow Pages,|width=40%|align=right}} Without the financial backing he had enjoyed during his time in Formula Ford, Webber and his team struggled to find the money to fund their championship campaign. He was almost forced to quit halfway through the season, but was able to obtain significant financial and personal support from Australian rugby union legend David Campese, which helped him to complete the year. Mark has since stated he has been able to pay back the money Campese gave him.

Webber took victory in just his fourth ever F3 race, at Brands Hatch, leading from start to finish and setting a new lap record in the process. He took a further four podium finishes, including a second place in the support race for the 1997 British Grand Prix, and finished the season in fourth overall. Webber also took strong finishes in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort (3rd) and the Macau Grand Prix (4th), both times making his circuit debut.

During the 1997 season, Webber was approached by Mercedes-AMG to compete in a sports car race. Although he initially declined the offer he was persuaded at the end of the year when invited to participate in a test session for the team at the A1-Ring in Austria. AMG were suitably impressed with Webber, and he was signed as the official Mercedes works junior driver for the 1998 FIA GT Championship, alongside reigning champion Bernd Schneider. Travelling around the world, including the United States, Japan and Europe, the pair won five of the ten rounds on their way to second in the overall standings, beaten to the Championship by teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta by just eight seconds in the final race at Laguna Seca. Webber remained with the AMG team for 1999, and was promoted to his own race car for the season. However, his sportscar career came to an early end after he flipped twice on the Mulsanne straight during practice for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

Formula One testing and signing

Webber spoke to Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, who introduced him to fellow Australian Paul Stoddart. Stoddart offered to undercut the necessary $1.1 million budget for Webber, and gave him a drive in his Eurobet Arrows Formula 3000 team for 2000. As a result, Webber also got his first taste of a Formula One car, completing a two-day test at Barcelona in December 1999 for the Arrows F1 team.

Webber was signed as test driver for the Arrows F1 team for 2000, and also gained sponsorship from Australian beer company Foster's whilst competing in Formula 3000. Webber took victory in round two of the season at Silverstone, and finished the series with two fastest laps and three podiums on his way to third overall—the highest position of any rookie that year. Contract issues meant that Webber was never able to drive the Arrows A21 car, and rejected a full contract offer for 2001 in July. However, he was offered a three day evaluation test for Benetton at the end of the year, outpacing F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella at Estoril. The results were good enough to earn him the test driver role with the team for 2001, and he also agreed to take on team boss Flavio Briatore as manager in return for finance for a further F3000 season. Webber joined the championship-winning Super Nova Racing team, and despite winning at Imola, Monaco and Magny-Cours, he finished second overall to British driver Justin Wilson. Webber was replaced as test driver for Benetton for 2002 by Fernando Alonso, but Briatore managed to secure Webber a contract to race alongside Alex Yoong in the Stoddart-owned Minardi team, making him the first Australian in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994. The start of the race featured a spectacular accident between Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the aftermath of which forced eight cars to retire from the race. Webber, who had a problem with his launch control at the start, battled with a broken differential to fend off the experienced Mika Salo in a much faster Toyota and finish fifth. The result made Webber just the fourth Australian F1 driver to score World Championship points, and the first Minardi driver to score points since Marc Gené in .

Webber was forced into retirement in the , before picking up consecutive 11th-place finishes in the following two races. He, along with Yoong, was forced to pull out of the due to potentially dangerous wing failures during the weekend.

Webber picked up two more 11th place finishes, but was unable to score points for the remainder of the year, his next best result coming in France, where he finished 8th. In the , Webber lost two kilograms in weight over the length of the race as he was forced to drive without a drink after his water bottle broke. Webber was able to outqualify Yoong (and Anthony Davidson, who replaced Yoong for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix) in every race, and his two points in Australia were the only points that Minardi scored all season, helping them to 9th in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of Toyota and Arrows. Webber's results earned him the "Rookie of the Year" award in F1 Racing magazine's annual Man of the Year awards (receiving 53.70% of public votes), the Autosport.com "Rookie of the Year" award and "F1 Newcomer of the Year" at the annual Grand Prix Party "Bernie" Awards. In light of his season, notable Formula One journalist Peter Windsor related Webber to World Champion Nigel Mansell, saying they had similar amounts of "raw talent". In November 2002 it was announced that Webber would join Jaguar Racing for the following season alongside Brazilian Williams test driver Antônio Pizzonia.

Jaguar (2003–2004)

2003

Webber's Jaguar career started disappointingly when he qualified in 14th place for the before being forced to retire on lap 15 with a rear suspension failure. The following race in Malaysia was problematic for Webber; Giancarlo Fisichella began reversing towards him on the starting grid and then Webber's in-car fire extinguisher discharged into his face. He was eventually forced to retire from 8th position with an oil consumption problem.

Webber took provisional pole position in Friday qualifying of the , out-qualifying local driver Rubens Barrichello by 0.138 seconds during a rain-affected session. He continued his good performance in the Saturday session taking a career-best 3rd on the grid, Jaguar Racing's best qualifying performance in their four-year Formula One history. In the race, which was hit heavily by rain, Webber was in seventh place when he attempted to cool his tyres by driving through a puddle lying off-line in the final corner. The resultant lack of grip caused Webber to crash heavily into the pit straight walls, leaving debris on the track which caused a second major crash; Fernando Alonso hitting a stray tyre. The race was subsequently red-flagged, and although Webber was originally classified in 7th, an FIA investigation found a timekeeping error which meant that Webber was placed 9th in the re-classification.

Webber's good qualifying form continued into the but at the start of the race he had dropped from 5th to 11th by the first corner due to a launch control failure that affected both Jaguars. He retired from the race after 54 laps with a driveshaft failure, his fourth consecutive non-finish for the year. His luck improved in the following races though, taking his first points in Spain and signing a new 2-year contract with the team reportedly worth $US6 million per season.

He then went on to score points in five of the next six races on his way to moving into the top 10 in the World Drivers' Championship, the run of results interrupted only by an engine failure in Monaco. One of his best races came in Austria where despite starting from the pitlane and suffering a drive-through penalty he set the race's third fastest lap, behind only the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, finishing in 7th place.

At the , as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight on lap 11, now-defrocked priest Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt whilst waving banners with the statements "Read the Bible" and "The Bible is always right". Horan ran towards the sequence of cars forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. Webber came closest to hitting Horan in a terrifying parallel to the accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix where volunteer track marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren, ran across the main straight to aid a car and was hit at by Welsh driver Tom Pryce. The safety car was deployed to remove Horan from the track, and Webber eventually finished 14th.

After Silverstone, Webber had scored 12 Championship points, compared to Pizzonia's 0, and after much speculation it was announced that Minardi driver Justin Wilson would replace the Brazilian for the remainder of the year. The saw Webber's sixth retirement of the season after he made a last lap lunge on Jenson Button in an attempt to salvage a point from the weekend.

Consecutive points finishes in Hungary and Italy saw Webber climb to ninth in the drivers' standings with a 5 point margin over Button. He was unable to hold onto this position however, after one too many laps on dry tyres saw him spin out from the lead of the , and a disappointing 11th-place result in Japan. These meant that he had finished on equal points with Button but lost out on a countback.

Although Wilson scored a point in the United States Grand Prix, Webber had still never been outqualified by a team-mate and, late in the year, Jaguar announced that rookie Christian Klien would team up with Webber for the 2004 season. Webber's results again earned him plaudits in the press, winning the 2003 "Driver of the Year" award from Autocar magazine.

2004

Continuing with Jaguar in 2004, Webber qualified sixth for the first race of the season, the , but faced his second consecutive retirement from his home race, this time due to a gearbox failure. At the following race, the , Webber produced the best qualifying performance of his first seven seasons in F1 by splitting the dominant Ferraris to line up second on the grid. The race was less rewarding with a near-stall at the start meaning he was well outside the top 10 by the time the cars reached turn 1. An aggressive lap saw him move up to ninth place but during an exciting battle with Ralf Schumacher, they collided, forcing Webber to pit with damage to his front wing and tyre. In his desperation to make up for the lost time, Webber exceeded the pitlane speed limit and was handed a drive-through penalty which left him even further behind. More frustration eventually led to the end of his race as he spun into the gravel trap on the outside of the final corner on lap 23.

The situation improved for the following race in Bahrain though, as Webber picked up his first point for the season despite a small mistake in qualifying which left him starting 14th and marked the first time he had been outqualified by his team-mate in F1. He was unable to continue his point scoring form, however, as intermittent electrical problems in San Marino and a lack of grip in Spain meant that he could do no better than 13th and 12th in those races.

Webber suffered two engine failures in practice for the , the first of which forced Webber to extinguish it himself after being unable to find a track-side marshal willing to help. In the race, Webber was forced to retire due to a loss of engine power. He was able to pick up two Championship points in the following race with a seventh place finish in the . Webber had lined up 14th on the grid, after being handed a one-second penalty for yellow flag infringements during Friday practice, but was able to move through the field to take his points tally to 3. After the race, he was criticised by Michael Schumacher for refusing to yield when Webber had emerged from his pit stop slightly ahead of (but one lap behind) Schumacher. Upon hearing the comments, Webber said he "would do exactly the same again" in the same situation.

at the 2004 United States Grand Prix]] There were consecutive retirements in Canada, where he was hit by Klien, and the United States where he suffered an oil leak. A change of luck gained him a 9th place finish in the and preceded a further championship point in the ; although his total of 4 points compared unfavourably to his 12 scored by the same time in the previous season. It was at this stage that former team-mate Pizzonia returned to racing as a replacement for the injured Ralf Schumacher and accused Jaguar of favouritism towards Webber during their time as team-mates saying that Webber received new car parts one or two races before Pizzonia. The claims were categorically denied by Jaguar boss David Pitchforth, and whilst Webber did not publicly comment on the situation at the time he had his best result of the season finishing sixth in the , running ahead of Pizzonia for the entire race. Meanwhile, reports emerged that Jaguar could not guarantee that they would compete in Formula One for the 2005 season and on 28 July, it was announced that Webber would drive for WilliamsF1 for 2005 and beyond. He would later admit this was the team that his "heart was always set on". Webber was unable to build on his points tally, however, and 10th place in Hungary followed by a first-lap accident in Belgium with 9th in Italy and 10th in China saw him sitting 13th in the Championship.

