Heinz-Harald Frentzen

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Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Born	18 1967 (1967-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) {{{birth_place}}}
Died	{{{death_date}}} {{{death_place}}}
Formula One career
Nationality	German
Years	1994–2003

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

|} Heinz-Harald Frentzen (also known as 'HHF'), (born May 18, 1967, in Mönchengladbach) is a German racing driver most famous for his career in Formula One. At various times driving for Williams, Jordan, Sauber, Prost, and Arrows, he achieved three race wins before his retirement from F1 in 2003.

Early career

He was born in the West German city of Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia) to a German undertaker and a Spanish mother. After 5 years in Karting, at the age of 18 Frentzen entered the German Formula Ford 2000 series, in 1986. As in his karting career, he was funded and supported by his father (a funeral director) who also acted as both team boss and head mechanic. After two seasons in Formula Ford he was runner-up in the 1987 series, despite not participating in all races.

Frentzen progressed to German Formula Opel Lotus in 1988 in the Junior Team of former Formula One driver Jochen Mass, who had been impressed by Frentzen's performances in Formula Ford. Frentzen was champion of the German series in his first year, as well as participating in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries (in which he finished 6th). The next step was the German Formula 3 Championship in 1989, where Frentzen competed against many future stars including Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. At the time, there was a big push by Bernie Ecclestone to have a German driver in the Formula One World Championship, so the ONS (the German National Motorsports committee) decided to support both Frentzen and Schumacher. The ONS put up the reward of a Formula One test to the driver who first would take a victory in a Formula 3 race. This ultimately ended up being Schumacher, in a controversial race at Zeltweg, Austria in which Frentzen claimed Schumacher had forced him off the track. However, Schumacher did not get the Formula One test drive anyway; Karl Wendlinger won the German Formula 3 Championship and Frentzen became joint runner-up with Schumacher (the two finishing on identical points totals).

Formula One

Sauber (1994–1996)

Frentzen driving for Sauber at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

In 1994 Frentzen was given a Formula One drive by Peter Sauber in a Mercedes powered car, as team mate to Wendlinger. So impressive was he that Frank Williams asked him to replace Ayrton Senna at Williams after the Brazilian's death, but Frentzen chose to remain with Sauber and his performances helped to maintain the team's momentum after Karl Wendlinger was seriously injured at Monaco. The following year in the now Ford-powered Sauber he got his first podium finish at the Italian Grand Prix and ended the year 9th in the Drivers Championship. However, the 1996 Sauber was unreliable, with many races ending in retirements and Frentzen dropping down the order, though he was one of only four drivers running at the end of that year's chaotic, rain-soaked Monaco Grand Prix. The race was won by Olivier Panis.

Williams (1997–1998)

Frentzen driving for Williams

For the 1997 season, Frentzen replaced Damon Hill at the Williams-Renault team that had won the drivers' championship three times since 1992. At the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, Frentzen went into the lead at the first corner and remained there until his first pit stop. He was running third late in the race when a brake disc exploded, throwing him off the circuit and into retirement. He came back strongly in round four to take his first win at San Marino but the season was disappointing; after the family-atmosphere at Sauber Frentzen found life at Williams difficult, in particular having a troubled relationship with Patrick Head. Despite qualifying for many races on the front row he had a tendency to drift back in the race, usually finishing well behind team mate Jacques Villeneuve. However, because of Michael Schumacher's disqualification from the driver's championship Frentzen ended up second in the championship with 42 points to team mate Villeneuve's 81 having scored just a single win to Villeneuve's seven.

The next year Williams lost the Renault engine instead using a rebranded version called Mecachrome, they also lost Adrian Newey to McLaren and found themselves on the back foot. Nevertheless Frentzen started well finishing third in the opening race. However the might of McLaren and Ferrari shone through and it was obvious that Williams would struggle to keep pace.

The Australian Grand Prix was the highlight of Frentzen's year as the Williams lost pace. He ended up with just 17 points for his efforts, his team mate on just four more. Frentzen and Villeneuve were replaced by Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher for 1999.

Jordan (1999–2001) and Prost (2001)

Frentzen driving for Jordan at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix, during his most successful season in F1.

In 1999 Frentzen moved to Jordan in a straight swap with Ralf Schumacher and enjoyed probably the best season of his career in the Mugen-Honda powered car, with two race wins including a memorable French Grand Prix and scoring points in the majority of races. Frentzen finished third in the Driver Championship and was regarded by many as the driver of the year.

Frentzen driving for Arrows at the 2002 French Grand Prix.

