.JPG) Albers at the2006 United States Grand Prix | |
| Born | (1979-04-16)16 April 1979 (age 45) Eindhoven,North Brabant, Netherlands |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Dutch |
| Active years | 2005–2007 |
| Teams | Minardi,Midland,Spyker |
| Entries | 46 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 4 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 2005 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2007 British Grand Prix |
| Christijan Albers | |
|---|---|
| Le Mans Series career | |
| Debut season | 2009 |
| Current team | Kolles |
| Starts | 5 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Previous series | |
| 2008 2005–07 2001–04,2008 2001–02,2004 2000 1999 1998–99 1998–99 1997 | American Le Mans Series Formula One DTM Formula One testing International Formula 3000 Belcar British F3 German F3 Formula Ford 1800 Benelux |
| Championship titles | |
| 1999 1997 | German F3 Formula Ford 1800 Benelux |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
|---|---|
| Years | 2009–2010 |
| Teams | Kolles |
| Best finish | 9th(2009) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Christijan Albers (Christijan Albersⓘ) (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professionalracing driver. After success in theDTM he drove inFormula One from2005 until the2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by theSpyker F1 team.[1] In 2008, he returned to the DTM series as a driver for the Audi Futurecom TME team. Albers acted as Team Principal and CEO of theCaterham F1 Team from July to September 2014 after it was acquired by new team owners. His estimated net-worth is $50 million.[2]
Christijan was born inEindhoven, the son of formerrallycross ace andPorsche 911 Carrera campaignerAndré Albers, who won the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to their compatriotMarcel Albers, who was killed in a BritishFormula Three accident at Thruxton in 1992.
Albers is married to Liselore Kooijman. Their wedding took place on 11 November 2006 inAmsterdam.[3] He resides inMonaco.
Albers begankart racing at a young age, winning the Dutch National championship in 1997. That same year, he was crownedFormula Ford 1800 champion in bothNetherlands andBelgium. He also participated in theRenault Megane Marlboro Masters series. In 1998, he moved up to the German Formula Three series, winning the championship in 1999 with six wins and tenpoles.
In 2000, Albers raced in theInternational Formula 3000 championship as team-mate toMark Webber. He failed to score a point, but team bossPaul Stoddart later signed him again. He also raced inEuropean Formula Racing.
Beginning in 2001, Albers raced in theDeutsche Tourenwagen Masters forMercedes-Benz, and graduated from a privately run team to the works AMG outfit in 2003 after the departure from the series ofUwe Alzen. He was instantly a front-runner, finishing runner-up in 2003 with a season-high four wins, and challenging DTM veteran and multiple championBernd Schneider for the title all the way up to the final race. In 2004, he again challenged for the championship lead for most of the season but eventually finished third.
While racing in the DTM, Albers continued to be a test and reserve driver for Minardi's Formula One interests, and also drove the team's two-seater Formula One cars. In November 2004, he set the fastest time at aMisano di Gera d'Adda Minardi test session. He was chosen by the team to drive in the Formula One World Championship in 2005. At the2005 United States Grand Prix he gained his first championship points with a fifth-place finish, a race where only six drivers started.
On 31 October 2005 Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland, the renamed Jordan team, made their debut in the2006 Formula One season.
Albers started the 2006 season well, out-pacingMidland teammateTiago Monteiro. However, during the first few races, Midland found themselves battling with theSuper Aguri team, particularlyTakuma Sato. At the2006 San Marino Grand Prix, Albers found himself being crashed into byYuji Ide and sent into a series of spectacular rolls. Incredibly he was unharmed. Ide was reprimanded by the race stewards. Ide also had hisSuper Licence revoked for severe dangerous driving.
After initial confusion over Albers's plans for 2007 after the takeover of MF1 bySpyker Cars, it was eventually confirmed that he would be driving for theSpyker F1 team in 2007.