The penultimate race of the season, the saw Webber produce another good qualifying effort as he set the third fastest time. His race ended prematurely though when he suffered from a badly overheating cockpit, the cause of which could not be determined by Jaguar. The marked both Webber's last race for Jaguar and Jaguar's last race in Formula One, ending sadly for the team, as Klien turned in to a corner colliding with Webber as the Australian attempted to make up for a pit stop delay earlier in the race. Webber was forced to retire due to the damage and watched the remainder of the race from the grass on the outside of turn 1 as Klien finished 14th.

Williams (2005–2006)

Webber was granted an early release from his Jaguar contract to be allowed to test with his new team, Williams, over the winter. Williams had announced that Jenson Button would drive for the team in 2005 alongside Webber but, after claims that Button was still contracted to BAR, his contract with Williams was overturned. With his new team-mate undecided and going down to a "shootout" between Nick Heidfeld and Pizzonia, Webber hit back at Pizzonia's claims of unfair treatment during 2003, claiming the Brazilian was lying and saying he was a "loser" for believing that there was favouritism towards Webber, comments which led to a reprimand from his new team.

Heidfeld was finally announced as Webber's 2005 team-mate at the Williams season launch on 31 January, with Webber admitting he was pleased with the eventual decision. Webber's move to Williams brought about comparisons to Alan Jones, Australia's last F1 World Champion, also in a Williams. Expectations were high as Webber's former team boss Paul Stoddart predicted Webber would take his first victory in 2005 while Williams technical director Sam Michael said Webber would eventually win the World Championship with Williams.

2005

In his first race for the team, the , Webber took 3rd on the grid but was beaten to the first corner by David Coulthard and eventually finished the race in fifth. His best chance to do so though came in the following race in Malaysia. After qualifying fourth, Webber was defending third position having overtaken the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella at turn 14. An optimistic Fisichella (who was struggling due to a lack of downforce and tyre grip) slip streamed Webber on the back straight and attempted a counter-pass down the inside of turn 15. Unfortunately, Fisichella locked his brakes and slid into the side of Webber's car, eliminating both drivers from the race. This allowed Heidfeld to inherit third place and Fisichella was later reprimanded by race stewards for causing the incident. It was later revealed that Webber had competed in the first two races suffering a fractured rib, from an injury he had sustained during pre-season testing at Barcelona, though he "didn't want to make a fuss" about it and would be fully fit in time for the .

.]] .]]

After qualifying fifth in Bahrain, Webber had been as high as third place in the race but he ultimately finished sixth, taking his points tally to 7 for the season. He followed this up by qualifying fourth and finishing a disappointing 10th after twice running wide off the track in the , although his position was revised to 7th after the disqualification of the BAR team and a resulting penalty to Ralf Schumacher. The race was a poor one for Williams (Heidfeld was 9th before the reclassification), but Webber hit back at the , qualifying 2nd and finishing 6th – his fourth points scoring finish in the first five races.

The following race in Monaco saw Webber take third place, the first podium finish of his career. On the rostrum Webber looked noticeably disappointed with the result after losing second place to team-mate Heidfeld due to the Williams team pitting Heidfeld before Webber causing Webber to lose time behind the slow Alonso. Webber had been ahead of Heidfeld for most of the race and would probably still have been second had the team pitted them in the more regular sequence. This best result of Webber's career was followed by one of his worst at the when, after qualifying third, he locked his brakes in the very first corner of the race and collided with Juan Pablo Montoya, forcing him to retire. Heidfeld started from pole position to finish in second place overtaking Webber in championship points in the process.

The race in Canada was affected by this previous result, as Webber was only able to qualify 14th, but he was pleased with an eventual 5th-place finish and a further 4 Championship points. The was the beginning of a lean streak for Webber with just one point-scoring finish in the next seven races, a seventh in Hungary, and by this stage he had slipped from 6th to 10th in the World Championship. Webber had another poor race in Turkey where he collided with Michael Schumacher after the German changed lines in the braking area, causing extensive damage to both cars.

With Heidfeld injured, Webber's former Jaguar team-mate Antônio Pizzonia stepped into the second Williams seat adding pressure on Webber to perform well given the public argument the pair had towards the end of 2004. The saw Pizzonia driving to seventh whilst Webber was caught up in a first-corner incident which led to him finishing 14th. The roles were reversed for the following race in Belgium as Webber finished in fourth place and Pizzonia retired after a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya in the closing laps. With rumours spreading that Heidfeld had in fact signed with BMW Sauber for the 2006 season, Pizzonia continued in the race seat, and in the , was clipped by David Coulthard in turn one. The contact caused Pizzonia to spin into the path of Webber forcing extensive repairs to the Australian's car. Webber took 17th place, setting the 8th fastest lap of the race, but was not classified as a finisher.

The final two races of the season saw Webber take 4th and 7th to consolidate his 10th place in the Drivers' Championship. Webber described the 2005 season as "frustrating" and acknowledged that his reputation had somewhat diminished but opted to stay on with Williams despite an offer from BMW Sauber. Webber's team-mate for 2006 would be German Nico Rosberg, becoming the seventh driver to partner Webber since 2002.

Webber was awarded the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in 2006 for his 2005 season.

2006

For the first time in Webber's career the first race of the season was not held in Melbourne, but in Bahrain, due to the original date clashing with the Commonwealth Games. Webber qualified 7th and had a solid race to finish 6th and pick up 3 Championship points. Although Webber was considered by some to have the better race performance, this was generally overlooked when Rosberg set the fastest lap in his debut race and moved up through the field despite a first-lap incident.

Webber's two following races in Malaysia and Australia were cut short due to mechanical problems. In Malaysia, Webber started 4th on the grid and was still running in that position before a hydraulics failure ended his race on lap 14. In his home race, Webber qualified seventh and was leading the race before his gearbox failed on lap 22. A sixth-place finish in San Marino saw Webber move up to 9th in the Championship. In the , hydraulics failure struck again ending his race after he had fought his way back to 12th from his 19th place start on the grid due to a mid-weekend engine change.

The marked the first time Webber failed to make the top 10 cut-off in the new qualifying system and he struggled during the race finishing ninth. Monaco, however, saw a huge improvement with Webber qualifying on the front row, after Michael Schumacher's grid penalty, holding third for a large part of the race before retiring when his exhaust burned a wiring loom. Webber's car was not as disadvantaged as at most other venues, as aerodynamic efficiency is not as important at Monaco.

At the , Webber was taken out on the first lap after an incident with Ralf Schumacher and Scott Speed. In France, Webber suffered a spectacular tyre blowout at maximum speed which he managed to control and return to the pits, parking in the garage. Germany was one of Webber's strongest races of the year where he was on target for a podium finish until mechanical failure stopped him with only 9 laps to go. The was another retirement for Webber as he slid into a barrier in the wet conditions and crushed his front wing under the chassis of the Williams. He finished only 10th in Turkey, where despite running fourth after a first-lap accident, he struggled from then on.

After another disappointing qualifying session at the where he qualified 19th, he finished in tenth place. In China, Webber scored Williams' first point since Rosberg's 7th in the European Grand Prix by finishing eighth, after passing the struggling David Coulthard in the closing stages of the race, after qualifying 14th. He qualified in the same position in Japan, but a lack of grip from his Bridgestone tyres saw him crash out of the race after 39 laps. His last race for Williams and the final race of 2006 at the ended in disappointment. After starting 11th, he contrived to collide with his team-mate Rosberg on the first lap and suffered terminal damage to the rear of the car. As a result, Rosberg had a big shunt at the end of the lap. Overall, it was a generally dismal season for Webber, scoring only 7 points to finish 14th overall in the drivers championship.

Red Bull Racing (2007–present)

Webber's two-year contract with Williams ended at the end of . The team held an option on his services for 2007 which they choose not to take up on its original terms and although Webber had expressed his desire to stay with the team, Williams offered Webber a considerably smaller salary than had been stipulated in the original contract for the option year. Under advice from his manager, Flavio Briatore, Webber then sought another drive. Williams quickly elected to promote current test driver Alexander Wurz to a race seat. Williams team boss Sir Frank Williams stated that he was reluctant to wait for Webber to commit to the team once the option for future years had expired, though he did not blame Webber for waiting to see if there was a seat available at another team.

After some speculation of Webber joining the Renault team, which was run by Briatore, it was announced on 7 August 2006 that Webber would join Red Bull Racing for to partner David Coulthard, replacing former Jaguar Racing team mate Christian Klien. It is rumoured that Briatore arranged an agreement with Red Bull that, if they offered Webber a race seat, Renault would supply them with engines. On 26 January 2007 the new Red Bull RB3 challenger was unveiled in Spain, and Webber drove the car in a shakedown in Barcelona on the same day. The car featured heavy revisions to the team's previous cars and looked very much like designer Adrian Newey's previous cars which had either won or come close to the World Title. The car was fitted with a Renault RS27 engine.

