Alexander Wurz

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the German musician see Alexander Wurz (musician) .

Alexander Wurz

Nation:	Austria
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1997 Canadian Grand Prix
Last start:	2007 Chinese Grand Prix
Constructors
1997–2000 Benetton  • 2005 McLaren  • 2007 Williams
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup eighth ( 1998 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 69 - - 1
World Cup points :	45
Podiums :	3
Leadership laps :	-

Alexander Wurz (born February 15, 1974 in Waidhofen an der Thaya ) is a former Austrian automobile racing driver and BMX world champion of 1986. Between 1997 and 2007 he took part in 69 Grand Prix of the Formula 1 world championship. From 2008 to 2011 he drove selected races of the international Le Mans Cup with Peugeot Sport. From 2012 to 2015 he drove the FIA-WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship) with the Toyota works team. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1996 and 2009. His victory in 1996 made him the youngest winner in the history of the famous Le Mans sports car classic. Wurz continues to work in Formula 1 as a consultant, television and media expert, is President of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and has also established himself as a road safety expert .

Career

Alexander Wurz is the second son of the former Müller Master and later road safety experts and head of ÖAMTC - driving technique centers Franz Wurz , which u in motorsport. a. made a name for himself as a three-time European Rallycross Champion (1974, 1976 and 1982). Even Alexander's grandfather, the Waldviertel mill owner Franz Wurz senior, was a well-known car racing driver in the Alpine republic with his BMW 328 in the 1950s.

Cycling

Even before Wurz discovered his passion for motorsport, he was active in cycling. Particularly noteworthy are his BMX world and vice European championship titles, which he won in 1986. Together with ex- mountain biker Markus Rainer, Wurz had his own mountain bike team Siemens Cannondale Mountain Bike Racing , which was able to achieve several World Cup victories.

Racing driver

Wurz in the Williams FW29, GP Great Britain 2007

Wurz in the Honda RA108 , Goodwood 2008

Wurz's motorsport career began with karting , from 1991 he drove in the Austrian Formula Ford 1600, which he won right away. In 1992 the double followed in Austria and Germany before he dared to climb into Formula 3. There, too, he immediately became Austrian champion, and in 1994 he was runner-up in German Formula 3. From 1996 he drove partly in the ITC , where he drove an Opel Calibra for Team Joest . In addition, he took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time in 1996 on a Porsche driven by Joest , and after winning the overall with Davy Jones and Manuel Reuter, he was the youngest winner to date. For 1997 , Wurz received a test contract in Formula 1 with the Benetton team , in which Gerhard Berger , another Austrian, was involved at the time. When he had to take a break for three races due to illness, Wurz made his debut in the motorsport premier class as a substitute driver and made it onto the podium for the first time in third at Silverstone . From 1998 he became a regular driver of the Benetton Playlife Team.

After three years at Benetton Renault, he joined the McLaren Mercedes Team in 2001 as the official test and reserve driver. During this time, Wurz received a number of offers for racing, e. B. at Prost GP and Jaguar Racing, but stayed with McLaren until 2005. During this time he was a substitute for Juan Pablo Montoya third in the Imola Grand Prix .

For 2006 , Wurz switched to the traditional British team Williams as a test and reserve driver , where he replaced the Australian Mark Webber, who had migrated to Red Bull Racing, as a regular driver in 2007 and thus got a regular cockpit in Formula 1 for the first time in six years.

On the day of the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Wurz announced that he would retire from active Formula 1 racing with immediate effect, but would continue to work with the Williams team. Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima took over the cockpit for the last race in Brazil . In January 2008, Wurz signed a test driver and consultant contract with the Honda team for the 2008 season . This contract was taken over by the successor Team Brawn GP , today's Mercedes Grand Prix . After the regular medical car driver fell ill, Wurz took over his role at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Wurz at the 2012 Fuji 6-hour race

In 2009 he won the Le Mans 24-hour race again in a Peugeot . Together with Marc Gené and David Brabham , he was the first to cross the finish line ahead of another Peugeot. With his victory in the 12-hour race at Sebring in 2010 with Gené and Anthony Davidson and victory in the Petit Le Mans with Stéphane Sarrazin and Franck Montagny , Wurz won the three great classic sports cars in his Peugeot 908. In the 2012 season he moved to Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Championship  (WEC). There he was involved in the development of the Toyota TS030 Hybrid , which was not used until the Le Mans season round. In the following five races, he finished three as the overall winner.

In November 2015, he announced his retirement as a professional racing driver with the end of the year.

On January 30, 2016, he took part again in the Daytona 24-hour race together with Brendon Hartley , Andy Priaulx and Lance Stroll . They finished the race in fifth place overall, eleven laps behind the winner.

further activities

Wurz showed his first commercial activities at an early age when he became Austria's first indoor kart operator with his company "Alexander's Kart-o-Mania". Together with his friend Toto Wolff , Wurz imported alcohol testers to Austria in 1996.

Wurz is also involved in road safety and road education. Together with his father, he founded the company Test & Training International in 2006 , which deals with the education and training of road users. He is a close confidante of the FIA ​​Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and holds the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy .

Wurz was planned as team boss for the F1 project of Superfund founder Christian Baha , which had applied for the 2010 season. However, the project was never finally implemented.

