Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born
May 18, 1967, in Mönchengladbach
) is a German
racing
driver most famous for his career in Formula
One. At various times driving for
Williams,
Jordan,
Sauber,
Prost, and
Arrows, he achieved three race wins before his
retirement from F1 in 2003.
Early career
He was
born in the West German city of Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia
) to a German undertaker and a Spanish mother. After 5 years in
Karting, at the age of 18 Frentzen entered
the German
Formula Ford 2000 series, in
1986. As in his karting career, he was funded and supported by his
father (a
funeral director) who
also acted as both team boss and head mechanic. After two seasons
in Formula Ford he was runner-up in the 1987 series, despite not
participating in all races.
Frentzen progressed to German Formula Opel Lotus in 1988 in the
Junior Team of former Formula One driver
Jochen Mass, who had been impressed by
Frentzen's performances in Formula Ford. Frentzen was champion of
the German series in his first year, as well as participating in
the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries (in which he finished 6th). The
next step was the German
Formula 3
Championship in 1989, where Frentzen competed against many future
stars including
Michael
Schumacher and
Karl Wendlinger.
At the time, there was a big push by
Bernie Ecclestone to have a German driver
in the
Formula One World
Championship, so the ONS (the German National Motorsports
committee) decided to support both Frentzen and Schumacher. The ONS
put up the reward of a Formula One test to the driver who first
would take a victory in a Formula 3 race.
This ultimately ended
up being Schumacher, in a controversial race at Zeltweg
, Austria
in which
Frentzen claimed Schumacher had forced him off the track.
However, Schumacher did not get the Formula One test drive anyway;
Karl Wendlinger won the German
Formula 3 Championship and Frentzen became joint runner-up with
Schumacher (the two finishing on identical points totals).
Formula One
Sauber (1994-1996)
In 1994 Frentzen was given a Formula One drive by
Peter Sauber in a
Mercedes powered car, as team mate to
Wendlinger. So impressive was he that
Frank Williams asked him to replace
Ayrton Senna at
Williams after the Brazilian's death, but
Frentzen chose to remain with Sauber and his performances helped to
maintain the team's momentum after
Karl
Wendlinger was seriously injured at Monaco. The following year
in the now
Ford-powered Sauber he
got his first podium finish and ended the year 9th in the Drivers
Championship. However, the 1996 Sauber was unreliable, with many
races ending in retirements and Frentzen dropping down the order,
though he was one of only four drivers remaining at the end of that
year's chaotic, rain-soaked Monaco Grand Prix.
Williams (1997-1998)
Frentzen
replaced Damon Hill at Williams-Renault
in 1997 in what should have been Frentzen's
breakthrough year due to the team's dominance in the sport since
1992.
He scored his first win at San Marino but the season was
disappointing; after the family-atmosphere at Sauber Frentzen found
life at Williams difficult, in particular having a troubled
relationship with
Patrick Head. Despite
qualifying for many races on the front row he had a tendency to
drift back in the race, usually finishing well behind team mate
Jacques Villeneuve. However,
because of Michael Schumacher's disqualification from the driver's
championship Frentzen ended up second in the championship with 42
points to team mate Villeneuve's 81 having scored just a single win
to Villeneuve's seven.
The next year Williams lost the Renault engine instead using a
rebranded version called Mecachrome, they also lost Adrian Newey to
McLaren and found themselves on the back foot. Nevertheless
Frentzen started well finishing third in the opening race. However
the might of McLaren and Ferrari shone through and it was obvious
that Williams would struggle to keep pace.
The Australian grand prix was the highlight of Frenzten's year as
the Williams lost pace. He ended up with just 17 points for his
efforts, his team mate on just four more. Frentzen and Villeneuve
were replaced by Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher for 1999.
Jordan (1999-2001) and Prost (2001)
In 1999 Frentzen moved to
Jordan
in a straight swap with
Ralf
Schumacher and enjoyed probably the best season of his career
in the
Mugen-Honda powered car, with two
race wins including a memorable French Grand Prix and scoring
points in the majority of races. Frentzen finished third in the
Driver Championship and was regarded by many as the driver of the
year.
2000 and 2001 were critical years as Honda also began to supply the
BAR team, resulting in a race between the teams as to who would
secure the regular engine supply. In 2000 Frentzen managed two
podiums, which were the best results for the team, but Jordan still
finished down the grid and, crucially, behind BAR. After some low
points finishes, injury, disagreements about the technical
direction of the team (Frentzen reportedly offered to pay for the
changes to fix the car, out of his own pocket) and then a string of
retirements half way through the 2001 season, Team Jordan dropped
Frentzen and replaced him with
Jean
Alesi. Frentzen took Alesi's place at the struggling
Prost team, and managed to qualify a
brilliant fourth at Spa, before the outfit collapsed at the end of
the season.
Arrows (2002) and Sauber (2003)
2002 saw Frentzen attempt a few races with the back-of-the-grid
Arrows team, before the team went bankrupt. Back with Sauber for
2003, Frentzen managed a mini-renaissance, proving himself more
than a match for his highly-rated team mate
Nick Heidfeld and even scoring a podium finish
in the penultimate race of the year in the United States.
DTM
For 2004, Frentzen moved to the German
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
saloon car series to drive for
Opel, encouraged
by the success achieved in the series by fellow F1 refugee
Jean Alesi. Unfortunately his
Opel Vectra was not a competitive car, and he
was regularly outpaced by not only the
Audi and
Mercedes drivers but also by his Opel
teammates, eventually finishing the season 14th in the championship
standings.
However he remained in the DTM with Opel for
the 2005 season and finished the year in 8th as best-placed Opel
driver, with his best result a 3rd place from pole position at
Brno
in the
Czech
Republic
.
After Opel withdrew after the 2005 season, Frentzen joined Audi for
2006. He would finish 3rd at the first race of the season at
Hockenheim and again at the 8th race of the season at Barcelona.
Frentzen finished the season 7th in the final standings and quit
the team stating he had "no support from the team".
2008
In April 2008, Frentzen drove the Bahrain race in the
Speedcar Series of the 2007/2008 season and
later on joined the Speedcar Series for the complete 2008/2009
season.
He
competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans
for Aston Martin
Racing driving one of the two factory Aston Martin DBR9s with Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini in the
GT1 class. His team finished 4th in class and 16th
overall.
Also in 2008, Frentzen built the HHF Hybrid Concept Car which he
entered in the
24 Hours
Nürburgring with his own Team. The basis was a bought
Gumpert Apollo road car with a 3.3-litre-V8
Biturbo with 520 hp and an electric motor with approximately 136
hp. Frentzen finished the race but was not classified due to two
conventional gearbox failures.
Racing record
Complete Formula One results
(
key) (races in
bold indicate pole position; races in
italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete DTM results
(
key)
* A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets
of Shanghai, China.
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