2007

At the first race of the season in Melbourne, Webber qualified in 7th place and held that position for the early part of the race, managing to finish in 13th position after the RB3 suffered from a throttle-related malfunction and a jammed fuel flap. At the , he again out-qualified his more experienced team-mate Coulthard and finished tenth, which was encouraging for the team in such a new and radical car. Bahrain was also going well for both drivers, who were running in sixth and seventh positions, until both cars retired due to mechanical malfunctions. Webber again was hampered by the aforementioned jammed fuel flap, radically affecting the aerodynamic drag, a vital set-up consideration for the Sakhir circuit.

, with a special Wings for Life livery]]

The potential of both the car and Webber, who had certainly worked well to out-qualify his vastly more experienced team-mate, was highlighted by the closeness they had to other teams which ran the Renault engine and although the Adrian Newey-designed car had flaws which contributed to Webber's scoreless season to that point. Though the pace of the car seemed to be picking up, with Coulthard qualifying in the top-10 for the , Webber was unable to convert his early weekend pace into a competitive grid position due to hydraulic problems. His race was much the same with a similar hydraulic problem leading to him retiring early in the race whilst team-mate Coulthard notched up the team's first points with a fifth place finish.

Webber finally recorded the second podium of his career at the after qualifying in 6th position. A rain spiced race and the retirement of Kimi Räikkönen, who was running third at the time, allowed Webber to claim third on the podium despite almost losing the position on the penultimate corner as he battled with Alexander Wurz.

at the 2007 French Grand Prix]]

His best chance at winning a race occurred at the where, in the wet conditions, Webber ran in 2nd place, setting the 3rd fastest lap of the race after the two McLarens. Towards the end of the race, Webber was running 2nd behind Lewis Hamilton, with no further pit stops to make, when Sebastian Vettel, driver for sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, ran into the back of him when Hamilton suddenly reduced his speed in poor visibility and heavy rain under a safety car, taking both cars out of the race. He had been lapping faster than Hamilton due to damage on the McLaren's sidepod from contact with Robert Kubica. Out of the current Formula One drivers, until his win at the 2009 German Grand Prix, Webber has had the second highest number of starts without a win, and is often referred to as the "unluckiest man in modern Formula One", a title that was reinforced in Japan as Webber started the race suffering from food poisoning and vomited inside his helmet during the first safety car period. When questioned by ITV's Louise Goodman about the race ending collision Webber commented: "Well it's kids, isn't it. Kids with not enough experience, doing a good job then they fuck it all up," referring to Vettel running into the back of him behind the safety car.

Webber again looked strong at the final race of the season in Brazil. Webber qualified fifth in front of both BMW Saubers and behind only the Ferraris and McLarens. Webber looked strong in the race, running as high as fourth, before yet another mechanical failure brought an end to a disappointing but promising season for the Australian.

2008

at the 2008 French Grand Prix]]

As per his contract, Webber started the year in Melbourne with Red Bull Racing. He recorded top-six lap times in each of the three practice sessions, and was on his way to the top ten in the qualifying session when the front right brake disc in his car failed going into turn 6 during Q2, sending him spinning off into the sand trap ending his qualifying session, and resulting in 15th position on the grid. Although starting well, he momentarily went off the track at turn 1 to avoid being involved in contact that had already erupted. Webber made several positions by turn 3 but an incident involving himself, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson when he was slightly contacted by Davidson whilst trying to avoid the struggle between the other two drivers, ended his race.

Despite the retirement in Australia, the next 5 rounds saw a string of point-scoring positions, including a 4th at Monaco in the wet, one of the few finishers not to have made a mistake and subsequent pit-in, however his performance was overshadowed by Hamilton's win. Until 2009, this was Webber's best start to an F1 season since 2005 with Williams, managing five consecutive points scoring races.

On the Thursday of the weekend, it was announced that Webber had agreed to a one year extension to his contract at Red Bull Racing, leaving him contracted there until the end of the season. During qualifying for the Grand Prix, Webber equalled his best qualifying position with 2nd position on the grid, in front of Kimi Räikkönen and behind pole position-holder Heikki Kovalainen. As a result of Timo Glock's penalty from the for illegally passing Webber under yellow flags in the final lap(s) of the race, Webber was awarded 8th place and the point that came with it.

At the first night race in Formula One, the , Webber qualified in 13th position. Red Bull pulled in both Webber and David Coulthard for their pit stops as soon as they could when the safety car came on track, due to Nelson Piquet, Jr. crashing, giving them both great track position. This led to Webber running in 2nd place before a gearbox issue put him out of the race on lap 29.

Webber qualified 13th at the . After some first corner incidents he was stranded in last place; from there he progressed up the order, at one point in time sitting in fourth. Following his pit stop he emerged in 10th, with Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg yet to pit, from where he continued to push, regained 8th once the two drivers in 8th and 9th both went in for their final pit stops. With two laps to go, Webber's tyres were close to bald – being compared to slicks. Losing almost 3 seconds a lap to the chasing Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who was on fresh tyres, he defended his point vigorously. Pressured by the Ferrari, he was out-powered by the superior engine of Massa and although great attempts at saving his place were shown, he finished in a hard-fought 9th position, on a one stop strategy which was then upgraded to 8th position after a post-race penalty to Sébastien Bourdais.

In China, Webber's engine failed on the home straight during the final practice session leaving him with a ten-place grid penalty. During qualifying on Saturday afternoon, he ended in 6th after Heidfeld was demoted for impeding Webber's team-mate Coulthard, and so Webber had to start from 16th after his penalty. Webber was on the grid in 16th and managed to end the first lap up four places in 12th before taking the 11th position off Glock on the second lap. By the first pit stop, Webber had overtaken Rubens Barrichello and Piquet Jr. for 9th place, but inevitably dropped back once he had entered the pits. The two-stop strategy that the team had adopted was not successful and Webber finished in 14th place. The was team-mate Coulthard's last race before his retirement from F1. Practice was close with the leading seven cars, including Webber in 7th, being less than a second apart. In Saturday afternoon qualifying, Webber managed 10th on the grid, and finished the race in 9th position.

Webber finished the season in 11th place in the Drivers' Championship with a total of 21 points, his most successful season after at Williams at that point in time.

2009

at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix]]

Webber remained with Red Bull for , where he was joined by Sebastian Vettel after David Coulthard's retirement at the end of 2008. After sustaining a broken leg in a road accident during his charity event in Tasmania in the off-season, he returned to testing on February 11 with steel rods in his leg.

At the opening round in Australia, an error in qualifying left him in 10th on the grid for the start of the race. An incident with Rubens Barrichello, Heikki Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld saw Webber in a damaged vehicle for the remainder of the race, eventually finishing last under the safety car. Post-race, Webber related his disappointment for not being able to perform well at his home GP after recovering from his broken leg.

The saw Webber qualify seventh and gain two positions due to penalties to other drivers. The race, which was halted early due to monsoonal rains, ended under the safety car with Webber in fourth. He was provisionally placed eighth, but further investigation brought his position up to sixth. He was awarded 1.5 points due to the half-points decision at the conclusion of the race. The proved a breakthrough for Webber. Starting in third position, the race began under the safety car due to heavy rain. Webber eventually brought his car home in second position, marking Webber's career-best finish and was also the first win (and 1–2 finish) for the Red Bull team.

race at the 2009 German Grand Prix]]

The saw Webber qualify fifth fastest and finish third, and he took fifth in Monaco. He followed this up with his equal career best second place in Turkey, equalling this result in the subsequent at Silverstone.

Webber qualified on pole for the first time in Formula One at the Nürburgring for the . This was the first time an Australian driver had claimed pole position since Alan Jones in . He went on to achieve his first Formula One victory despite receiving a drive through penalty early in the race for causing an avoidable collision at the start when he hit the Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello. Webber went on to dominate the race and win ahead of his teammate Vettel, heading a Red Bull 1–2 and closing the gap to the Brawns in the Constructors' Championship. Webber moved up to third in the drivers' championship after his win, at that time his best position in Formula One, passing Barrichello in the championship standings.

On 23 July, Webber signed a new contract committing him to the Red Bull team for the 2010 Formula One season. Three days later, he finished third in Hungary, moving into second place in the Drivers' Championship. Webber also set his first ever fastest lap in Formula One. On 21 September 2009 the FIA banned Webber's manager, Flavio Briatore, from all FIA related activities and announced that it would not renew the superlicence for any driver managed or otherwise associated with Briatore. Since then, Briatore has been reinstated into Formula One and negotiations concerning management has since been declared legal.

Following his podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix, two ninth placings, two retirements and an unlucky saw Webber drop to fourth in the Championship, collecting no points. However, he went on to win his second Formula One race in Brazil, starting from second position on the grid, securing fourth place in the 2009 Championship. In the final race of the season, Webber managed second behind teammate Vettel. The result was Red Bull Racing's fourth 1–2 result of the season.

2010

in Malaysia, but finished behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel in second position.]] In 2010, Webber continued to race with Red Bull. He qualified for pole position five times (in Malaysia, Spain, MonacoTurkey and Belgium); won four races (Spain, Monaco, In June 2010, Red Bull Racing announced that Webber had signed a one-year extension to his contract, meaning that he will remain with the team for the season.

At the , Webber crashed into the back of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus while approaching turn 12 on the ninth lap, flipping his car and crashing into the tyre barrier. Webber received only minor injuries, but retired from the race. This was reminiscent of two aerial backward flips he had at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz CLR at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Webber eventually finished the season in third, behind Vettel and Alonso, having led until the when he crashed out in the early stages. Webber could have won the championship at the final race in Abu Dhabi had he won the race and Alonso had finished no higher than third. Webber's teammate Vettel clinched the title with victory. Despite the disappointment, Webber confirmed that he would return with Red Bull in .

