Robert Doornbos

Robert Doornbos

Nation:	Netherlands
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	Grand Prix of Germany 2005
Last start:	2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
Constructors
2005  Minardi  • 2006  Red Bull
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-24. ( 2006 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 11 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Robert Michael Doornbos (born September 23, 1981 in Rotterdam ) is a Dutch automobile racing driver . He started in Formula 1 in 2005 and 2006 .

Career

Beginning of his sports career

Doornbos' first sports career was in tennis , where he played on a semi-professional level in the Netherlands. His interest in racing was piqued when he as a guest of 1998 Williams the Grand Prix of Belgium visited.

He gave up the game of tennis and focused on a racing career. In 1999 he drove a successful season for the JR Racing Team in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus Winter Series - he finished second overall in the championship with four race wins, four pole positions and four fastest laps. In 2000 he competed in various Formula Ford racing series . He finished fifth in the Benelux Formula Ford 1800 and sixth in the Dutch Formula Ford 1800. In 2001, he switched to the British Formula 3 championship and was fifth in the national class. He also took part in six races of the German Formula 3 championship . In 2002 he moved to Team Ghinzani and concentrated on the German Formula 3 championship, which he finally finished in eleventh place overall. In 2003 , the Dutchman stayed with Team Ghinzani and started the newly created Formula 3 Euro Series . With two second places as the best results, he finished ninth overall at the end of the season. He also took part in other Formula 3 races in 2002 and 2003.

Formula 3000

With the help of sponsor Red Bull , Doornbos drove as a teammate of Vitantonio Liuzzi in the reigning championship racing team Arden International in the International Formula 3000 Championship of the FIA in 2004 . While Liuzzi dominated the championship, the Dutchman finished the season in third place and became the best “newcomer of the season”. He was on the podium four times, including once as the winner of the race at Spa-Francorchamps , which he won ahead of his team-mate. After the end of the season he switched to Formula 1 for the Jordan racing team, where he was used as the Friday test driver for the last three races. He replaced Timo Glock , who was promoted to official driver after Giorgio Pantano lost his cockpit due to financial problems.

formula 1

Minardi (2005)

For Jordan, Doornbos came into play on Friday in nine of the first eleven races of the 2005 season . On July 19, he was signed up to drive the Minardi team for the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim . He again benefited from the financial problems of a fellow racing driver - this time the driver affected was Austrian Patrick Friesacher . Doornbos and his team-mate Christijan Albers were the first purely Dutch driver duo since Carel Godin de Beaufort and Ben Pon drove together for the Ecurie Maarsbergen team at the 1962 Grand Prix in Zandvoort . Doornbos completed eight Formula 1 races for Minardi, in which he finished six times. With two 13th places as the best placement, he finished 25th in the drivers' standings.

Red Bull Racing (2006)

Doornbos in the Red Bull, Brazilian Grand Prix 2006

At the end of 2005, the Minardi team was bought by Red Bull and became their "B-Team" Scuderia Toro Rosso . Doornbos was initially unable to find a new employer as a driver for the 2006 season , but Christian Horner , his former team boss at Arden International, who was now team boss at Red Bull Racing , signed him as a test and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing. In the 2006 season he was initially the team's test driver on Friday and was supposed to step in if one of the regular drivers ( David Coulthard or Christian Klien ) had been canceled for the race.

On September 11th, Red Bull Racing announced that Doornbos would replace regular driver Klien in the remaining three races of the season. Doornbos was again unable to score any points in the remaining three races and two twelfth places were his best results. At the end of the season he finished 24th overall.

Time after Formula 1

After he no longer had a cockpit in Formula 1, Doornbos switched to the Champ Car series in 2007 . He appeared in the series for the Minardi Team USA , which had emerged from HVM Racing . Doornbos won two races and was the best newcomer behind Sébastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson, third in the overall standings. After the Champ Car series was dissolved, the Dutchman was initially without a cockpit again. He returned to Europe and in 2008 drove in the new Superleague Formula racing series for the AC Milan team supported by the Scuderia Playteam . Doornbos won two races and the team finished the season in third. The following winter , he competed in four races for the Dutch team in the A1GP series, scoring one win and a pole position.

In 2009 Doornbos signed with the IndyCar racing team Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing . Since he was not satisfied with his results, he terminated the contract after twelve races and switched to HVM Racing, for which he had already started in 2007 in the Champ Car series under a different name. However, there were no successes with this team either and he finished the season in 16th place in the championship. After he was first brought into connection with IndyCar team, he returned in 2010 back to the Superleague Formula. Starting for the Corinthians São Paulo team supported by Azerti Motorsport , his team finished eleventh overall after the first race weekend.

Success statistics

Career stations

• 1999: Formula Vauxhall Lotus winter series (2nd place)
• 2000: Formula Ford 1800 Benelux (5th place)
• 2001: British Formula 3 Championship , National Class (5th place)
• 2002: German Formula 3 Championship (11th place)
• 2003 : Formula 3 Euro Series (9th place)
• 2004 : International Formula 3000 Championship (3rd place)
• 2004 : Formula 1 (test driver)
• 2005 : Formula 1 (25th place)
• 2006 : Formula 1 (24th place)
• 2007 : Champ Car (3rd place)
• 2007 : Formula 1 (test driver)
• 2008 : Superleague Formula (3rd place)
• 2009 : IndyCar Series (16th place)
• 2010 : Superleague Formula

Statistics 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 PS05	Cosworth 3.0 V10	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	25th
2006	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB2	Ferrari 2.4 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	24.
total				11	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

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

Web links

Commons : Robert Doornbos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Robert Doornbos

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "HVM: Second car for Doornbos" (Motorsport-total.com on August 6, 2009)
2. ↑ "Doornbos returns to the Superleague" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 22, 2010)