Christijan Albers

Christijan Albers File:Christijan Albers 2006.JPG Born (1979-04-16) 16 April 1979 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

Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from 2005 until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. 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 the Caterham F1 Team from July to September 2014 after it was acquired by new team owners.

Personal

Christijan is the son of former rallycross ace and Porsche 911 Carrera campaigner André Albers, who won the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to their compatriot Marcel Albers, who was killed in a British Formula Three accident at Thruxton in 1992.

Christijan is married to Liselore Kooijman. Their wedding took place on 11 November 2006 in Amsterdam. He resides in Monaco.

Early career

Albers began kart racing at a young age, winning the Dutch National championship in 1997. That same year, he was crowned Formula Ford 1800 champion in both Netherlands and Belgium. He also participated in the Renault Megane Marlboro Masters series. In 1998, he moved up to the German Formula Three series, winning the championship in 1999 with six wins and ten poles.

In 2000, Albers raced in the International Formula 3000 championship as team-mate to Mark Webber. He failed to score a point, but team boss Paul Stoddart later signed him again. He also raced in European Formula Racing.

DTM

Beginning in 2001, Albers raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes-Benz, and graduated from a privately run team to the works AMG outfit in 2003 after the departure from the series of Uwe Alzen. He was instantly a front-runner, finishing runner-up in 2003 with a season-high four wins, and challenging DTM veteran and multiple champion Bernd Schneider for the title all the way up to the final race. In 2004 he again challenged for the championship lead for the most of the season but eventually finished third.

Results
Season 2001
- Team: Mercedes-Benz
- Points: 19, Position 14
Season 2002
- Team: Mercedes-Benz
- Points: 5, Position 12
Season 2003
- Team: AMG-Mercedes
- Points: 64, Position 2
- Wins: Adria, Nürburgring, Norisring, Zandvoort
Season 2004
- Team: AMG-Mercedes
- Points: 50, Position 3
- Wins: Estoril

Formula One

Minardi (2005)

File:Christijan Albers 2005.jpg

Albers driving for Minardi at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix.

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 a Misano di Gera d'Adda Minardi test session. He was chosen by the team to drive in the Formula One World Championship in 2005. In the 2005 United States Grand Prix he gained his first championship points with a fifth-place finish, in a race where only six drivers started.

Midland/Spyker F1 (2006–2007)

Albers driving the Midland M16 during the 2006 United States Grand Prix.

On 31 October 2005 Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland, the renamed Jordan team, made their debut in the 2006 Formula One season.

Albers started the 2006 season well, out-pacing Midland teammate Tiago Monteiro. However, during the first few races, Midland found themselves battling with the Super Aguri team, particularly Takuma Sato. At the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, Albers found himself being crashed into by Yuji Ide and sent into a series of spectacular rolls. Fortunately, he was unharmed. Ide was reprimanded by the race stewards for his part in the incident. Ide also had his Super Licence revoked for severe dangerous driving.

Albers driving at Silverstone after Spyker's purchase of the team.

File:Christijan Albers 2007 Britain.jpg

Albers driving for Spyker F1 at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

After initial confusion over Albers' plans for 2007 after the takeover of MF1 by Spyker Cars, it was eventually confirmed that he would be driving for the Spyker 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' personal sponsors had major influences in Spyker buying the Midland F1 team.

In early 2007 he was outperformed by rookie team-mate Adrian Sutil. At Magny-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, but he received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving. Spyker technical director Mike Gascoyne commented that he was mystified by the mistake, and Niki Lauda described the incident as the stupidest thing he had ever seen in F1.

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 owner Michiel Mol described it as "one of the toughest decisions of my career". His replacement for the 2007 European Grand Prix was former Spyker test driver Markus Winkelhock. 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.