In December 2010, Webber revealed in his new book 'Up Front – 2010, A Season To Remember' that he raced the last four events of the season with a small fracture in his right shoulder, the result of a mountain bike crash sustained while riding at Lysterfield Park in Melbourne, the week before the Japanese Grand Prix. He was on his first mountain bike ride since his Tasmanian accident in 2008 when he crashed trying to avoid a fallen riding companion.

Outside motorsport

Webber lives in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England with his girlfriend Ann Neal, and her grown-up son Luke, from a previous relationship. Outside motorsport, Webber enjoys "most outdoor pursuits" including road cycling, mountain biking, tennis and fitness training. He has won the annual F1 Pro-Am tennis tournament in Barcelona three times (2002, 2004 and 2005) and was also runner-up to Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003. Webber is an avid rugby league fan, supporting the Canberra Raiders, as well as being a football fan, supporting English Premier League club Sunderland A.F.C.. His favorite bands are Pink, Oasis, INXS and U2. Along the way, Australian sporting stars Pat Rafter, Steve Waugh, Cathy Freeman, James Tomkins, Guy Andrews and actor Joel Edgerton completed certain parts of the trek. The challenge concluded with a black tie dinner and auction to raise funds. Webber said he was driven to organise the event after the death of his grandfather to cancer, as well as his experiences with friends whose children had battled the disease.

With Webber's switch from Jaguar to Williams at the end of 2004, the challenge was postponed until 2006, when he was able to secure a three-year deal with the Tasmanian Government to hold the event. The 2006 event (now named the "Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge") was held over six days and covered nearly 600 km. Twelve teams competed in the event, and it raised A$500,000 for children's charities.

The 2007 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge was launched at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne when Webber was joined by sports stars and Kylie Minogue, and Hollywood star Anthony Edwards. The trek was another gruelling physical and mental adventure race about Tasmania in aid of charity but albeit with a new format. Teams competed for honours in two unique categories: the Van Diemen Cup – designed exclusively for corporate teams of four people, and the 2theXtreme Cup – a two person elite team entry. Both categories trekked, kayaked and cycled alongside each other as they covered approximately 450 km through World Heritage wilderness and along the idyllic coast of the Freycinet National Park. It was held from 17–23 November, and for the first time, one of Webber's fellow Formula One drivers, Heikki Kovalainen, joined him in the challenge.

During the 2008 event, Webber broke his leg when his bike collided with a car. He did not suffer any other injuries, but had a pin inserted into his broken bone.

The event was not held in 2009 or 2010.

On 1 December 2010, it was announced that the Challenge would return in 2011. Tourism Tasmania, Mark Webber Challenge Management and Octagon Australia will partner to bring the Challenge back for 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) {| class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;" |- ! Year ! Entrant ! Chassis ! Engine ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! 13 ! 14 ! 15 ! 16 ! 17 ! 18 ! 19 ! WDC ! Points |- | 2002 ! KL Minardi Asiatech ! Minardi PS02 ! Asiatech AT02 3.0 V10 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| AUS5 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MALRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BRA11 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| SMR11 |bgcolor=#FFFFFF| ESPDNS |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| AUT12 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| MON11 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CAN11 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| EUR15 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GBRRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| FRA8 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GERRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| HUN16 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BELRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| ITARet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| USARet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| JPN10 | | ! 16th ! 2 |- | 2003 ! Jaguar Racing ! Jaguar R4 ! Cosworth CR-5 3.0 V10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| AUSRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MALRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BRA9 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| SMRRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ESP7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| AUT7 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MONRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CAN7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| EUR6 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| FRA6 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| GBR14 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| GER11 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| HUN6 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ITA7 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| USARet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| JPN11 | | | ! 10th ! 17 |- | 2004 ! Jaguar Racing ! Jaguar R5 ! Cosworth CR-6 3.0 V10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| AUSRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MALRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BHR8 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| SMR13 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ESP12 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MONRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| EUR7 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| CANRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| USARet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| FRA9 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| GBR8 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| GER6 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| HUN10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BELRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ITA9 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CHN10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| JPNRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BRARet | ! 13th ! 7 |- | 2005 ! BMW WilliamsF1 Team ! Williams FW27 ! BMW P84/5 3.0 V10 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| AUS5 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MALRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BHR6 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| SMR7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ESP6 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| MON3 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| EURRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CAN5 |bgcolor=#FFFFFF| USADNS |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| FRA12 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| GBR11 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| GERNC |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| HUN7 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| TURRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ITA14 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BEL4 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BRANC |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| JPN4 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CHN7 ! 10th ! 36 |- | 2006 ! WilliamsF1 Team ! Williams FW28 ! Cosworth CA2006 2.4V8 4 Series |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BHR6 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MALRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| AUSRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| SMR6 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| EURRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ESP9 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MONRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GBRRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CAN 12 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| USARet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| FRARet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GERRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| HUNRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| TUR10 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ITA10 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CHN8 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| JPNRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BRARet | ! 14th ! 7 |- | 2007 ! Red Bull Racing ! Red Bull RB3 ! Renault RS27 2.4 V8 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| AUS13 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| MAL10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BHRRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| ESPRet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| MONRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CAN9 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| USA7 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| FRA12 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GBRRet |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| EUR3 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| HUN9 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| TURRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| ITA9 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BEL7 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| JPNRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CHN10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| BRARet | | ! 12th ! 10 |- | 2008 ! Red Bull Racing ! Red Bull RB4 ! Renault RS27 2.4 V8 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| AUSRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| MAL7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BHR7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ESP5 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| TUR7 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| MON4 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CAN12 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| FRA6 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| GBR10 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| GERRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| HUN9 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| EUR12 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BEL8 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ITA8 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| SINRet |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| JPN8 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| CHN14 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BRA9 | ! 11th ! 21 |- | 2009 ! Red Bull Racing ! Red Bull RB5 ! Renault RS27 2.4 V8 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| AUS12 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| MAL6 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| CHN2 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BHR11 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| ESP3 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| MON5 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| TUR2 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| GBR2 |bgcolor=#FFFFBF| GER1 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| HUN3 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| EUR9 |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| BEL9 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| ITARet |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| SINRet |bgcolor=#CFCFFF| JPN17 |bgcolor=#FFFFBF| BRA1 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| ABU2 | | ! 4th ! 69.5 |- | ! Red Bull Racing ! Red Bull RB6 ! Renault RS27 2.4 V8 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| BHR8 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| AUS9 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| MAL2 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CHN8 |bgcolor=#FFFFBF| ESP1 |bgcolor=#FFFFBF| MON1 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| TUR3 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| CAN5 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| EURRet |bgcolor=#FFFFBF| GBR1 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| GER6 |bgcolor=#FBFFBF| HUN1 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| BEL2 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ITA6 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| SIN3 |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| JPN2 |bgcolor=#EFCFFF| KORRet |bgcolor=#DFDFDF| BRA2 |bgcolor=#DFFFDF| ABU8 |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| 3rd |bgcolor=#FFDF9F| 242 |}

Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Footnotes

References

Windsor, Peter. "The boy done good" F1 Racing (Australian edition) July 2003: pp. 36–47

Rowlinson, Anthony. "An awfully big adventure" F1 Racing (Australian edition) January 2004: pp. 94–102

External links

Official website

Mark Webb career details

Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge

Mark Webber's Formula 1 statistics

Category:1976 births Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:Australian Formula One drivers Category:Australian racecar drivers Category:Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers Category:FIA GT Championship drivers Category:Formula Ford drivers Category:International Formula 3000 drivers Category:Living people Category:Minardi Formula One drivers Category:Williams Formula One drivers Category:People from Queanbeyan, New South Wales Category:Red Bull Racing Category:Monaco Grand Prix winners Category:BRDC Gold Star winners

James Courtney (born 29 June 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the V8 Supercar Championship. He is the current Australian Touring Car Champion after winning the 2010 title for Dick Johnson Racing.

Courtney has raced and was successful in several other categories, most of which are regarded as the stepping stones to Formula 1. He was World Junior Karting Champion in 1995 and world Formula A Champion in 1997. He was British Formula Ford champion in 2000 and broke the record for winning the most Formula Ford races in one season. He drove for the Jaguar Junior Formula Three team in 2001, impressively winning his first F3 race on his F3 debut. He was also a test driver for Jaguar's Formula One team. Injuries from a high-speed test crash at Monza in 2002, due to failure of the rear wing on the Jaguar F1 car, led to him missing some races in that year's British Formula Three Championship so he could not win the title - although he was easily leading it at that stage. In 2003, he was All-Japan Formula Three champion for the TOM'S team. In 2004 and 2005 he raced in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship for Toyota.

Courtney is managed by BTCC/TOCA boss Alan J. Gow, who was instrumental in his European open-wheeler career leading to his testing role with Jaguar Racing. He appeared in the 2007 season of Dancing with the Stars, on the Seven Network.

Jaguar F1 Testing Crash

While testing for the Jaguar Racing Formula One team in Monza in 2002, the rear suspension failed on Courtney's car, sending him into the barrier at 306 km/h. The car hit with such force that it bounced back from the wall at 70 km/h, causing Courtney to suffer an impact estimated at 67G. When he regained consciousness, he found Michael Schumacher shouting at him, trying to translate for the Italian track marshals who could not speak English. Courtney "freaked out" when he found that he could not move the right side of his body and was bleeding from his eyes. He explained that "it took me a year to recover. I couldn't walk without getting a migraine. Anything would set it off. Noise, light, anything."

V8 Supercar

James Courtney debuted in V8 Supercars in 2005 with the Holden Racing Team in the endurance races with co-driving with Jim Richards but enjoyed limited success.

