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Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch 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 his Spyker F1 team.[1] In 2008, he returned to the DTM-series as a driver for the Audi Futurecom TME-team.
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Christijan is the son of former rallycross ace and Porsche 911 Carrera campaigner André Albers, whose best overall result ever was to win the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to their compatriot Marcel Albers, who was killed in a British F3 accident at Thruxton in 1992.
Christijan is married to Liselore Kooijman. Their wedding took place on 11 November 2006 in Amsterdam.[2] He resides in Monaco.
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 behind 6 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.
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 4 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
While racing in the DTM, Albers continued to be a test and reserve driver for Minardi's Formula One interests, and has also piloted the team's two-seater F1 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.
On 31 October 2005 Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland, the re-named 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.
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 sell to Spyker. Albers' personal sponsors had major influences in Spyker buying the Midland F1 team.[3]
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,[4] but he received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving. Spyker technical director Mike Gascoyne commented that he was mystified by the mistake,[5] and Niki Lauda described the incident as the stupidest thing he had ever seen in F1.[6]
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".[1][7] His replacement for the 2007 European Grand Prix was former Spyker test driver Markus Winkelhock.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11]
Albers is the Netherlands' most successful driver in the DTM series, finishing as runner-up in the 2003 championship.
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
|---|---|
| Participating years | 2009 - |
| 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.
(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 |
NC | 0 |
(key)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Persson Motorsport | AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM | HOC1 13 |
NÜR1 12 |
OSC 11 |
SAC 2 |
NOR 16 |
LAU 16 |
NÜR2 9 |
A1R 18 |
ZAN Ret |
HOC2 9 |
14th | 19 | |
| 2002 | Team Rosberg | AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM | HOC1 Ret |
ZOL 6 |
DON 4 |
SAC 8 |
NOR 6 |
LAU 14 |
NÜR 17 |
A1R 13 |
ZAN 12 |
HOC2 9 |
20th | 5 | |
| 2003 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes CLK 2003 | HOC1 5 |
ADR 1 |
NÜR1 1 |
LAU 7 |
NOR 1 |
DON 5 |
NÜR2 2 |
A1R 3 |
ZAN 1 |
HOC2 12 |
2nd | 64 | |
| 2004 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004 | HOC1 2 |
EST 1 |
ADR 2 |
LAU 2 |
NOR 2 |
SHA1 6 |
NÜR 16 |
OSC 12 |
ZAN 3 |
BRN Ret |
HOC2 7 |
3rd | 50 |
| 2008 | Futurecom TME | Audi A4 DTM 2006 | HOC1 Ret |
OSC 16 |
MUG 13 |
LAU 14 |
NOR Ret |
ZAN Ret |
NÜR 11 |
BRH 14 |
CAT 10 |
BUG 13 |
HOC2 Ret |
17th | 0 |
(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 |
| 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 |
| Year | Class | No | Tyres | Car | Team | Co-Drivers | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | LMP1 | 15 | M | Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel) |
Kolles | Christian Bakkerud Giorgio Mondini |
360 | 9th | 9th |
| 2010 | LMP1 | 15 | M | Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel) |
Kolles | Christian Bakkerud Oliver Jarvis |
331 | DNF | DNF |
| 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 |
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