Alex Wurz Profile

ALEX WURZ

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Friday 5th January 2007

Alex Wurz called it quits on his Formula One career one race before the end of the 2007 season after a topsy-turvy year racing for Williams.

Like many F1 drivers, Alex's motorsport career began with karting before he took the step up to car racing in 1991 in the Formula Ford series.

Two years later the Austrian switched to the German Formula Three Championship, while in 1996 he drove an Opel Calibra fin the DTM series.

That same year he also won the Le Mans 24 Hours and in so doing became, at the time, the youngest ever winner of the 24-hour race.

The following season he made his F1 debut when he deputised for Gerhard Berger at Benetton. Alex impressed with a podium finish in just his third grand prix and was rewarded with a full-time race seat for the 1998 F1 season.

Although he spent three seasons with the team, the Austrian's results steadily declined and he was jettisoned after an undistinguished 2000 campaign.

Unable to find a race-seat with a leading team for the 2001 season, Alex signed as McLaren's test driver and spent five years with the Woking-based outfit.

Although mainly a tester, he did get the opportunity to compete in one race for the team when he replaced the injured Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix. He finished the race in fourth place but was promoted to third when the BAR of Jenson Button was disqualified.

This gave Alex a unique record as it was eight years since his last podium finish - the longest such time lapse in F1 history.

Alex quit McLaren at the end of the 2005 in favour of a move to Williams as their official test and reserve driver. As a result he had the chance to prove himself during grand prix Fridays and on 3rd August 2006 the team announced that Wurz would replace Mark Webber as a race driver at Williams for the 2007 season.

The Austrian's year was filled with highs and lows, although more of the latter than the former.

He struggled to get a handle on the new qualifying system, oftening find himself well behind his team-mate. The races also didn't go too well as he battled his way around the tracks in the middle of the pack. A bit of luck, though, did see Alex grab Williams only podium finish of the season when he bought his car home in third place at a safety-car-filled Canadian GP.

Alex, though, announced his retirement from F1 prior to the season-ending Brazilian GP and PF1 wishes him and his family all the best for the future.