Stone Brothers Racing

In 2006, he joined Ford team Stone Brothers Racing to replace two time champion Marcos Ambrose. He crashed the car on debut in Adelaide but recovered to finished third in the 2006 Bathurst 1000 and followed it up with a second place in the 2007 Bathurst 1000. On 19 July 2008 Courtney collected his first V8 Supercar race win, taking out race one of the City of Ipswich 400 at Queensland Raceway. He finished the year sixth in the championship.

Dick Johnson Racing

In 2009, he switched to Dick Johnson Racing. He was given a brand new Triple Eight Race Engineering built Ford FG Falcon and was regarded by many as a serious threat for the title. This came undone at the start of the year, with an accident marred start to the season. Courtney took wins at the new tracks, Townsville and Sydney and finish the year in seventh.

In 2010, Courtney his best season to date, with podiums at Adelaide, Melbourne GP and Hamilton, and five race wins; two each at Queensland Raceway and Winton, and one at Sandown. He won the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series, ahead of 2009 V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup. It marks the first time in 15 years that a Dick Johnson Racing entry has won the championship. In the immediate post-season however Courtney signed a deal to leave the team and join the Holden Racing Team.

Personal life

Courtney is married and has a daughter named Zara, and a younger son named Cadel, was born with a twin sister, and resides near the Gold Coast, Queensland. He has done so since driving for Stone Brothers Racing in 2006. He is an enthusiast of quality watches, an avid cyclist, and currently drives a Range Rover.

Career results

of James Courtney at the 2010 Clipsal 500 Adelaide]]

References

External links

Category:Australian racecar drivers Category:V8 Supercar drivers Category:Formula Nippon drivers Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers Category:Japanese Formula Three Championship drivers Category:Super GT drivers Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Formula Ford drivers

Name	Heikki Kovalainen
Caption	Kovalainen at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Nationality	Finnish
Date of birth	October 19, 1981
2010 car number	19
2010 team	Lotus-Cosworth
2011 car number	21
2011 team	Lotus-Renault
Races	71 (70 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	4
Points	105
Poles	1
Fastest laps	2
First race	2007 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last win	2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last race
Last season	2010
Last position	20th (0 pts)

Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (born October 19, 1981 in Suomussalmi, Finland) is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, and drives for the new Lotus Racing team for the 2010 campaign.

He was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series. Renault signed him on as a full-time Formula One test driver for , and then promoted him to a race seat for . He gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix.

He moved to McLaren for the season, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton. His second season saw him achieve his first pole position at Silverstone and his first victory at Hungaroring, becoming the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. He remained with the team for the season. He was replaced by 2009 world champion Jenson Button for the 2010 season.

Early career

Karting (1991–2000)

Kovalainen's career began in kart racing, much like that of many other Formula One drivers. He competed in karting from 1991 to 2000, during which time he finished runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 he won the Nordic championship and the Paris-Bercy Elf Masters event, as well as finished third in the World Formula Super A Championship, leading him to be elected as the Finnish Kart Driver of the Year.

Formula Renault (2001)

Kovalainen began his car racing career in the British Formula Renault Championship, which fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen had won in 2000 before moving straight into Formula One with Sauber. Kovalainen's apprenticeship in the junior categories of motor sport was more conventional, but he used Renault power at every step along the way. He finished fourth in the championship with two wins, two pole positions, five podiums and three fastest laps, earning the Rookie of the Year award. He also took part in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, where he finished eighth.

Formula Three (2002)

Kovalainen attracted the support of the Renault Driver Development programme and in 2002 moved up to the British Formula Three Championship with Fortec Motorsport who used Renault engines. He became one of the most competitive drivers on the grid by the second half of the season and all five of his wins came in the final nine races. With three pole positions and three fastest laps, Kovalainen finished third overall in the championship behind Robbie Kerr and James Courtney Team boss Flavio Briatore said: "With Kovalainen, I hope to find the anti-Alonso."

2007

Kovalainen made his race debut at the . His season got off to a rough start; he made several mistakes during the race, finishing tenth. Flavio Briatore felt it was a disappointing debut for the young Finn and hoped the real Kovalainen would show up next time.

, leading Nico Rosberg]]

Kovalainen scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at Sepang, Malaysia, and followed this with a ninth place in Bahrain. He then secured seventh place in Barcelona, outperforming team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, but finished down the order in Monaco, finishing 13th.

In Canada he made mistakes throughout practice, including one at the exit of turn 7, and hit the barrier. He crashed at the first chicane in qualifying, and damaged his rear wing significantly, and failed to make it through to the second qualifying session. In the race he made progress early on, and then halted. He had luck with the strategy and the Safety Car, and a podium was within his grasp, but he could not find a way past Alexander Wurz of Williams, who had also started towards the rear of the pack. Kovalainen was pulling away from the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen in the closing stages, which was a real confidence booster for the team.

In the at Indianapolis he qualified in sixth position, and a good start saw him go past Räikkönen into fifth place. He held Räikkönen off, and led the race at the end of his first stint when the cars ahead of him made their pit stops. He re-joined behind Räikkönen and looked comfortable in sixth place until Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber broke down in front of him, and thus, Kovalainen finished fifth, while team-mate Fisichella failed to score points.

The second half of the European season failed to produce equally strong results, but it did keep the points tally ticking over. During the at Magny-Cours, he was battling with Fisichella until the sharp Adelaide hairpin, when Jarno Trulli's Toyota made an optimistic lunge up the inside of Kovalainen which wrecked both drivers' races. Kovalainen had to pit for repairs and eventually finished 15th. Seventh place at the was no disaster, with Fisichella finishing behind him.

Kovalainen scored a point at both the Nürburgring and the Hungaroring, and scored three more in Turkey, with Kovalainen coming ahead of Robert Kubica. Kovalainen again led the Grand Prix when cars ahead of him made their pit stops. Seventh place at Monza was a fair result. The team took a gamble in the next race at Spa-Francorchamps, with Kovalainen on a one-stop strategy while his challengers for the rear end of the points were all on two-stop strategies, which included the BMW's of Heidfeld and Kubica (who was docked ten places down the grid due to an engine change), Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber. A good start from Kovalainen saw him become a mobile chicane for all of them except Webber. The gamble did not pay off, although Kovalainen held off Kubica in the closing stages to secure the final points position. Better was to come at the at Fuji Speedway, where, despite not making it through to the final qualifying session, Kovalainen raced well. While most of his rivals got into trouble one way or another in the hazardous wet conditions, Kovalainen did not and held off Kimi Räikkönen in the closing laps to take second place and his first podium in Formula One.

After finishing ninth in the , Kovalainen made a mistake in qualifying in Brazil and was left 17th on the grid. At the start of the race his team-mate Fisichella was involved in a collision with Sakon Yamamoto, which in turn caused Ralf Schumacher to collide with Kovalainen, forcing him to pit. On lap 36 he felt a vibration at the left rear, and suddenly the back end of the car snapped, launching Kovalainen into the barriers. The retirement, possibly caused by damage from the collision with Schumacher, was his first of the season, meaning he lost the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of becoming the first driver to finish all of the races in his first season. As it stands, he shares the record for most consecutive finishes from start of career with Tiago Monteiro, both having finished 16 races.

McLaren (2008–2009)

At the end of the 2007 season Fernando Alonso returned to Renault, and Kovalainen was left with offers from Toyota and McLaren. On 14 December 2007 it was confirmed that Kovalainen would replace Alonso once again and drive for McLaren Mercedes in , alongside Lewis Hamilton. Kovalainen joined Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen as Finnish drivers that have driven for McLaren.

2008

MP4-23]]

After his first official testing session occurred on 9 January 2008 at Jerez, Kovalainen made his McLaren race début at the , where he was quickest in the first qualifying session and started third on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica. He overtook Fernando Alonso on the final lap, but then accidentally hit the pit lane limiter granting fourth place to Alonso, himself finishing fifth, but Kovalainen did set the fastest lap of the race.

In Malaysia he was penalised five places for blocking Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber in the latter stages of qualifying, dropping to eighth. Kovalainen finished the race third as Hamilton faced problems in the pits, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa retired due to a spin. In Bahrain he flatspotted a tyre on the first lap and was consequently well off the pace of the Ferraris and the BMW Saubers. Towards the end he improved and recorded the fastest lap of the race again, coming home fifth.

At the , Kovalainen had just taken the lead, when his front-left tyre suddenly deflated and his car crashed into the tyre wall on lap 22. Kovalainen's car was almost completely buried under the tyres. The Safety Car was deployed for six laps as the debris was removed, and he was finally removed from the car and placed on a stretcher, at which point he gave a "thumbs-up". He was then taken by helicopter to a Barcelona area hospital for further tests. His final condition was a minor concussion, whilst also complaining of a sore elbow and neck. Kovalainen apparently did not lose consciousness at any point, according to the people who assisted him at the scene, but he himself had no memory of the accident nor of giving the "thumbs-up". The first thing he remembered was waking up at the hospital and the team doctor telling him what had happened. Kovalainen was released from the hospital two days later and he was able to race in Turkey. The cause of the accident was later determined to have been a production error on the wheel rim.

In the , evidence of the different driving styles used by the two McLaren drivers became apparent. Hamilton's more aggressive driving style meant that he had to adopt a three-stop strategy for the race due to concerns over his tyres' durability at Istanbul Park, while Kovalainen was able to use a two-stop strategy. Kovalainen qualified in second place, but suffered a puncture during a fight with Kimi Räikkönen in the first corner and dropped back to finish the race in 12th place.

More disappointment was to follow in Monaco when a software glitch stalled his car on the grid. He was able to start from the pitlane after the mechanics changed his steering wheel, and he made his way up to score a point for eighth place. In Montreal, Kovalainen experienced difficulties with his tyres, as they seemed to degrade much more rapidly than Hamilton's, and the team was forced to tell him to take it easy in order to avoid a puncture. He finished ninth, and later described his race as a total catastrophe, suspecting the tyre issues had something to do with his driving style. At the Kovalainen started tenth on the grid, after being docked five places for blocking Mark Webber in qualifying, and finished the race in fourth.

