Who is Christijan Albers?

Christijan Albers was born on April 16th, 1979 in Eindhoven, a city in the south east of the Netherlands known for its electrical industry. Like almost every Formula One driver, Albers began his racing career in Karting. In 1997, in addition to winning the Dutch National Kart Championship (ICA 100cc), the youngster, won the Benelux Formula Ford 1800 Championship, in addition to the Renault Megan Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.

Christijan Albers moved up to the German F3 series in 1998 finishing 5th after two victories. One year later, the Dutchman won the title after winning six races and 10 pole positions.Albers made the switch to F3000 in 2000, competing for the European Arrows Junior Team, but he only stayed one year in F3000.

Albers made the switch to DTM in 2001 and also tested for the first time with the Minardi Formula One team. In 2002 Christijan Albers remained in DTM, driving for Team Rosberg and in addition taking part in further test for the Minardi F1 Team.

In 2003, the Dutchman moved to the HWA DTM Team, and won his first DTM race at Adria, followed by wins at Nurburgring, Norisring and Zandvoort. Albers finished the season as runner-up, he missed the title by just 4 points. A lot of rumours were going on that Albers would move to F1 in 2004, but Albers remained in DTM.
In November 2004, it was announced that Christijan Albers was going to test for the Jordan Team. A month later, on December 23, Albers signed to the Minardi F1 Team.

Despite the limitations of the equipment at his disposal, Christijan Albers gave a fairly good account of himself in 2005, though he definitely found the competition a little harder once compatriot, Robert Doornbos, arrived. For the first eleven rounds of the season, the Dutch driver was partnered by Austrian Friesacher, who, in qualifying, kept the Dutchman on his toes. However, in the races it was Albers who appeared to hold the upper hand, getting the car home, when not sidelined by technical failures, whilst Friesacher frequently ended up in the gravel. When the Austrian's money ran out, Minardi called on the services of Jordan test driver Robert Doornbos. Doornbos was an altogether different kind of driver, and pushed Albers very hard. Although Albers had the qualifying pace, Doornbos drove the better race.

For the upcoming season, Albers has joined the Midland F1 Team, where he'll team up with last season's 'Rookie of the year' Tiago Monteiro.