Johnny Herbert

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Johnny Herbert Herbert as Sporting Relations Manager of MF1 Racing in 2006. Nationality  British Formula One World Championship career Active years 1989 - 2000 Teams Benetton, Tyrrell, Lotus, Ligier, Sauber, Stewart, Jaguar Races 165 (161 starts) Championships 0 Wins 3 Podium finishes    7 Career points 98 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix First win 1995 British Grand Prix Last win 1999 European Grand Prix Last race 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1990 - 1992, 2002 - 2004, 2007 Teams Mazdaspeed/Oreca, Champion Racing, Audi Sport North America, Team Bentley, Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx, Aston Martin Racing Best finish 1st (1991) Class wins 1 (1991)

John Paul Herbert (born June 25, 1964 in Romford, London, England) is a British former racing driver from England. He competed in Formula One, winning three races, and also in sports cars winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1991 driving a Mazda 787B. He enjoyed much success in lower-level motor racing but never managed to achieve the same level of performance at the top level of motorsport.

During the mid-1980s, Johnny Herbert was widely regarded as a coming man of motor racing, likened by some to the Scot Jim Clark. Winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1985, Herbert caught Eddie Jordan's attention, and together they won the 1987 British Formula Three title. Disaster struck in 1988, though, as Herbert, then a championship hopeful in International Formula 3000 was caught up in a major accident at Brands Hatch, badly breaking his legs in a fearsome impact with the barriers. It was an act of huge bravery that saw him back in a racing car at the beginning of 1989, despite the fact he could barely walk. Even more remarkably, he was now in Formula 1, scoring points on his debut in Brazil driving for the Benetton team, then managed by his long time mentor and friend Peter Collins.

However, Herbert's performances could not keep up that standard, and with the Benetton team under new management, he was dropped after failing to qualify for the Canadian Grand Prix. Herbert returned to Formula 3000, this time in the highly regarded Japanese series. It wasn't long before he received another call from Grand Prix racing, this time Tyrrell. From 1990 to 2000, Herbert was a fixture in Formula One, switching to the dwindling Lotus team, now managed by Peter Collins. After 3 years of frustration, Herbert left Lotus in mid 1994, joining Ligier and then Benetton for the last few races of the season. Although he failed to score any points in 1994, he was retained as Michael Schumacher's team-mate for 1995. At the British Grand Prix, he inherited a hugely popular Grand Prix win after Michael Schumacher collided with Damon Hill. He followed this in similar circumstances at Monza, finishing 4th in the championship.

After being dropped by Benetton, Herbert drove for Swiss outfit Sauber in 1996-1998, scoring two podium places. Moving to Stewart Grand Prix in 1999, he scored his third and final Grand Prix win in a remarkable wet/dry European Grand Prix. Staying at Stewart after the team was purchased by Ford and became Jaguar, Herbert endured another frustrating and pointless season, ending the year being stretchered off at Malaysia after a suspension failure caused him to crash heavily.

Since retiring from Grand Prix racing, Herbert has concentrated on Sports Cars, trying to repeat his Le Mans 24 Hours overall win of 1991. Recent years have seen him as one of the front runners in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), where he won several events and was a challenger for the 2003 crown.

In 2004, Herbert, along with Jamie Davies won the Le Mans Series championship at the wheel of an Audi R8 winning the races at Monza and Spa along the way.

In 2005, Herbert was appointed to the post of Sporting Relations Manager at Jordan Grand Prix, which was then renamed Midland F1 for the 2006 World Championship. However, in September of that year Spyker Cars bought the team, and renamed it Spyker MF1. Another of the new owners' decisions was to not renew Herbert's contract.

In 2007, Herbert entered the Le Mans 24 Hours driving for the factory Aston Martin team at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBR9 in the GT1 class. Herbert, along with Peter Kox and Tomáš Enge drove the 007 numbered car to a 9th placed overall finish and 4th in the GT1 class.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1989	Benetton Formula	Benetton B188	Ford V8	BRA 4	SMR 11	MON 14	MEX 15	USA 5	CAN DNQ	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN								14th	5
	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 018	Ford V8											BEL Ret	ITA	POR DNQ	ESP	JPN	AUS
1990	Camel Team Lotus	Lotus 102	Lamborghini V12	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		35th	0
1991	Team Lotus	Lotus 102B	Judd V8	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN DNQ	MEX 10	FRA 10	GBR 14	GER	HUN	BEL 7	ITA	POR Ret	ESP	JPN Ret	AUS 11		27th	0
1992	Team Lotus	Lotus 102D	Ford V8	RSA 6	MEX 7	BRA Ret	ESP Ret														15th	2
		Lotus 107	Ford V8					SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 13
1993	Team Lotus	Lotus 107B	Ford V8	RSA Ret	BRA 4	EUR 4	SMR 8	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN 10	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL 5	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 11	AUS Ret		9th	11
1994	Team Lotus	Lotus 107C	Mugen-Honda V10	BRA 7	PAC 7	SMR 10	MON Ret														26th	0
		Lotus 109	Mugen-Honda V10					ESP Ret	CAN 8	FRA 7	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 12	ITA Ret	POR 13
	Ligier Gitanes Blondes	Ligier JS39B	Renault V10														EUR 14
	Mild Seven Benetton Ford	Benetton B194	Ford V8															JPN Ret	AUS Ret
1995	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B195	Renault V10	BRA Ret	ARG 4	SMR 7	ESP 2	MON 4	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 1	GER 4	HUN 4	BEL 7	ITA 1	POR 7	EUR 5	PAC 6	JPN 3	AUS Ret	4th	45
1996	Red Bull Sauber Ford	Sauber C15	Ford V8	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 9	EUR 7	SMR Ret	MON 3	ESP Ret	CAN 7	FRA DSQ	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 9	POR 8	JPN 10		14th	4
1997	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C16	Petronas V10	AUS Ret	BRA 7	ARG 4	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP 5	CAN 5	FRA 8	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 3	BEL 4	ITA Ret	AUT 8	LUX 7	JPN 6	EUR 8	10th	15
1998	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C17	Petronas V10	AUS 6	BRA 11	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 7	MON 7	CAN Ret	FRA 8	GBR Ret	AUT 8	GER Ret	HUN 10	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	LUX Ret	JPN 10		15th	1
1999	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF3	Ford V10	AUS DNS	BRA Ret	SMR 10	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 5	FRA Ret	GBR 12	AUT 14	GER 11	HUN 11	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 1	MAL 4	JPN 7		8th	15
2000	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R1	Ford V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 10	GBR 12	ESP 13	EUR 11	MON 9	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	AUT 7	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA Ret	USA 11	JPN 7	MAL Ret	17th	0

[edit] External links

• Johnny's website
• Johnny Herbert statistics

Sporting positions
Preceded by Gerrit van Kouwen	Formula Ford Festival Winner 1985	Succeeded by Roland Ratzenberger
Preceded by Andy Wallace	British Formula Three Champion 1987	Succeeded by JJ Lehto
Preceded by John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1991 with: Volker Weidler Bertrand Gachot	Succeeded by Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell
Preceded by Gabriele Tarquini	Formula One Indoor Trophy winner 1992	Succeeded by Rubens Barrichello
Preceded by None	Le Mans Series Champion 2004 with: Jamie Davies	Succeeded by Jean-Christophe Boullion Emmanuel Collard