At Silverstone, Kovalainen achieved his first pole position, and led the race for the first four laps, before Hamilton passed him at Stowe. Despite two spins due to losing grip on the wet circuit, Kovalainen finished fifth. After the race Kovalainen reported similar tyre problems that he suffered in Canada; after a few laps the rear tyres were completely degraded and had lost their grip.

at Silverstone]]

At the Kovalainen finished fifth. In the week leading up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren confirmed that Kovalainen would remain with the team for . He won his first race at Hungary and became the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix after race leader Felipe Massa retired due to an engine failure with three laps remaining. After the race Kovalainen commented: "In previous races my driving was too hard on the tyres. For this race we made somewhat radical changes to the set-up, and they were definitely a step in the right direction." He finished the following race in Valencia in fourth position, which moved him into the top five in the championship.

In September Kovalainen elaborated on the tyre issues for Autosport. The problem seemed to be indeed caused by his different driving style compared to Hamilton, particularly the way he enters corners, uses brakes differently and then accelerates. Hamilton turns the car in a shorter time whereas Kovalainen is trying to make the corners more round, inadvertently causing more wear on the tyres. They had made progress by adapting the car and working on his driving style.

In Belgium he qualified third, but lost eight places at the start. On lap ten he collided with Mark Webber and was given a drive-through penalty, which dropped him to fifteenth place. He worked his way back up to seventh, but on the final lap had to retire due to a gearbox failure, which left him outside the points. At the he qualified second behind Sebastian Vettel in the tricky wet conditions. In the race Kovalainen developed brake temperature problems, however, and could not match Vettel's pace, finishing in second place, but was disappointed at the lost chance for a win.

In Singapore, Kovalainen qualified fifth, and tried to overtake Kubica for fourth place at the start of the race, but they made contact at Turn 3, causing Kovalainen to lose two places to Glock and Vettel. During a Safety Car period, both McLarens pitted at the same time and Kovalainen had to queue up behind Hamilton, dropping him down the order to 14th. He ultimately finished tenth.

Prior to the Kovalainen discussed his driving style and the tyre problems in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, feeling they had now solved the issues. He explained his driving style was now very close to Hamilton's, as well as his car set-up. Hamilton's aggressive driving style seemed to work the best with the McLaren MP4-23, allowing the tyres to last longer. Hamilton hits the brakes harder and turns the car more quickly into the corner, while Kovalainen's softer driving style would be to drive with a longer curve into the corner, going easier on the brakes and accelerating halfway through the corner. Since the McLaren was harder on the tyres than the Renault and the Bridgestones weren't quite as robust as the Michelins, that driving style now led to excessive tyre degradation. In Japan Kovalainen qualified third behind Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen. During the initial tussle between Hamilton and Räikkönen, Kovalainen was pushed off the track along with several other cars. Kovalainen was running in third when on lap 17 his car suffered an engine failure.

At the on his 27th birthday, he qualified in fifth position despite leading the timesheets in the initial part of third qualifying. In the race, Kovalainen's first set of front tyres had been marked incorrectly, so the left tyre was installed on the right-hand side of the car and vice versa, meaning the tyres were spinning in the wrong direction, causing understeer. He reported the understeer on the radio, and during his first pit stop the mechanics tried to improve the situation by raising the front-wing angle. Now that he also had correctly marked tyres, however, meant that the front-wing was now causing oversteer and making the front of the car heavier. This possibly caused the puncture to his front right tyre on lap 35, forcing him to pit and drop down to 17th, before he finally retired on lap 49 due to a hydraulics problem.

Going into the , Kovalainen qualified fifth on the grid, leading many to believe that the McLarens were fuelled heavier than the other frontrunners, having set the pace earlier in the weekend. Kovalainen eventually finished seventh.

2009

at Jerez]]

At the start of the season McLaren were struggling for pace. Both Kovalainen and Hamilton failed to get into the top ten in qualifying for the first two races.

In the , Kovalainen retired due to a collision with Mark Webber in the first corner and in Malaysia he spun off on the first lap while fighting for position with Hamilton and Massa. In China he scored his first points of the season by finishing fifth. He ended the season with 22 points having had five retirements, this left him in 12th position in the championship. On 18 November it was announced that recently crowned world champion Jenson Button had been signed on a multi year deal as Hamilton's team mate leaving Kovalainen without a 2010 F1 drive.

Lotus Racing (2010)

at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix]]

It was announced on 14 December 2009, that Kovalainen would drive for Lotus Racing in 2010 along with Jarno Trulli. The team made their debut at the on 14 March 2010. The car was off the pace in pre-season testing, due to a lack of downforce caused by the need for a conservative initial design. Kovalainen finished in fifteenth position in the race, two laps down on winner Fernando Alonso.

In Australia, Trulli did not start the race and Kovalainen finished 13th. In Malaysia, Kovalainen retired with 10 laps to go, and followed this up with fourteenth in China, while in Spain Kovalainen failed to start with gearbox problems. He retired in Monaco with steering problems, and in Turkey with hydraulic problems. Kovalainen finished 16th in Canada, 2 laps down.

At Valencia on lap 9 Mark Webber's Red Bull hit Kovalainen's Lotus and went over the top, before landing and skidding into the barrier. Kovalainen recovered to the pits but retired from the race. A 17th place finish at Silverstone and a fourteenth in Hungary sandwiched his fourth retirement of the season in Germany, due to damage caused by a collision with Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa. He retired yet again at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix after his car caught fire in the final lap, although his decision to not go into the pit lane and instead stop at the side of the track and tackle the blaze himself was met with applause from the crowd.

Personal life

Kovalainen has a British girlfriend Catherine Hyde who studies sport psychology. They planned to marry on October 10, 2010.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%" |- ! Year ! Entrant ! Chassis ! Engine ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! 13 ! 14 ! 15 ! 16 ! 17 ! 18 ! 19 ! WDC ! Points |- | 2007 ! ING Renault F1 Team ! Renault R27 ! Renault RS27 2.4 V8 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| AUS10 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| MAL8 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BHR9 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| ESP7 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| MON13 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| CAN4 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| USA5 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| FRA15 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| GBR7 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| EUR8 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| HUN8 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| TUR6 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| ITA7 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| BEL8 |bgcolor="#DFDFDF"| JPN2 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| CHN9 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| BRARet | | ! 7th ! 30 |- | 2008 ! Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ! McLaren MP4-23 ! Mercedes FO 108V 2.4 V8 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| AUS5 |bgcolor="#FFDF9F"| MAL 3 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| BHR5 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| ESPRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| TUR12 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| MON8 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| CAN9 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| FRA4 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| GBR5 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| GER5 |bgcolor="#FFFFBF"| HUN1 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| EUR4 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BEL10 |bgcolor="#DFDFDF"| ITA2 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| SIN10 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| JPNRet |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| CHNRet |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| BRA7 | ! 7th ! 53 |- | 2009 ! Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ! McLaren MP4-24 ! Mercedes FO 108W 2.4 V8 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| AUSRet |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| MALRet |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| CHN5 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BHR12 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| ESPRet |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| MONRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| TUR14 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| GBRRet |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| GER8 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| HUN5 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| EUR4 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| BEL6 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| ITA6 |bgcolor="#DFFFDF"| SIN7 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| JPN11 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BRA12 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| ABU11 | | ! 12th ! 22 |- | ! Lotus Racing ! Lotus T127 ! Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BHR15 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| AUS13 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| MALRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| CHN14 |bgcolor="white"| ESPDNS |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| MONRet |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| TURRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| CAN16 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| EURRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| GBR17 |bgcolor="#EFCFFF"| GERRet |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| HUN14 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BEL16 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| ITA18 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| SIN16 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| JPN12 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| KOR13 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| BRA18 |bgcolor="#CFCFFF"| ABU17 ! 20th ! 0 |}

References

External links

Heikki Kovalainen's Official Website

Heikki Kovalainen on Twitter

Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:People from Suomussalmi Category:Finnish racecar drivers Category:Finnish Formula One drivers Category:Renault Formula One drivers Category:McLaren Formula One drivers Category:GP2 Series drivers Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers Category:British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Category:CIK-FIA Karting World Championship drivers

{| style="float:right; background:transparent;" |

Name	Chris Amon
Caption	Chris Amon at the Nürburgring in 1973
Nationality	New Zealander
Date of birth	July 20, 1943
Years	-
Team(s)	Reg Parnell RacingIan Raby RacingCooper Car CompanyAmonScuderia FerrariMarch EngineeringMatraTecnoTyrrellBRMEnsignWalter Wolf Racing
Races	108 (96 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	11
Points	83
Poles	5
Fastest laps	3
First race	1963 Monaco Grand Prix
Last race	1976 Canadian Grand Prix

|} Christopher Arthur Amon MBE (born 20 July 1943 in Bulls, New Zealand) is a former motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One - racing in the 1960s and 1970s - and is widely regarded to be one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driver Mario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Apart from driving, Chris Amon also ran his own F1 team for a short period in 1974. Away from F1, Amon had some success in sports car racing, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in .

Early life

Amon was born as the only child of wealthy sheep-owner Ngaio Amon. On leaving school, he persuaded his father to buy him an Austin A40 Special, which he entered in some minor local races and hillclimbs. He progressed to a 1.5 litre Cooper and then an old 2.5L Maserati 250F, but only began to draw attention when he drove the Cooper-Climax T51 which Bruce McLaren had used to win his maiden Grand Prix.

