Alexander Wurz

Template:F1 driver Alexander Wurz (born 15 February 1974 in Waidhofen a.d.Thaya, Lower Austria) is an Austrian racing driver, currently driving for Williams in Formula One. He is the second son of former rallycross driver Franz Wurz, the European Rallycross Champion in 1974, 1976 and 1982.

BMX

Alex first tasted competition in the BMX World Championship and won it outright in 1986. This gave him an underlying physical fitness suitable for motor racing. In 2000, Alex returned somewhat to his cycling roots, starting an MTB team with countryman Markus Rainer. The team, Rainer-Wurz.com, is currently sponsored by McLaren sponsors Siemens and Cannondale, amongst others. They are multiple World Cup winners.

Early career

Alex Wurz passes a yellow flag at the 1997 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Like most current Formula One drivers, Wurz's motorsport career began with karting. In 1991, Wurz drove in Formula Ford. In 1993, he switched to the German Formula Three Championship. From 1996, Wurz drove an Opel Calibra for the Joest Racing touring car team in the DTM. Also in 1996, Wurz, together with Davy Jones and Manuel Reuter, won the Le Mans 24 Hours and in so doing became (at that time) the youngest ever winner of the 24-hour race.

Benetton

Wurz's Formula One debut was on June 15, 1997, filling in for fellow Austrian, Gerhard Berger at Benetton. He impressed with a podium position in just his third race and was rewarded with a full-time race seat for the following season. He spent the following three seasons driving at Benetton during which time he was partnered by Giancarlo Fisichella. A strong start to 1998 suggested a bright future, and even attracted the interest of Ferrari, but the three-season stint at Benetton turned out to be a disappointment. Especially towards the end of his Benetton time, Fisichella produced better results.

Racer to tester

Wurz testing for Williams at Silverstone.

Unable to find a race seat at a leading team for 2001, he took on the role of third (i.e., test) driver for McLaren.

In April 2005, with Juan Pablo Montoya injured, Wurz drove for McLaren in the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, finishing fourth in the race, but taking third place after both BAR-Honda drivers were disqualified. This gave him a unique record. No other driver has had such a long gap between podiums. Wurz went eight years. His drive at Imola was all the more notable because he was still not comfortable in the car, and at times had to drive with one hand.

Since his signing to McLaren as test driver, Wurz has been eager to return to racing. At various times during this time he was linked in rumours to a return to a full race seat. His large size for a Formula One driver (186cm/6'1) has perhaps been a factor that has not helped. In fact, because they were so sure he would be driving for Austrian-owned Red Bull Racing in 2005, the designers at McLaren neglected to allow for his size, meaning he could not physically fit in the car. In 2003 he was strongly linked to a race seat at Jaguar, where the under-fire Antonio Pizzonia was struggling. However, McLaren were struggling with their abortive new car and blocked the move to retain Alex's excellent technical and development skills. Jaguar then decided to give Pizzonia more time to prove himself, before drafting in Justin Wilson.

Williams

Wurz at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Wurz was Williams' third driver at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.

Alexander Wurz signed a deal with Williams F1 to become the team's official test and reserve driver at the beginning of 2006. He drove the third car at all Grand Prix Fridays in 2006. It was announced on 3rd August 2006 that Wurz would replace Mark Webber as a race driver at Williams for the 2007 season. This is Wurz's first full time race drive since 2000, and his team mate is Nico Rosberg. At the Monaco GP on 27th May 2007, Wurz scored his first points for the Williams F1 team, finishing in 7th place after qualifying 11th.

Personal

Wurz is married and has two sons, Charlie and Felix. He used to race with different coloured boots on each foot, but since his return to racing in 2007, he wears matching pairs.

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
1997	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B197	Renault RS9 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR			14th	4
1998	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B198	Playlife GC37-01 3.0 V10	AUS 7	BRA 4	ARG 4	SMR Ret	ESP 4	MON Ret	CAN 4	FRA 5	GBR 4	AUT 9	GER 11	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	LUX 7	JPN 9				8th	17
1999	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B199	Playlife FB01 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA 7	SMR Ret	MON 6	ESP 10	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 10	AUT 5	GER 7	HUN 7	BEL 14	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	MAL 8	JPN 10				13th	3
2000	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B200	Playlife FB02 3.0 V10	AUS 7	BRA Ret	SMR 9	GBR 9	ESP 10	EUR 12	MON Ret	CAN 9	FRA Ret	AUT 10	GER Ret	HUN 11	BEL 13	ITA 5	USA 10	JPN Ret	MAL 7			15th	2
2005	Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-20	Mercedes FO 110R 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR TD	SMR 3	ESP	MON TD	EUR TD	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR	ITA	BEL TD	BRA TD	JPN	CHN	17th	6
2006	WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW28	Cosworth CA2006 2.4 V8 4 Series	BHR TD	MAL TD	AUS TD	SMR TD	EUR TD	ESP TD	MON TD	GBR TD	CAN TD	USA TD	FRA TD	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR TD	ITA TD	CHN TD	JPN TD	BRA TD		-	-
2007	AT&T Williams	Williams FW29	Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 9	BHR 11	ESP Ret	MON 7	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			12th*	2*

* Season in progress

Facts

• Has an average of 6.4 points a season.
• Average place in the World Drivers Championship is 13.4

External links

• Official Site of Alex Wurz

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