Upcoming F1 events
Pedro Martinez de la Rosa was born on February 24, 1971 in Barcelona, Spain. He joined F1 in 1998 as the test driver for the Jordan team. Pedro was the race driver of Arrows the next year and joined Jaguar in 2001 for 2 years.
After the 2003 season, de la Rosa was dropped by Jaguar and joined the McLaren Mercedes team as test driver. In 2006, he took over from Montoya in the half of the season.
Frenchman Alain Prost is a four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion. He raced in F1 from 1980 to 1993 and gathered 51 GP victories. Prost was nicknamed 'Le Professeur' for his intellectual approach to racing and his skills to setup the car perfectly for race conditions.
Shadow made its GP debut in 1973. The team would participate in 104 GPs between 1973 and 1980, with a best result a win in Austria (1977) by Alan Jones.
Dutchman Jos Verstappen was born in 1972 in Montfort, The Netherlands. Verstappen drove several full seasons for Footwork, Minardi, Stewart and Benetton
F1's world champion of 1963 and 1965 was born in Kilmany, Scotland, Great-Britain. Clark was a versatile driver who also won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965.
Clark was killed in a Formula Two accident at Hockenheim on 7 April 1968. At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver.
Thomas Maldwyn Pryce was a British Formula One racing driver from Wales. Tom drove 42 GP's and is the only Welshman to lead a Formula One Grand Prix: two laps of the 1975 British Grand Prix. Pryce's fatal accident involved him hitting a track marshall at around 270km/h. The 19-year old marshall who was crossing the track to help Renzo Zorzi who came to a halt across the pitlane. The marshall was immediately killed after being thrown meters high in the air. Together with him, Tom Pryce was decapitated by the fire extinguisher the marshall was carrying. Tom Pryce was 27 years old.
Considered as one of the greatest talents ever seen in Formula One, this Brazilian was born 21-03-1960 at Sao Paulo, Brasil. He won the championship in 1988, '90 and '91 with McLaren after driving for Toleman and Lotus. Ayrton died after crashing into a concrete wall at Imola, 1 may 1994. The crash was caused by a bump in the track that made the sensitive Williams lose all grip. As of that day, vast efforts have been made to make F1 safer by changing regulations and removing the Tamburello corner from the Imola circuit.
Leslie George Johnson was a British racing driver who competed in rallies, sports car races and Grand Prix races. He specialized in European endurance races such as Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. He also broke several world speed records for production sports cars.
He died 8 June 1959, aged 46, at Foxcote House, the family’s home in the village of Foxcote, Gloucestershire, England.
Gary Paffett was born on March 24, 1981 in Brombley, England. Paffett moved to F1 as test driver for McLaren Mercedes in 2006.
Didier Pironi was born in Villescresnes, Val-de-Marne, France. He competed in 72 Formula One Grand Prix, mostly for Ferrari and Tyrrell. He became runner up in the 1982 championship behind Keke Rosberg. Didier also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 driving a Renault Alpine A442B.
Pironi was killed on 23 August 1987 at Southampton, UK while racing power boats. Months later, his girlfriend gave birth to twins, naming them Didier and Gilles after Pironi and Villeneuve. Pironi was 35 years old.
David Coulthard was born in Twynholm, Scotland. He started his F1 career in 1994 with Williams where he stayed for two years. He joined McLaren in 1996 at the side of double world champion Mika Hakkinen (who won his titles in 1998 and 1999) and stayed there for 9 consecutive years. The Scott thereafter joined Red Bull to refuel his career with excellent performances.