In 1962 Amon entered the Cooper for the New Zealand winter series, but was hampered by mechanical problems. However, Scuderia Veloce entered him in a similar car, and, in the rain at Lakeside, he performed well. One of the spectators there was the English racing driver Reg Parnell who persuaded Amon to come to England and race for his team. In a test at Goodwood Amon continued to impress and was on the pace in the Goodwood International Trophy and Aintree 200 pre-season races.

Racing career

1960s

;1963 For the 1963 Formula One season the Parnell team were using the year old Lola Mk4A, powered by 1962 spec Climax V8 engines. Amon was teamed with the very experienced Maurice Trintignant for the first race of the season at Monaco and his Grand Prix career started with what was to become typical bad luck: Trintignant's Climax developed a misfire, so he took over Amon's car.

At the 1963 Belgian Grand Prix Amon was partnered by Lucien Bianchi and started ahead of him from fifteenth position. After nine laps, however, an oil fire ended his race. He continued to experience mechanical problems at the Dutch, Mexican and German Grands Prix; and after an accident in practice for the Italian Grand Prix left him hanging out of his car's cockpit with three broken ribs, he missed both the Italian and United States rounds.

Amon usually qualified in the midfield and generally outpaced his team-mates, who included his good friend Mike Hailwood. His best results of the year were seventh at the French and British Grands Prix. During this time, however, Amon's social life was attracting as much attention as his driving. He was a member of the Ditton Road Flyers, the social set named after the road in London where Amon shared an apartment with American Peter Revson, Hailwood and Tony Maggs.

Parnell was nonetheless impressed with Amon's results in what was regarded as less-than-competitive machinery and promoted him to team leader. Parnell died from peritonitis in January 1964 and his son Tim took over the team.

;1964 In a series of four pre-season races in Britain and Italy, Amon recorded three fifth places at Snetterton, Silverstone and Syracuse. He failed to qualify for the first F1 race of the season, the Monaco GP, but at the next race, the Dutch GP, he scored his first World Championship points. The rest of his season, however, was blighted by mechanical problems.

;1965 Parnell was offered BRM engines for 1965, but only if it ran Richard Attwood as its regular driver. Reluctantly, Parnell agreed and Attwood took Amon's place. Spotting an opportunity, Bruce McLaren quickly signed Amon for his new McLaren team, but when no second McLaren F1 car materialised, Amon could only drive in CanAm races.

At the French GP Amon rejoined Parnell to stand in for an injured Attwood. For the German GP Amon was promoted to second Parnell driver, but mechanical failure again forced an early retirement. His last drive before Attwood's return, a non-championship race in Enna, Sicily, also ended in retirement.

;1966 During 1966 Amon continued to race for McLaren in CanAm. He was intended to drive the second McLaren M2B but difficulties with engine supply meant that the team never made the intended expansion to two cars. (James Garner's character Pete Aron's helmet and car livery in the film Grand Prix were modelled on Amon driving a McLaren, which caused the movie makers to have to encourage other cars to be painted in the 'Yamura' colours and other drivers (Bruce McLaren included) to wear Amon-style helmets.)

However, an opportunity arose to drive for the Cooper F1 team after Richie Ginther left them for Honda. Amon drove for Cooper at the French GP and was scheduled to drive for them for the rest of the season, until the more successful John Surtees left Scuderia Ferrari to join Cooper and Amon found himself dropped.

Amon made one other F1 appearance during the year, driving a Brabham BT11 powered by an old 2L BRM engine at the Italian GP under the banner of "Chris Amon Racing". He failed to qualify.

Amon did however score his biggest success to date when he partnered Bruce McLaren in a 7-litreFord GT40 Mark II at the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race, spearheading a formation finish. He subsequently received an invitation to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari home in Maranello, where he signed to race for Ferrari in 1967 alongside Lorenzo Bandini, Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti.

;1967 Amon's first year with Ferrari did not begin auspiciously. En route to Brands Hatch for the pre-season F1 Race of Champions, he crashed his road car and, following race practice, had to withdraw. Tragedy then struck the Ferrari team when Bandini died following a crash during the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, Parkes broke both his legs at the Belgian Grand Prix and, in the aftermath, Scarfiotti went into temporary retirement. Amon therefore became Ferrari's only driver for the rest of the season, until joined by Jonathan Williams for the final race in Mexico. At the end of 1967, Amon had achieved three third places and finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship.

Amon's Ferrari contract also included sports car racing and he began 1967 by winning the Daytona 24 Hours and 1000km Monza events with Bandini in the 4-litre Ferrari 330-P4. He finished the year partnering Jackie Stewart to a second place at Brands Hatch.

;1968 1968 was the year aerodynamics first played a significant role in F1 car design and early on Amon worked with engineer Mauro Forghieri to place aerofoils on the Ferrari 312. He then won the first two rounds of the Tasman Series before narrowly losing the series to Jim Clark.

After the first race of the F1 season in South Africa, Amon achieved pole positions in three of the following four races (at the Spanish, Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix) but ever-present mechanical problems meant he secured only a single Championship point from them. Throughout the rest of the season he never qualified lower than fifth place and nearly scored victories at the British and Canadian rounds. In Britain he duelled to the line with Jo Siffert's Lotus 49B and in Canada he dominated the race despite a malfunctioning clutch. Seventeen laps from the finish, however, his car's transmission failed and a distraught Amon had to be consoled by Jacky Ickx. From at least ten promising starts that season he was only able to finish five races and score ten Championship points.

Outside F1, Amon was runner-up in the Formula Two race at Limbourg, Belgium, testing the Ferrari Dino F2. He also came third in that year's BRDC International Trophy.

;1969 Amon began 1969 with success driving the Ferrari Dino F2 in the Tasman Series, but in F1 his abysmal luck continued. Despite six starts from top-six positions, he was only able to achieve a third-place at the Dutch GP. Ferrari's F1 V12 engine was too unreliable and although its replacement had proven very fast in testing, it had suffered many mechanical breakages. Amon had no reason to believe it would be any more dependable than the V12, so although the new engine was clearly more powerful, he decided to leave Ferrari for a Cosworth DFV powered team. Ironically, the new flat-12 engine would become one of the best F1 engines of the 1970s.

During 1969 Amon continued to drive for Ferrari in World Sportscar Championship events outside F1, partnering Pedro Rodriguez to a fourth place in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch and coming second at 1969 12 Hours of Sebring, but retiring from the 1000km Nürburgring and 1000km Monza races, all in the Ferrari 312P sportscar. He also drove in a few CanAm races. His last race for Ferrari would be the 1970 1000 km Monza, where he finished as runner-up.

1970s

;1970 For the 1970 Formula One season, Amon made what was to be the first of several moves to smaller, newer teams. March Engineering had been formed the previous year to build custom chassis for Formulas 2 and 3, but quickly moved into F1, designing and building the March 701. Amon and Siffert were signed as drivers, with IndyCar driver Mario Andretti making an occasional appearance in a third car. March also sold their 701 chassis to Tyrrell, where Jackie Stewart drove it to its first victory in that year's Spanish GP.

Amon won the pre-season Silverstone International Trophy, but once the F1 season began he found himself prevented from converting good qualifying positions into good results. He qualified second behind Stewart's Tyrrell March for the season-opening South African Grand Prix only for his own March to overheat within fourteen laps. Amon then qualified sixth for the Spanish Grand Prix only for his March's Ford-Cosworth DFV engine to expire within ten laps. He qualified and ran second in the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix until his suspension failed twenty laps from the finish. This was the race where Amon refused to drive unless his entry number was changed from 18 – the number under which his then team-mate Lorenzo Bandini had crashed and died in Monaco – to 28.

Amon's close second place from a third-place start at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix finally gave the March works team their first points finish, but after qualifying fourth for the next race, the Dutch Grand Prix, his car's clutch broke after just one lap. Amon duplicated his Belgian result at the 1970 French Grand Prix, but thereafter only achieved one further result of note in the year, a third place from sixth in Canada.

By the end of the year, disagreements with March co-founders Max Mosley and Robin Herd meant that Amon had decided to move to another relatively new team: Matra.

;1971 In 1971 Amon once again scored a pre-season victory, this time at the Argentine Grand Prix. Once the F1 season had begun, he managed to covert a third-place start at the Spanish GP into a third-place podium finish and scored a couple of fifth places in the South African and French GPs. Apart from these results, however, his run of poor F1 returns continued. He had a major accident at the Nürburgring and it sidelined him for the next race at the Österreichring. At the Italian GP he qualified in pole position and despite a poor start to the race looked as if he would capitalise on it – until, that is, the visor on his helmet became detached. Amon had to slow to avoid risking a major accident, thereby allowing other drivers to catch and overtake him. He finished the race in sixth place, scoring just one Championship point.

During the year Amon also competed in the non-championship Questor Grand Prix at the new Ontario Motor Speedway, where he qualified second and, despite suffering a puncture during the race, managed to finish fourth.

;1972 In the 1972 Formula One season Amon achieved a handful of points-scoring finishes, but only one podium appearance, at the French GP. Here he achieved the fifth and final pole position of his career and was leading the race until a puncture forced him to pit, but he charged back through the field, annihilating the circuit's lap record to finish third.

With the money he had made from motorsport, Amon decided to set up a racing engine firm with former BRM engineer Aubrey Woods. Amon Racing Engines supplied Formula 2 engines to a few drivers, but the company quickly became too expensive to run and was sold to March for a loss.

Matra decided to end their participation in F1 at the end of 1972, so Amon found himself looking to return to March as a driver. The place, however, was given to Jean-Pierre Jarier, purportedly for financial reasons. Amon therefore signed for another recently-formed F1 team, Tecno.

;1973 Tecno had entered F1 the previous year, having been a successful chassis-builder for other Formulæ. Their first year in F1 proved to be dismal, however, so they had jumped at the chance to sign Amon in the hope he would help transform their performance.

