Heinz-Harald
Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was born in Mönchengladbach on 18 May 1967. His father had himself raced between 1950 and 1957. Frentzen took up karting at the age of twelve and won the German junior championship in 1981. He moved into the German Formula Ford 2000 series in 1985 and was runner-up there in 1987. In 1988 he won the German Formula Opel Lotus title, and in 1989 he finished joint runner-up in German Formula Three with Michael Schumacher, level on points and behind Karl Wendlinger. After spells in International Formula 3000 and three seasons in Japan, he joined Sauber in Formula One in 1994.

He made his debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix, qualifying fifth. His first points came with fifth place at the Pacific Grand Prix. When team-mate Wendlinger crashed in qualifying at Monaco and missed the rest of the year, Frentzen became the team's lead driver and finished the championship thirteenth. In 1995 he took his first podium, and the team's first, at the Italian Grand Prix, and ended the year ninth with 15 points. In 1996 he scored points in Monaco, Spain and Japan and finished twelfth.

For 1997 he replaced reigning champion Damon Hill at Williams, partnering Jacques Villeneuve. He won the San Marino Grand Prix for his first victory and took his first pole position at Monaco. He finished second in the championship behind Villeneuve after Michael Schumacher was excluded from the standings. In 1998 he opened the season with a podium at Albert Park and ended the year seventh. In 1999 he swapped seats with Ralf Schumacher and drove for Jordan, winning the French and Italian Grands Prix and finishing third in the championship. In 2000 he took two podiums and finished ninth.

Jordan parted company with him after the 2001 British Grand Prix and replaced him with Jean Alesi. Frentzen moved to Prost, for whom he qualified fourth at Spa. The team ended after that season. In 2002 he drove for Arrows and scored points twice, and after the team's demise in August he returned to Sauber for a one-off appearance at the United States Grand Prix, standing in for Felipe Massa. In 2003 he raced alongside Nick Heidfeld at Sauber and took his last podium in the penultimate race, in the United States. He retired from Formula One at the end of that year with 156 starts, three wins, two pole positions and 18 podiums.

From 2004 to 2006 Frentzen raced in the DTM, first for Opel and then for Audi. He finished eighth in 2005, including a third place from pole position at Brno, and seventh in 2006. He took part in both seasons of the Speedcar Series. In 2008 he finished fourth in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin. He won the special ROC Legends race at the 2011 Race of Champions and competed in ADAC GT Masters in 2012 and 2014.

Source: Wikipedia, “Heinz-Harald Frentzen”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.