Alex
Yoong

Alex Yoong was born in Kuala Lumpur on 20 July 1976. He began racing saloon cars in 1992 at the age of 16, competing in a Proton one-make series. In 1994 he moved into Formula Asia, and in 1995 he won the Malaysian national championship. He then contested Formula Renault in 1996 and 1997 with Startline Racing, followed by Formula Three. In 1999 he switched to Italian Formula 3000, finishing second at Donington and tenth in the standings. He raced in Formula Nippon in 2000 and 2001.

Yoong made his Formula 1 debut at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix with Minardi, taking over from Tarso Marques and partnering Fernando Alonso. He started three races that year and finished 16th at Suzuka. In 2002 his team-mate was Mark Webber. He took seventh place in the season opener in Australia, his best result in Formula 1. At his home race in Malaysia he retired after a collision with Eddie Irvine. Four times that season he failed to make the grid, and on several occasions he missed the 107 per cent qualifying cut-off. Anthony Davidson drove the Minardi in Hungary and Belgium. Yoong returned at Monza and finished 13th. His final race was the season finale at Suzuka, which he did not complete. In total he made 14 starts from 18 entries and ended the 2002 championship 20th.

After Formula 1 he had a short spell in Champ Car and won a Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race in Macau as a guest driver. In 2004 he took part in V8 Supercars in Australia and finished 15th at the Bathurst 1000. From 2005 to 2008 he drove for Malaysia in A1 Grand Prix and won races there. He received the Bruce McLaren Trophy for his 2006-07 season. At the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans he finished eighth overall and fifth in LMP1 with Charouz Racing System. In December 2009 Lotus Racing announced that he would lead its young driver programme. At the 2011 Southeast Asian Games he won one gold and one silver medal in water skiing. He also worked as a television commentator on Formula 1. He was the first Malaysian to race in Formula 1.

Source: Wikipedia, “Alex Yoong”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.