Unfortunately, the team went from bad to worse and wasn't able to field the Tecno PA123/6 until the fifth GP of the season, the Belgian GP. Amon managed to finish in sixth position, but was unhappy with the car. He commissioned Gordon Fowell to build a replacement and although Amon commented at the time that it was "the best chassis I've ever sat in", it too proved virtually undriveable. By the time of the Austrian GP, four races from the end of the season, Amon's patience had run out and he left the team. He would later claim that the months he spent with the team "felt like ten [seasons]".

Tyrrell offered Amon a third car - the 005 - in which to drive the last two races of the season. After a mediocre first outing at the Canadian GP, he and Jackie Stewart withdrew from the final race of the year, the United States GP, following the death of their teammate François Cevert during qualifying.

;1974 AF 101.]] For the 1974 F1 season Amon revived Chris Amon Racing. Gordon Fowell designed the car, the F101, which featured a single central fuel tank, titanium torsion bars and a forward driving position. Structurally, however, it proved to be weak and was not ready for an F1 appearance until the fourth race of the season, the Spanish GP. Amon was only able to qualify 23rd, thanks to brake-disc vibration that only became worse with the tyres for the wet race that followed. Despite cautious driving, a brake shaft finally broke and Amon was forced to retire after 22 laps.

Following further work and testing, Amon returned for the Monaco GP and qualified twentieth, but, thanks to mechanical problems, he was unable to start the race. Further problems and illness meant Amon was not able to reappear with the F101 until the Italian GP, three races from the end of the season, but this time he was unable to qualify. That sealed the fate of both the car and Chris Amon Racing, leaving Amon to drive the season's last two races with the faltering BRM team. He would later reveal that he had turned down a chance to join the Brabham team earlier in the season.

;1975 Apart from a Tasman Series victory in January 1975, Amon's racing career seemed once again to have stalled. However, a chance meeting with Morris Nunn of Ensign led to two GP drives in the Ensign N175 at the Austrian and Italian GPs. Although the results were unremarkable, he and Nunn worked well together, so Amon joined Ensign for the 1976 F1 season.

;1976 Ensign's first race of the season was the South African GP where Amon qualified 18th and finished 14th. Thereafter results began to improve, with Amon qualifying 17th and finishing 8th in the USA West GP; qualifying 10th and finishing fifth in the Spanish GP; and then qualifying eighth for the Belgian GP. More points then seemed likely from the race until his car lost a wheel 19 laps from the finish and Amon was lucky to escape unhurt from the ensuing accident. He then achieved an incredible 3rd grid position start for the Swedish GP and in the race looked as if he would join Tyrrell drivers Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler on the podium, until suspension failure threw him from the track after 38 laps.

Amon had again been lucky to escape serious injury and decided to miss the next race, the French GP. He returned for the British GP, qualifying in 6th and running 4th in the race when his Ford-Cosworth DFV engine developed a water leak. Rather than risk losing an engine, his team called him in to retire.

At the German GP problems dogged his attempts to qualify well, but it was Niki Lauda's now infamous crash during the second lap of the race that had a far greater impact. He refused to restart the race and Nunn fired him from the team. Amon declared his retirement from the sport and returned to New Zealand.

"I'd seen too many people fried in racing cars at that stage. When you've driven past Bandini, Schlesser, Courage and Williamson, another shunt like that was simply too much. It was a personal decision..." (Amon, on his retirement in 1976)

However, Walter Wolf contacted Amon and persuaded him to drive for his Wolf team in the North American races near the end of the season. After recording some promising times in preparation for the Canadian GP, however, Amon was involved in a heavy collision with another car during qualification and once again was lucky to walk away unharmed. He didn't then take part in either the Canadian or United States GPs.

;1977 Amon turned down an offer of a fulltime F1 drive for 1977, but did attempt a return to CanAm racing in 1977 with a Wolf-Dallara WD1. However, after only one race he quit, saying "I'm just not enjoying this anymore". His place was taken by the young and then unknown Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, whom Amon would later that year recommend to Enzo Ferrari.

In the meantime, Amon returned once again to New Zealand, this time to retire from F1 motor racing for good.

Retirement

After his retirement from F1, Amon dedicated himself to running the family farm in New Zealand's Manawatu District for many years. Nowadays he is retired and lives in the lakeside town of Taupo in New Zealand's North Island. In the early 1980s he became more well-known in New Zealand from test-driving vehicles on the TV motoring series Motor Show and later consulted for Toyota New Zealand, tuning the 1984 Toyota Corolla and subsequent cars for sale there. He also appeared in TV commercials for the company, where much was made of the acclaim he won from Enzo Ferrari.

More recently, Chris Amon was involved in the design of the upgraded Taupo Motorsport Park circuit, used for the New Zealand round of the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season in January 2007.

Legacy

Despite never winning a championship Formula One Grand Prix, Amon won eight non-championship GPs, the Silverstone International Trophy, the 1000 km Monza, the Daytona 24 Hours, the Tasman Series and, perhaps most significant of all, the famous 24 Heures du Mans (alongside Bruce McLaren). Many of these races attracted some of Amon's otherwise more successful fellow F1 drivers, all of whom he was able to beat.

In Formula One, Chris Amon took part in 96 Grands Prix, achieving 5 poles, leading 183 laps in 7 races, reaching the podium 11 times and scoring a total of 83 Championship points. A biography 'Forza Amon' by journalist Eoin Young charts Amon's racing career and gives some insights into his personal life. The book makes clear one point on which Amon himself disagrees with most commentators, the issue of his bad luck. Amon has pointed out on several occasions that he competed for a decade and a half in Formula 1 and survived some serious accidents, notably in 1976, whilst others, including friends like Bruce McLaren, suffered serious injury and death.

Reflecting on the 1968 racing death of Jim Clark, Amon said: "If this can happen to Jimmy, what chance do the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we'd lost our leader." In 1995, Amon was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Bruce McLaren Trust Official site - contains numerous articles covering Amon's racing with McLaren

Trio At The Top - a documentary about Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme and Chris Amon on NZ On Screen

Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:New Zealand racecar drivers Category:New Zealand Formula One drivers Category:New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame inductees Category:Amon Formula One drivers Category:Ferrari Formula One drivers Category:Lotus Formula One drivers Category:Williams Formula One drivers Category:Formula One drivers and team owners Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:Tasman Series drivers Category:24 Hours of Daytona drivers Category:People from the Manawatu-Wanganui Region

Brian Herman Thomas Redman (born 9 March 1937 in Colne, Lancashire and educated at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire,) is a British racing driver from England.

About Brian Redman

Born: Burnley, Lancashire, Great Britain March 9, 1937 Residence: Vero Beach, Florida USA Married: Since 1962 to Marion Son: James, Daughter in Law, Dawn Lucinda Daughter: Charlotte Started Racing: 1959 with Morris 1000 Traveller Woody

Factory driver for the following teams:

John Wyer Gulf Ford John Wyer Gulf Porsche Dr.Ing h.c.F.Porsche AG SEFAC Ferrari Group 44 Jaguar BMW Motorsport GMBH Proteus Aston Martin

McLaren Racing - F1 Frank Williams DeTomaso - F1 Cooper Car Company - F1 UOP Shadow - F1 BRM - F1 Chevron Haas/Hall Chaparral Lola F5000 Has won the following Championships:

1974, 1975, 1976 U.S. Formula 5000 Champion. Carl Haas/Jim Hall Lola T330/332 1981 IMSA Camel GT Champion, Lola T600 GTP 1970 South African Springbok Champion. Chevron B16/Spyder.

Member World Manufacturers Championship Winning teams:

1968 John Wyer Gulf Ford 1969 Dr.Ing h.c.F.Porsche AG 1970 Chevron (2 Liter Championship)

Currently races in many vintage and historic events.

Has promoted various vintage and historic races, including:

Brian Redman’s Jefferson 500 The Inaugural Nassau Classic Car Festival The Double 50 Porsche Celebration at Watkins Glen Rennsport Reunion I, II, & III Targa 66, a limited membership club for owners of high performance road and race cars.

Represented Merrill Lynch in the Merrill Lynch/Brian Redman Vintage Motorsports Award Series.

Contributing editor to Road & Track and Vintage Motorsports magazine.

Member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame

Life member of the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) Member and past president of the Road Racing Driver’s Club (RRDC)

Career

Redman drove for Shadow Racing Cars both in CanAm and in Formula One. He also appeared in McLaren, Cooper and Alfa Romeo cars. He dominated North American Formula 5000 racing in the mid-1970s winning the SCCA/USAC Formula 5000 Championship three years in a row (1974–1976) driving Lolas.

He participated in 15 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 1 January 1968. He achieved 1 podium in the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix in third place behind Graham Hill and Denny Hulme in a Cooper BRM, and scored a total of 8 championship points with two 5th places in the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix and the 1972 German Grand Prix driving a Yardley McLaren.

He was offered various other Formula One drives, but did not particularly enjoy the atmosphere of F1 even in the 1970s, preferring sports car racing.

He raced many Le Mans 24 hour races and living in Florida is still active appearing at the 36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races in August 2009.

Legacy

Road America hosts the Brian Redman International Challenge for vintage cars which has been renamed the Kohler International Challenge with Brian Redman.

Redman was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002 in the sports cars category.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

References

External links

"Porsche experience" interview of Brian Redman

"Targa 66 club" started by Brian Redman

Category:English racecar drivers Category:English Formula One drivers Category:McLaren Formula One drivers Category:European Formula Two Championship drivers Category:International Race of Champions drivers Category:Old Rossallians Category:People from Colne Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:24 Hours of Daytona drivers