Christijan Albers

**Christijan Albers**
Nation:	Netherlands
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	2005 Australian Grand Prix
Last start:	2007 British Grand Prix
Constructors
	2005 Minardi • 2006 Midland • 2007 Spyker
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-19. 2005
World Cup points :	4th
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-
DTM
First race:	Hockenheimring I 2001
Last race:	Hockenheimring II 2008
Teams (manufacturers)
	2001 Persson • 2002 Rosberg • 2003–2004 HWA ( Mercedes-Benz ) • 2008 Futurecom ( Audi )
statistics
Podiums:	13
Overall wins:	-
Points:	138
	Status: end of career

Christijan Albers (born April 16, 1979 in Eindhoven ) is a Dutch automobile racing driver . He competed in 46 Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2005 to 2007 . Albers won the German Formula 3 championship title in 1999 and was runner-up in the DTM in 2003 , in which he was active from 2001 to 2003 and 2008.

Racing career

Beginnings in motorsport

Albers began his motorsport career at a young age in karting, in which he was active until 1997. Among other things, he won the Dutch kart championship in 1997. In the same year he made his first experiences in formula racing and immediately won the championship title of the Benelux Formula Ford . In 1998 he moved to the German Formula 3 championship for Van Amersfoort Racing . While his team-mate Bas Leinders won the championship title, the Dutchman won two races and finished fifth in the overall standings. In 1999 Albers contested his second season in German Formula 3 and won the championship title with six victories.

In 2000 he moved to European Arrows F3000 , Paul Stoddart's team in Formula 3000 . He couldn't keep up with his teammate Mark Webber , who finished third with a win, and finished 25th in the overall standings with no points. Despite the poor results, the Dutchman was allowed to complete Formula 1 test drives for the Minardi team bought by Stoddart in 2001 and 2002 .

DTM

Alber's main focus in the 2001 season , however, was his involvement in the DTM . Through the mediation of his father's friend and ex-rallycross driver Paul Fauchey , he received a previous year's model from Mercedes-Benz , which was used by the Persson team . Despite the older material, he managed to place second on the podium behind his brand colleague Bernd Schneider at the Sachsenring . At the end of the season he finished 14th in the overall ranking. In 2002 he switched to Team Rosberg and received another Mercedes-Benz from the previous season. With some points he finished twelfth in the drivers' championship at the end of the season.

After Uwe Alzen handed over his cockpit to the Mercedes-Benz top team HWA AG in 2003, Albers was given his place and, for the first time, a current Mercedes-Benz. Although the Dutchman won twice as many races as his teammate Schneider in four races , he lost the battle for the championship against Schneider in a tight season finale at the Hockenheimring and was runner-up behind the German.

In 2004 Albers stayed with the HWA team. Although he had his team-mate Schneider under control this season, he was beaten by his other team-mate Gary Paffett and finished third in the championship as the second-best Mercedes-Benz driver behind the champions Mattias Ekström and Paffett.

formula 1

Minardi (2005)

Albers scored his only Formula 1 points for Minardi

Although he had one of the best cars in the DTM, Albers decided to switch to the highest class of motorsport, Formula 1, in which he should not have a good racing car. After doing tests for Jordan and Minardi in winter , his former Formula 3000 team boss Paul Stoddart signed him for the 2005 season . With the difficult to drive Minardi, Albers had one of the worst cars in the field. However, he did not go without points, as he finished fifth at the US Grand Prix . This result was favored by the fact that all teams using Michelin tires did not race. Only the three Bridgestone teams Ferrari , Jordan and Minardi contested the race . The Dutchman was able to keep his teammates Patrick Friesacher and Robert Doornbos behind him for the most part during the season. At the end of the year, he finished in 19th place in the drivers' championship ahead of Doornbos and Friesacher.