It was later found out that Albers signed a contract with Midland F1 to remain with the team prior to the sale to Spyker. Albers's personal sponsors had major influences in Spyker buying the Midland F1 team.[4]
In early 2007 he was outperformed by rookie team-mateAdrian Sutil. AtMagny-Cours he ignored the lollipop telling him not to leave the pits during a pitstop, driving off with part of the fuel rig still attached. Albers expressed relief that nobody was hurt,[5] but he received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving. Spyker technical directorMike Gascoyne commented that he was mystified by the mistake.[6]
On 10 July 2007 he was released from his Spyker contract, due to a lack of sponsorship money, which would have compromised the team's development programme. Team ownerMichiel Mol described it as "one of the toughest decisions of my career".[1][7] His replacement for the2007 European Grand Prix was former Spyker test driverMarkus Winkelhock.[8]Sakon Yamamoto then raced for Spyker for the rest of the year.
Albers returned with the Spyker team for the Rotterdam street racing event in the Netherlands, on the 18 / 19 August.[9]
On 2 July 2014Tony Fernandes sold theCaterham F1 Team to a consortium ofSwiss-Middle Eastern investors. Subsequently, team principalCyril Abiteboul stepped down and Albers was given his position in the team by the consortium. He ran the team on a day-to-day basis until Caterham collapsed following the2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[10]
Christijan Albers returned to theDTM-series in December 2007 as the Dutchman was invited by theAudi-team ofFuturecom TME for a week of testing inJerez de la Frontera.[11] He tested for this team again on theMugello Circuit in early March.
Christijan Albers was confirmed as a race driver for the Futurecom TME race team for 2008. He raced alongsideKatherine Legge in a 2006 Specification Audi A4 DTM.[12]
Albers is theNetherlands's most successful driver in theDTM series, finishing as runner-up in the 2003 championship.
It was announced on 9 October 2008 that Albers would be racing with Audi Sport North America in the American Le Mans Series. He piloted the #1 R10 TDI, partnered with Emanuele Pirro at Laguna Seca, the ALMS final round. This was another step by Audi to bring youth to their Le Mans programs, following Marcel Fässler's two races in the R10. He finished this race in second place behind the #2 car from the same team.
He moved into theLe Mans Series for the2009 season, moving to the customerAudi team, run byColin Kolles.
Albers' helmet design consists of an orange helmet with multiple black dots over it. He later changed it to the same design, but with inverted colors.
Albers is part of the permanent team of Formula One analysts for the new Dutch sports broadcasterViaplay from 2022 onwards.[13] At the Dutch TV channel, Albers is accompanied by other analysts such as former Formula One driverGiedo van der Garde as well asTom Coronel and formerGP2 driver and currentWEC driverHo-Pin Tung.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Van Amersfoort Racing | Opel | HOC 1 3 | HOC 2 Ret | NÜR 1 6 | NÜR 2 10 | SAC 1 13 | SAC 2 10 | NOR 1 1 | NOR 2 1 | LAH 1 16 | LAH 2 18 | WUN 1 9 | WUN 2 5 | ZWE 1 8 | ZWE 2 6 | SAL 1 7 | SAL 2 4 | OSC 1 2 | OSC 2 3 | NÜR 1 3 | NÜR 2 11 | 5th | 120 |
| 1999 | Opel Team BSR | Opel | SAC 1 Ret | SAC 2 7 | ZWE 1 7 | ZWE 2 3 | OSC 1 1 | OSC 2 3 | NOR 1 1 | NOR 2 2 | NÜR 1 1 | NÜR 2 1 | SAL 1 1 | SAL 2 7 | OSC 1 3 | OSC 2 EX | HOC 1 1 | HOC 2 5 | NÜR 1 2 | NÜR 2 2 | 1st | 229 | ||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | European Arrows F3000 | IMO Ret | SIL Ret | CAT 12 | NÜR Ret | MON Ret | MAG 7 | A1R Ret | HOC DNQ | HUN Ret | SPA 8 | 25th | 0 |
