Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

from until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. In 2008, he returned to the DTM series as a driver for the Audi Futurecom TME team. Albers acted as Team Principal and CEO of the Caterham F1 Team from July to September 2014 after it was acquired by new team owners.

Personal

Christijan was born in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,rallycross ace and

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and ori ...

Carrera campaigner

André Albers André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...

, who won the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to their compatriot

Marcel Albers Marcel Albers (April 29, 1967 – April 20, 1992) was a Dutch motor racing driver. Having progressed through the ranks of the Dutch formulae, including a Formula Ford championship win in 1989, Albers moved to the Opel Euroseries for 1990, goin ...

, who was killed in a British Formula Three accident at Thruxton in 1992. Albers is married to Liselore Kooijman. Their wedding took place on 11 November 2006 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. He resides in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Early career

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 ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. 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 with six wins and ten

poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

. 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.

DTM

Beginning in 2001, Albers raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

, 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 four 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.

Formula One

Minardi (2005)

While racing in the DTM, Albers continued to be a test and reserve driver for Minardi's Formula One interests, and also drove the team's two-seater Formula One cars. In November 2004, he set the fastest time at a

Misano di Gera d'Adda Misano di Gera d'Adda (Bergamasque: ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about south of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,877 and ...

Minardi test session. He was chosen by the team to drive in the Formula One World Championship in 2005. At the

2005 United States Grand Prix The 2005 United States Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 2005, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One World Championshi ...

he gained his first championship points with a fifth-place finish, a race where only six drivers started.

Midland/Spyker F1 (2006–2007)

On 31 October 2005 Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland, the renamed 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 The 2006 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy on 23 April 2006. The 62-lap race was the fourth round of the 2 ...

, Albers found himself being crashed into by Yuji Ide and sent into a series of spectacular rolls. Incredibly he was unharmed. Ide was reprimanded by the race stewards. Ide also had his

Super Licence The FIA Super Licence is a driver's qualification allowing the holder to compete in the Formula One World Championship. Requirements Super Licence To qualify for an FIA Racing Super Licence an applicant must meet the requirements of the FIA's Inte ...

revoked for severe dangerous driving. After initial confusion over Albers's plans for 2007 after the takeover of MF1 by

Spyker Cars Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car marque. The modern Spyker Cars held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's motto is "''Nulla tenaci invia est via''", Latin for "For the tenacious, no road is impassable". The marque's logo d ...

, 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 sale to Spyker. Albers's personal sponsors had major influences in Spyker buying the Midland F1 team. In early 2007 he was outperformed by rookie team-mate

Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013– 2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also ...

. 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, but he received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving. Spyker technical director Mike Gascoyne commented that he was mystified by the mistake. 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". His replacement for the

2007 European Grand Prix The 2007 European Grand Prix (formally the 2007 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 22 July 2007. It was the tenth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 60- ...

was former Spyker test driver Markus Winkelhock. 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.

Team principal at Caterham F1 (2014)

On 2 July 2014

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commerc ...

sold the Caterham F1 Team to a consortium of

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

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ern investors. Subsequently, team principal Cyril Abiteboul stepped down and Albers was given his position in the team by the consortium. He ran the team on a day-to-day basis until Caterham collapsed following the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Return to DTM

Christijan Albers returned to the DTM-series in December 2007 as the Dutchman was invited by the

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. ...

-team of Futurecom TME for a week of testing in Jerez de la Frontera. 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 Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in '' Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantic ...

in a 2006 Specification Audi A4 DTM. Albers is the

's most successful driver in the DTM series, finishing as runner-up in the 2003 championship.

Sportscar racing

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 Fässler'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

team, run by Colin Kolles.

Helmet design

Albers' helmet design consists of an orange helmet with multiple black dots over it. He later changed it to the same design, but with inverted colors.

Career as TV analyst

In 2021, it was announced that Albers would be part of the permanent team of Formula One analysts for the new Dutch sports broadcaster

Viaplay Viaplay is a streaming service owned by Viaplay Group which is based in Stockholm. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first ...

from 2022 onwards. At the Dutch TV channel, Albers is accompanied by other analysts such as former Formula One driver Giedo van der Garde as well as Tom Coronel and former GP2 driver and current WEC driver Ho-Pin Tung.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete DTM results

( key) *† — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete American Le Mans Series results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albers, Christijan 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Eindhoven Dutch racing drivers Dutch Formula One drivers Formula Ford drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Minardi Formula One drivers Midland Formula One drivers Spyker Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Auto racing crew chiefs Asian Le Mans Series drivers HWA Team drivers Van Amersfoort Racing drivers Opel Team BSR drivers Team Rosberg drivers Kolles Racing drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Audi Sport drivers