Wurz has also worked as a TV and media expert in Formula 1 since 2008, primarily as a co-commentator on ORF Sport . As a duo with Ernst Hausleitner , he received the Romy TV Prize in 2014 for his outstanding performance in the category Most Popular Presenter - Information .

In addition, Wurz works as a route designer and consultant, whereby he attaches great importance to incorporating natural route barriers. Among other things, he was involved in the implementation of the KymiRing in Finland.

Alexander Wurz has been Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association  (GPDA) since October 2014 . He thus succeeded Pedro de la Rosa .

family

Wurz is married to the former Benetton press spokeswoman Julia Horden and has three sons with her. The family lives in Monaco.

Trivia

Root 2016 in Goodwood

Alexander Wurz always wore two different colored shoes at races as a lucky charm at the beginning of his career, one was red and one blue. After joining McLaren Mercedes, he used uniform pairs. In 2009 he returned to the Red and Blue.

Wurz designed and painted his helmets himself using the airbrush process. He learned the process from the artist Knud Tiroch .

Alexander Wurz bought back the Lancia Stratos HF in 2013, with which his father Franz became the first FIA European Rallycross Champion in 1976. The car was owned by then team colleague Andy Bentza for 35 years , who also became European Rallycross Champion (GT Division) with it in 1978. Over several years of work, the world's only 3-liter Stratos was painstakingly taken apart and completely restored. It is now being driven alternately by Wurz senior and junior in demonstration runs, such as at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2016.

statistics

Career stations

1989–1990: karting 1991: Austrian Formula Ford 1600 (2nd place) 1992: Austrian Formula Ford 1600 (champion) 1992: German Formula Ford 1600 (champion) 1993: Austrian Formula 3 (champions) 1994: German Formula 3 (2nd place) 1995: German Formula 3 (6th place)

1996: International Touring Car Championship (16th place) 1997 : Formula 1 (14th place) 1998 : Formula 1 (8th place) 1999 : Formula 1 (13th place) 2000 : Formula 1 (15th place) 2001 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2002 : Formula 1 (test driver)

2003 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2004 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2005 : Formula 1 (17th place) 2006 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2007 : Formula 1 (11th place) 2008 : Formula 1 (test driver)

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Round	Points	WM-Pos.
1997	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B197	Renault 3.0 V10	3	-	-	1	-	-	4th	14th
1998	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B198	Playlife 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	1	17th	8th.
1999	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B199	Playlife 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	-	3	13.
2000	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B200	Playlife 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	-	-	-	2	15th
2005	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-20	Mercedes 3.0 V10	1	-	-	1	-	-	6th	17th
2007	AT&T Williams	Williams FW29	Toyota 2.4 V8	16	-	-	1	-	-	13	11.
total				69	-	-	3	-	1	45

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th
1997
							DNF	DNF	3
1998
	7th	4th	4th	DNF	4th	DNF	4th	5	4th	9	11	16	DNF	DNF	7th	9
1999
	DNF	7th	DNF	6th	10	DNF	DNF	10	5	7th	7th	14th	DNF	DNF	8th	10
2000
	7th	DNF	9	9	10	12	DNF	9	DNF	10	DNF	11	13	5	10	DNF	7th
2005
				3
2007
	DNF	9	11	DNF	7th	3	10	14th	13	4th	14th	11	13	DNF	DNF	12

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1996	Joest Racing	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	Davy Jones	Manuel Reuter	Overall victory
2008	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Stéphane Sarrazin	Pedro Lamy	Rank 5
2009	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Marc Gené	David Brabham	Overall victory
2010	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Marc Gené	Anthony Davidson	failure	Engine failure
2011	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908	Marc Gené	Anthony Davidson	Rank 4
2012	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS030	Nicolas Lapierre	Kazuki Nakajima	failure	Engine failure
2013	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS030	Nicolas Lapierre	Kazuki Nakajima	Rank 4
2014	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Stéphane Sarrazin	Kazuki Nakajima	failure	Electrics
2015	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Stéphane Sarrazin	Mike Conway	Rank 6

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2010	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Marc Gené	Anthony Davidson	Overall victory
2011	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908	Marc Gené	Anthony Davidson	Rank 8

Web links

Commons : Alexander Wurz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Alexander Wurz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Motorsport-Total - Website: Alexander Wurz. At: www.motorsport-total.com , accessed on April 17, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Wurz drove F1 medical car in Singapore. July 31, 2013, accessed December 13, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Motorsport magazine - website: Toyota wants to fight for victories with Audi. From: www.motorsport-magazin.com , August 29, 2012, accessed on April 17, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Alexander Wurz resigns
5. ↑ [1]
6. ^ WeatherTech Championship Race
7. ↑ 26 03 2010 at 11:34 am: Formula 1: Superfund excludes application. Retrieved December 13, 2019 . 
8. ^ Motorsport magazine - website: It was a cool time. From: www.motorsport-magazin.com , February 15, 2014, accessed on April 17, 2014 . 
9. ↑ Ernst Hausleitner / Alexander Wurz Ernst Hausleitner and Alexander Wurz make a pit stop at ROMY. kurier.at, March 4, 2014.
10. ↑ New Finnish track designed to thwart track limit abuse. Retrieved December 13, 2019 . 
11. ^ "Root new GPDA chairman" , Motorsport-Magazin.com, accessed on October 3, 2014.