Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. 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 The 2007 British Grand Prix (formally the 2007 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was the ninth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was held on 8 July 2007 at the Silverstone Circuit. The race was won by Kimi Räikkönen ...

, shortly after which he was dropped by the

Spyker F1 The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One World Championship with a Dutch licence. It was created by Spyker Cars after their buyout of t ...

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 The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from to , following the acquisitio ...

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 o ...

, who won the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to their compatriot Marcel Albers, who was killed in a British

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dr ...

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 of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He resides in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

Early career

Albers began

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ...

at a young age, winning the Dutch National championship in 1997. That same year, he was crowned

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...

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. In 2000, Albers raced in the

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

championship as team-mate to Mark Webber. He failed to score a point, but team boss

Paul Stoddart Paul Stoddart (born 26 May 1955) is an Australian businessman, airline owner and former Minardi Formula One team boss. Personal life Born in Coburg, Melbourne, Australia, and attended Preston Technical School and St Joseph's College Melbo ...

later signed him again. He also raced in

European Formula Racing European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

DTM

Beginning in 2001, Albers raced in the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...

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 headquarter ...

, and graduated from a privately run team to the works AMG outfit in 2003 after the departure from the series of

Uwe Alzen Uwe Alzen (born 18 August 1967) is a German racing driver specialised in touring car racing and sports car racing. Biography He won the 1992 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, the 1994 Porsche Supercup and the 1995 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters ...

. 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 a ...

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 Championship. ...

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 The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championshi ...

. Albers started the 2006 season well, out-pacing Midland teammate

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

. However, during the first few races, Midland found themselves battling with the

Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. ...

team, particularly

Takuma Sato , nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win th ...

. At the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, Albers found himself being crashed into by

Yuji Ide (born 21 January 1975) is a Japanese racing driver. He is the 2005 Formula Nippon runner-up and the 2010 Suzuka 1000km winner. He competed in Formula One with the Super Aguri team in 2006, but was demoted to third driver after four races and ...

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 In ...

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 dis ...

, it was eventually confirmed that he would be driving for the

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 Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula On ...

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 Michael Robert Gascoyne (born 2 April 1963) is a British Formula One designer and engineer. Gascoyne has worked for numerous Grand Prix teams including McLaren, Sauber, Tyrrell, Jordan (later known as Midland F1, Spyker, Force India, Raci ...

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 Champions