Max Wilson

Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg ) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver .

Career

As with many successful racing drivers, Max Wilson's career began in karting . In 1985 he contested his first races in Brazil and subsequently won several regional and national titles. His distinctive style in karting helped him make his debut in formula racing and his career led to various junior formulas and a test driver contract with the Williams F1 racing team.

First successes in Brazil

In 1993, Max Wilson was runner-up in the Brazilian Formula Ford Championship in his first season in motor racing . In 1994 Wilson got the chance to move up to Formula Chevrolet, the Brazilian counterpart to the German Opel Lotus Challenge. He was narrowly defeated by Felipe Giaffone in the title fight . The following season he made his debut in the South American Formula 3 Championship , but lost his cockpit despite successful debuts (2nd place) due to problems with the sponsors.

At the last minute, Max Wilson received a call from Dárcio dos Santos, an uncle of Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello , in whose Dallara-Opel-Spiess he immediately won the Formula 1 framework race in Buenos Aires . Again plagued by financial adversity, the title fight between Max Wilson and his rival Ricardo Zonta came to a head. An accident in Cascável apparently damaged the chassis and Wilson subsequently lost ground in the table on Zonta.

At the 1996 ITC race in Interlagos , Brazil , Max Wilson started as a guest in an Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI and finished second behind Nicola Larini in the second race .

Jump to Europe

In the meantime, his friend and temporary manager, ex-racing driver Mario-Alberto Bauér, arranged a test drive with Willi Weber's WTS-F3 team and then negotiated a one-off international start for the Brazilian with BSR team boss Bertram Schäfer . At the penultimate DM round, which took place as part of the DTM race in Magny-Cours , Max Wilson gave his recommendation for a cockpit for 1996 with a sixth and a fifth place.

In the meantime dos Santos had procured a new chassis for the last two races in Brazil, but the gap to Zonta was already too big, so that Max Wilson again missed the championship title. In Germany, Bauér continued to negotiate with BSR and WTS about a contract for his friend. When Willi Weber sold his WTS stable to Georg Tokmakidis from Munich, he was immediately given the name of the Brazilian as a recommendation and an agreement was quickly reached.

Formula 3 in Germany

Wilson, who was born in Hamburg but is of purely Brazilian origin, moved to Munich in early 1996 . He and his new team immediately won a pre-season run in Hockenheim and became one of the favorites. But then dark clouds came over the racing stable. The Dutchman Tom Coronel got out as a teammate before the first DM run, drivers and team staff came and went, the climate in the team deteriorated, results were missing, Wilson left the team after a few runs. This meant that one of the title favorites (alongside Jarno Trulli , Nick Heidfeld and Arnd Meier ) was without a cockpit.

Wilson switched to the Italian Prema Power F3 team , where he took over a Dallara Fiat alongside the Macau Portuguese André Couto . A victory in adverse weather conditions in Diepholz was the only highlight, the Fiat engine was hopelessly inferior to the Opel Spiess F3 engines. Max Wilson then withdrew from Prema, tenth place in the table was the meager yield.

Promotion to Formula 3000

In 1997, Max Wilson joined the English racing team Edenbridge Racing and rose to Formula 3000 with the former championship team of the British Formula 3 championship . His teammate there was the South African Werner Lupberger . Wilson finished the season in fifth place in the table, 19 points behind champion Ricardo Zonta , who secured the title in his second season. In 1998, Max Wilson also contested the F3000 season with Edenbridge, finished second in Spa-Francorchamps and was hired by the WilliamsF1 team as the second test driver alongside Juan Pablo Montoya .

In 1999 Max Wilson formed the Petrobras Junior Team in Formula 3000 together with Bruno Junqueira . The season opener in Imola was a reflection of the entire season: Pole position, but in the race, Nick Heidfeld retired after a bump . Worse: At Hockenheim , Wilson took the lead while team-mate Junqueira slipped past to the team's only win of the season.

With second place in Hockenheim and two third places, the only point in ten races, Max Wilson only finished eighth in the table. Teammate Junqueira had, in addition to a win, regularly scored points and finished the championship in fifth place. Contract offers for the following season remained meager.

The door to Formula 1 closes

The year 2000 started badly. The test contract with the Williams racing team was not renewed, the British preferred Junqueira. Giancarlo Minardi , owner of the Formula 1 racing team of the same name, invited the Brazilian to test drives. Despite good test times, however, the Argentinian Gastón Mazzacane was given preference for the only free cockpit at the request of the team sponsor Telefónica .

Max Wilson became unemployed and stepped in for Klaus Zwaart's sports car project for the Le Mans 24-hour race . But the new development named Ascari failed due to transmission problems at the qualification. It was to be a year without a single race; only test drives for tire manufacturer Michelin in a disused Williams F1 chassis helped over the career kink.

No love for the oval

For the 2001 season, Max Wilson was signed by the Arciero-Blair Racing Team for the Champ Car series. The only highlight: In Road America, Wilson finished fourth in the pouring rain. Inexperienced on the unfamiliar oval routes and with an underfunded team without any basis to make a recommendation on their own behalf, the guest performance in the USA remained .

Alex Zanardi's accident , in which the Italian lost both legs, further contributed to Wilson's aversion to oval races. With no options in the USA and Europe, a contract brokered by his friend, ex-Formula 1 driver Luciano Burti , with Briggs Motorsport for the Australian V8 supercars series came in handy.

Moved to Australia

Wilson settled in well in his new environment, even if the heavyweight V8 touring cars took some getting used to. The fifth place on the grid at the second run, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide , made people sit up and take notice. In general, he achieved good training results (eleven out of 14 qualifications in the top 15), but the more experienced locals usually got the upper hand in the race.

For the 2003 season, Max Wilson moved to Dick Johnson Racing , but only achieved a podium finish at the end of the season. Triple Eight Race Engineering offered him a two-year contract, but various problems during the 2004 season prevented good results and after a heated discussion the team management terminated the contract prematurely.

Sympathy bonus after being kicked out

When all doors seemed locked, Team Dynamic handed a lifeline. The sympathetic nature of the Brazilian gave him the cockpit instead of an Australian pilot. In the end, the still young team should be satisfied with a fifth place in the Shanghai city race and a top 10 result in Oran Park .

For 2006, Max Wilson gave priority to the established WPS Racing Team , where he had one of the top people on the Australian scene as a teammate with veteran Jason Bargwanna . His best result was eighth place at the season opener, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide .

Max Wilson lives in Gold Coast , Australia.

literature

• Motorsport Aktuell, Motor Presse, Switzerland
• Archives Petrobras, Brazil
• Press material WilliamsF1, England
• Press material AVESCO, Australia

Web links

• Orrcon Racing Official Site
• Max Wilson at the Driver Database