Christijan Albers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Christijan Albers

Albers at the 2006 United States Grand Prix
Born	(1979-04-16) 16 April 1979 (age 46) Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Dutch
Active years	2005–2007
Teams	Minardi, Midland, Spyker
Entries	46
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	4
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2005 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2007 British Grand Prix

Christijan Albers (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. He had a lot of success in the DTM racing series. He then raced in Formula One from 2005 until the 2007 British Grand Prix. After that, he returned to DTM in 2008. From July to September 2014, Albers was the Team Principal and CEO of the Caterham F1 Team.

About Christijan Albers

Christijan was born in Eindhoven, Netherlands. His father, André Albers, was also a famous rallycross driver. André won the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship. Christijan is married to Liselore Kooijman. They got married on November 11, 2006, in Amsterdam. He lives in Monaco.

Starting His Racing Journey

Christijan Albers started kart racing when he was very young. He won the Dutch National championship in 1997. In the same year, he became the champion in the Formula Ford 1800 series in both the Netherlands and Belgium.

In 1998, he moved up to the German Formula Three series. He won that championship in 1999. He had six wins and ten poles that year. In 2000, Albers raced in the International Formula 3000 championship.

Racing in DTM

In 2001, Albers began racing in the DTM series for Mercedes-Benz. He quickly became a top driver. In 2003, he finished second overall, winning four races. He was very close to winning the championship that year. In 2004, he again competed for the championship lead and finished third.

In December 2007, Christijan Albers returned to the DTM series. He tested for the Audi-team of Futurecom TME. He was confirmed as a race driver for Futurecom TME in 2008. He raced alongside Katherine Legge in an Audi A4 DTM car. Albers is the most successful Dutch driver in the DTM series.

Formula One Career

Driving for Minardi (2005)

Albers driving for Minardi at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix.

While racing in DTM, Albers also worked as a test driver for the Minardi Formula One team. In November 2004, he was very fast in a Minardi test session. The team chose him to race in the Formula One World Championship in 2005. At the 2005 United States Grand Prix, he scored his first championship points by finishing fifth. Only six drivers started that race.

Racing for Midland and Spyker F1 (2006–2007)

Albers driving the Midland M16 during the 2006 United States Grand Prix.

On October 31, 2005, Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland was the new name for the Jordan team. They started racing in the 2006 Formula One season.

Albers started the 2006 season well. He was often faster than his Midland teammate Tiago Monteiro. At the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, Albers was involved in a crash with Yuji Ide. His car rolled over many times, but he was incredibly unharmed. Ide was later punished for dangerous driving.

Albers driving at Silverstone after Spyker's purchase of the team.

Albers driving for Spyker F1 at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

After the Midland team was bought by Spyker Cars, it was confirmed that Albers would drive for the Spyker F1 team in 2007. It was later revealed that Albers had signed a contract with Midland F1 before the sale. His personal sponsors also played a big part in Spyker buying the team.

In early 2007, his new teammate Adrian Sutil often performed better than him. At Magny-Cours, Albers made a mistake during a pit stop. He drove off with part of the fuel hose still attached to his car. He was glad no one was hurt, but he received a €5,000 penalty for dangerous driving.

On July 10, 2007, Spyker ended his contract. This was because of a lack of sponsorship money. The team needed the money for car development. Team owner Michiel Mol said it was a very hard decision. Markus Winkelhock replaced him for one race, and then Sakon Yamamoto raced for Spyker for the rest of the year. Albers later returned to drive for the Spyker team at a street racing event in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Leading the Caterham F1 Team (2014)

On July 2, 2014, Tony Fernandes sold the Caterham F1 Team. Christijan Albers was then made the team principal and CEO. He managed the team every day until Caterham faced financial difficulties after the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Sportscar Racing

On October 9, 2008, it was announced that Albers would race with Audi Sport North America. He drove in the American Le Mans Series. He finished second in his first race with the team. He then moved to the Le Mans Series for the 2009 season. He joined the Audi team run by Colin Kolles.

Helmet Design

Albers' helmet design

Albers' racing helmet was orange with many black dots. Later, he changed the design to have black as the main color with orange dots.

Career as TV Analyst

Since 2022, Albers has been a Formula One analyst for the Dutch sports broadcaster Viaplay. He shares his racing knowledge with viewers. Other analysts on the channel include former Formula One driver Giedo van der Garde and Tom Coronel.

Racing Record

Career Summary

See also

In Spanish: Christijan Albers para niños