Midland / Spyker (2006-2007)

Albers in the Spyker Formula 1 racing car at his last Grand Prix

After Stoddart had sold Minardi to Red Bull , Albers switched to Jordan’s successor Team Midland F1 Racing in 2006 . Once again Albers had one of the poor Formula 1 cars in the field and he was mostly only able to keep the Super Aguri drivers behind. At the end of the season he finished 22nd overall, behind his teammate Tiago Monteiro, with no points. After the team had already been sold to the Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker during the 2006 season , it started in 2007 for the Midland successor team, Spyker F1 . The start of the season did not go well for the Dutchman, who had a strong teammate in Adrian Sutil who was mostly faster than himself. Albers generated a lot of media coverage at the French Grand Prix , where he drove off too early during his pit stop and tore off the fuel hose. Niki Lauda then described that he “had never seen such a stupid act”. Although the media had speculated about a replacement from him, he was allowed to compete again for Spyker at the British Grand Prix . After this race, Albers was finally fired. Officially, his resignation was justified with "financial problems".

DTM and Le Mans

Albers returned to the DTM for one year in 2008

In 2008 Albers returned to Futurecom TME in the DTM and competed in an Audi for the first time . Curiously, he started for Colin Kolles' team , who had fired him in Formula 1 a year earlier. Albers had a tough season and could only beat his teammate Katherine Legge with his two-year-old vehicle . All other pilots had more recent racing cars. At the end of the season he finished 17th overall.

After making his debut in the American Le Mans Series in one race in 2008 , he also competed in two races in this series in 2009. His main focus, however, was on the 2009 Le Mans Series season , in which he competed for the von Kolles team and finished 15th overall. He also competed in the 2009 Le Mans 24-hour race and finished ninth with his team.

Career as a team manager

Mid- 2014 sold Tony Fernandes , the Caterham F1 . After the sale, Albers became team boss of the racing team. However, he only carried out this activity for two months. After the Italian Grand Prix , Albers resigned "for private reasons"; his successor is his previous deputy Manfredi Ravetto.

Personal

Albers is the son of the Porsche 911 Carrera driver André Albers (International Dutch Rallycross Champion 1979 and 5th place in the GT division of the FIA European Rallycross Championship 1979), who was known throughout Europe in motorsport rallycross in the late 1970s and early 1980s ) from Nigtevecht . They were not related to their compatriot Marcel Albers , who died in a British Formula 3 race on the Thruxton Circuit in 1992 at the age of 24 .

Albers has been married to Liselore Kooijman since November 11, 2006.

Trivia

Albers was born in a hospital in Eindhoven , rather surprisingly , after his father drove rallycross in nearby Valkenswaard and his mother went into labor because of the excitement, which then required a hasty transport by private car to the nearest clinic.

statistics

Career stations

1997: Benelux Formula Ford (champion)
1998: German Formula 3 Championship (5th place)
1999: German Formula 3 Championship (champions)
2000 : International Formula 3000 Championship (25th place)
2001 : DTM (14th place)
2002 : DTM (12th place)
2003 : DTM (2nd place)

2004 : DTM (3rd place)
2005 : Formula 1 (19th place)
2006 : Formula 1 (22nd place)
2007 : Formula 1 (25th place)
2008 : DTM (17th place)
2009 : Le Mans Series (15th place)

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

These statistics include all the driver's participations in the Formula 1 World Championship .

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Round	Points	WM-Pos.
2005	Minardi F1 team	Minardi PS04B	Cosworth 3.0 V10	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	19th
2005	Minardi F1 team	Minardi PS05	Cosworth 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	-	4th	19th
2006	Midland F1 Racing	Midland M16	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	15th	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
2006	Spyker MF1	Midland M16	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
2007	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	Spyker F8-VII	Ferrari 056	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	25th
total				46	-	-	-	-	-	4th

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th
2005
2005	DNF	13	13	DNF	DNF	14th	17th	11	5	DNF	18th	13	NC	DNF	19th	12	14th	16	16
2006
2006	DNF	12	11	DNF	13	DNF	12	15th	DNF	DNF	15th	DSQ	10	DNF	17th	15th	DNF	14th
2007
2007	DNF	DNF	14th	14th	19th	DNF	15th	DNF	15th

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)
violet	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
red	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
White	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
Light Blue	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
2009	Germany Kolles	Audi R10 TDI	Denmark Christian Bakkerud	Switzerland Giorgio Mondini	Rank 9
2010	Germany Kolles	Audi R10 TDI	Denmark Christian Bakkerud	United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis	failure	malfunction