Alexander
Wurz

Alexander Wurz was born on 15 February 1974 in Waidhofen an der Thaya, Lower Austria. His father Franz was a rallycross driver who won the European Championship in 1974, 1976 and 1982. Alexander himself became BMX world champion in 1986 at the age of twelve. In motor racing he began in karting, drove in Formula Ford in 1991 and moved up to German Formula Three in 1993. In 1996 he raced for the Joest team in touring cars, driving an Opel Calibra. That same year he won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Davy Jones and Manuel Reuter, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the race.

He made his Formula One debut in Montreal on 15 June 1997 for Benetton, standing in for fellow Austrian Gerhard Berger, who was unable to race. In only his third race, the British Grand Prix, he finished on the podium. When Berger returned for the German Grand Prix, Wurz went back to being a test driver. His 1997 season amounted to three starts and 14th place in the championship. In 1998 he was given a full-time seat at Benetton. From 1998 to 2000 his team-mate was Giancarlo Fisichella. Wurz finished the 1998 season eighth in the championship. At Monaco he ran second ahead of Michael Schumacher for a time, but a collision with the German ended his race. He was 13th in 1999 and 15th in 2000, scoring points that year only at the Italian Grand Prix. For 2001 the team replaced him with Jenson Button.

After that, Wurz was a McLaren test driver in 2001. At the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix he drove in place of Juan Pablo Montoya. He crossed the line fourth and was promoted to third when both BAR-Honda cars were disqualified. Eight years separated his first and second podiums. In 2006 he was test and reserve driver at Williams, and in 2007 he got a race seat there alongside Nico Rosberg. He finished seventh at Monaco and third in Canada after starting 19th. He ended the season 11th in the championship. On 8 October 2007 he announced his immediate retirement from Formula One, citing doubts over his own commitment as the main reason. The Chinese Grand Prix was his final race, and Kazuki Nakajima drove for Williams in Brazil.

Wurz was a test driver for Honda in 2008 and kept the role in 2009, when the team became Brawn GP. In 2009 he won the Le Mans 24 Hours again, in a works Peugeot with Marc Gené and David Brabham. The 13 years between his two wins is the longest gap in the history of the race. In November 2011 Toyota confirmed him as a factory driver for its planned return to Le Mans in 2012. In 2012 he rejoined Williams as a mentor to the drivers Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado. In October 2014 he became chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. In May 2018 he announced that he would make his debut in the World Rallycross Championship the following month in Norway. In Formula One, Wurz made 69 starts and took three podium finishes, but no wins.

Source: Wikipedia, “Alexander Wurz”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.