Team principal at Caterham F1 (2014)

On 2 July 2014 Tony Fernandes sold the Caterham F1 Team to a consortium of Swiss-Middle Eastern investors. Subsequently team principal Cyril 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 the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Return to DTM

File:Norisring 2008 Christijan Albers.jpg

Albers driving an Audi at Norisring in 2008.

Christijan Albers returned to the DTM-series in December 2007 as the Dutchman was invited by the Audi-team of Futurecom TME for a week of testing in Jerez de la Frontera. He tested for this team again on the Mugello Circuit in early March.

Christijan Albers was confirmed as a race driver for the Futurecom TME race team for 2008. He raced alongside Katherine Legge in a 2006 Specification Audi A4 DTM.

Albers is the Netherlands' most successful driver in the DTM series, finishing as runner-up in the 2003 championship.

Sportscar racing

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2009–2010
Teams	Kolles
Best finish	9th (2009)
Class wins	0

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 Fassler's two races in the R10. He finished this race in second place behind the #2 car from the same team.

He moved into the Le Mans Series for the 2009 season, moving to the customer Audi team, run by Colin Kolles.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
1997	Formula Ford 1800 Benelux	?	?	?	?	?	1st
1998	German Formula Three	Van Amersfoort Racing	20	1	2	120	5th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	N/A	NC
	British Formula 3	Opel Team BSR	1	0	0	0	NC
	Masters of Formula Three	Van Amersfoort Racing	1	0	0	N/A	NC
1999	German Formula Three	Opel Team BSR	18	6	6	229	1st
	British Formula 3		1	0	0	0	NC
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Masters of Formula Three		1	0	0	N/A	4th
	Korea Super Prix		1	0	0	N/A	NC
2000	International Formula 3000	European Arrows	9	0	0	0	27th
2001	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Persson Motorsport	20	0	0	19	14th
2002	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	20	0	0	5	20th
2003	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA AMG	10	0	4	64	2nd
2004	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA AMG	11	1	1	50	3rd
2005	Formula One	Minardi F1 Team	19	0	0	4	19th
2006	Formula One	MF1 Racing Spyker MF1 Racing	18	0	0	0	22nd
2007	Formula One	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	9	0	0	0	25th
2008	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Futurecom TME	11	0	0	0	17th
	American Le Mans Series	Audi Sport North America	1	0	0	21	19th
2009	Le Mans Series	Kolles	5	0	0	6	14th
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Kolles (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	9th
2010	Le Mans 24 Hours	Kolles (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	NC
2012	FIA World Endurance Championship	Lotus	1	0	0	0,5	87th

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics 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

Complete DTM results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2001	Persson Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	HOC 13	NÜR 12	OSC 11	SAC 2	NOR 16	LAU 16	NÜR 9	A1R 18	ZAN Ret	HOC 9		14th	19
2002	Team Rosberg	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	HOC Ret	ZOL 6	DON 4	SAC 8	NOR 6	LAU 14	NÜR 17	A1R 13	ZAN 12	HOC 9		20th	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	SHA1 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

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics 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	Points
2005	Minardi F1 Team	Minardi PS04B	Cosworth TJ2005 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 13	BHR 13																	19th	4
		Minardi PS05					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	Midland M16	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	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						22nd	0
	Spyker MF1 Team																	ITA 17	CHN 15	JPN Ret	BRA 14
2007	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	Spyker F8-VII	Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8	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

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2008	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET	MON ovr:2 cls:2	19th	21

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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

Complete Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	Rank	Points
2009	Kolles	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	CAT ovr:Ret cls:Ret	SPA ovr:7 cls:7	ALG ovr:Ret cls:Ret	NÜR ovr:Ret cls:Ret	SIL ovr:5 cls:5	23rd	6

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

External links

• Official website
• Christijan Albers career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Sebastiaan Bleekemolen	Dutch Formula Ford champion 1997	Succeeded by Jeroen Bleekemolen
Preceded by Bas Leinders	German Formula Three champion 1999	Succeeded by Giorgio Pantano