(key)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Persson Motorsport | AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM | HOC QR 13 | HOC CR 13 | NÜR QR 13 | NÜR CR 12 | OSC QR 11 | OSC CR 11 | SAC QR 16 | SAC CR 2 | NOR QR 13 | NOR CR 16 | LAU QR 12 | LAU CR 16 | NÜR QR 8 | NÜR CR 9 | A1R QR 11 | A1R CR Ret | ZAN QR 8 | ZAN CR Ret | HOC QR 14 | HOC CR 9 | 14th | 19 |
| 2002 | Team Rosberg | AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM | HOC QR Ret | HOC CR Ret | ZOL QR 13 | ZOL CR 6 | DON QR 11 | DON CR 4 | SAC QR 13 | SAC CR 8 | NOR QR 10 | NOR CR 6 | LAU QR 20 | LAU CR 14 | NÜR QR 18 | NÜR CR 17 | A1R QR 19 | A1R CR 13 | ZAN QR Ret | ZAN CR 12 | HOC QR 11 | HOC CR 9 | 12th | 5 |
| 2003 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes CLK 2003 | HOC 5 | ADR 1 | NÜR 1 | LAU 7 | NOR 1 | DON 5 | NÜR 2 | A1R 3 | ZAN 1 | HOC 12 | 2nd | 64 | ||||||||||
| 2004 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004 | HOC 2 | EST 1 | ADR 2 | LAU 2 | NOR 2 | SHA 6 | NÜR 16† | OSC 12 | ZAN 3 | BRN Ret | HOC 7 | 3rd | 50 | |||||||||
| 2008 | Futurecom TME | Audi A4 DTM 2006 | HOC Ret | OSC 16 | MUG 13 | LAU 14 | NOR Ret | ZAN Ret | NÜR 11 | BRH 14 | CAT 10 | BUG 13 | HOC Ret | 17th | 0 | |||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Minardi F1 Team | MinardiPS04B | Cosworth CR-3L 3.0V10 | AUS Ret | MAL 13 | BHR 13 | 19th | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| MinardiPS05 | Cosworth TJ2005 3.0V10 | SMR Ret | ESP Ret | MON 14 | EUR 17 | CAN 11 | USA 5 | FRA Ret | GBR 18 | GER 13 | HUN NC | TUR Ret | ITA 19 | BEL 12 | BRA 14 | JPN 16 | CHN 16† | |||||||
| 2006 | Midland F1 Racing | MidlandM16 | Toyota RVX-06 2.4V8 | BHR Ret | MAL 12 | AUS 11 | SMR Ret | EUR 13 | ESP Ret | MON 12 | GBR 15 | CAN Ret | USA Ret | FRA 15 | GER DSQ | HUN 10 | TUR Ret | ITA 17 | 22nd | 0 | ||||
| Spyker MF1 Racing | SpykerM16 | CHN 15 | JPN Ret | BRA 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team | SpykerF8-VII | Ferrari 056H 2.4V8 | AUS Ret | MAL Ret | BHR 14 | ESP 14 | MON 19† | CAN Ret | USA 15 | FRA Ret | GBR 15 | EUR | HUN | TUR | ITA | BEL | JPN | CHN | BRA | 25th | 0 | ||
† Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Audi Sport North America | LMP1 | Audi R10 TDI | Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | SEB | STP | LNB | UTA | LIM | MID | AME | MOS | DET | PET | MON 2 | 19th | 21 | [19] |
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 |  Kolles |  Christian Bakkerud Giorgio Mondini | Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 360 | 9th | 9th |
| 2010 | Kolles | Christian Bakkerud Oliver Jarvis | Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 331 | DNF | DNF |
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Kolles | LMP1 | Audi R10 TDI | AudiTDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | CAT Ret | SPA 7 | ALG Ret | NÜR Ret | SIL 5 | 23rd | 6 |
Source:[15] | |||||||||||
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Lotus | LMP2 | Lola B12/80 | Lotus (Judd) 3.6 L V8 | SEB | SPA | LMS | SIL 19 | SÃO | BHR | FUJ | SHA | 87th | 0.5 |
Source:[15] | ||||||||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Dutch Formula Ford Champion 1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | German Formula Three Champion 1999 | Succeeded by |
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