2000 and 2001 were critical years as Honda also began to supply the BAR team, resulting in a race between the teams as to who would secure the regular engine supply. In 2000 Frentzen managed two podiums, which were the best results for the team, but Jordan still finished down the grid and, crucially, behind BAR. After some low points finishes, injury, disagreements about the technical direction of the team (Frentzen reportedly offered to pay for the changes to fix the car, out of his own pocket) and then a string of retirements half way through the 2001 season, Jordan sacked Frentzen and replaced him with Jean Alesi. Frentzen took Alesi's place at the struggling Prost team, and managed to qualify a brilliant fourth at Spa, before the outfit collapsed financially at the end of the season.

Arrows (2002) and Sauber (2003)

Frentzen driving for Sauber at the 2003 French Grand Prix.

2002 saw Frentzen drive for the Arrows team. He put in some impressive performances, scoring points on two occasions and outpacing both the Jaguars who ran the same engine. But the team went bankrupt in August and Frentzen was released from his contract. Back with Sauber for 2003, after a one-off drive replacing Felipe Massa at the 2002 United States Grand Prix, Frentzen managed a mini-renaissance, proving himself more than a match for his highly-rated team mate Nick Heidfeld and even scoring a podium finish in the penultimate race of the year in the United States.

DTM

Frentzen driving for Audi (Abt) in the 2006 DTM season.

For 2004, Frentzen moved to the German DTM saloon car series to drive for Opel, encouraged by the success achieved in the series by fellow F1 refugee Jean Alesi. Unfortunately his Opel Vectra was not a competitive car, and he was regularly outpaced by not only the Audi and Mercedes drivers but also by his Opel teammates, eventually finishing the season 14th in the championship standings. However he remained in the DTM with Opel for the 2005 season and finished the year in 8th as best-placed Opel driver, with his best result a 3rd place from pole position at Brno in the Czech Republic.

After Opel withdrew after the 2005 season, Frentzen joined Audi for 2006. He would finish 3rd at the first race of the season at Hockenheim and again at the 8th race of the season at Barcelona. Frentzen finished the season 7th in the final standings and quit the team stating he had "no support from the team".

Recent activity

HHF Hybrid Concept Car (Gumpert Apollo)

In April 2008, Frentzen drove the Bahrain race in the Speedcar Series of the 2007/2008 season and later on joined the Speedcar Series for the complete 2008/2009 season.

He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Aston Martin Racing driving one of the two factory Aston Martin DBR9s with Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini in the GT1 class. His team finished 4th in class and 16th overall.

Also in 2008, Frentzen built the HHF Hybrid Concept Car which he entered in the 24 Hours Nürburgring with his own Team. The chassis was a bought Gumpert Apollo road car with a 3.3 litre V8 bi-turbo with 520 hp and an electric motor with approximately 136 hp. Frentzen finished the race but was not classified due to two conventional gearbox failures.

In 2011, Frentzen won a special one-off 'ROC Legends' race against Hans-Joachim Stuck, Marc Duez and Stig Blomqvist as part of the 2011 Race of Champions.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1990	Eddie Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	DON Ret	SIL Ret	PAU Ret	JER 17	MNZ Ret	PER 5	HOC 6	BRH 7	BIR Ret	BUG Ret	NOG DNQ	18th	3
1991	Vortex Motorsport	Lola T91/50	Mugen Honda	VAL Ret	PAU Ret	JER 12	MUG 6	PER 5	HOC DNQ	BRH 12	SPA 5	BUG Ret	NOG Ret		14th	5

Complete Formula One results

(key) (races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1994	Sauber Mercedes	Sauber C13	Mercedes 2175B 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	PAC 5	SMR 7	MON DNS	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 4	GBR 7	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	EUR 6	JPN 6	AUS 7		13th	7
1995	Red Bull Sauber Ford	Sauber C14	Ford ECA Zetec-R 3.0 V8	BRA Ret	ARG 5	SMR 6	ESP 8	MON 6	CAN Ret	FRA 10	GBR 6	GER Ret	HUN 5	BEL 4	ITA 3	POR 6	EUR Ret	PAC 7	JPN 8	AUS Ret	9th	15
1996	Red Bull Sauber Ford	Sauber C15	Ford JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10	AUS 8	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 4	ESP 4	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER 8	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 7	JPN 6		12th	7
1997	Rothmans Williams Renault	Williams FW19	Renault RS9 3.0 V10	AUS 8	BRA 9	ARG Ret	SMR 1	MON Ret	ESP 8	CAN 4	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA 3	AUT 3	LUX 3	JPN 2	EUR 6	2nd	42
1998	Winfield Williams	Williams FW20	Mecachrome GC37-01 V10	AUS 3	BRA 5	ARG 9	SMR 5	ESP 8	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 15	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER 9	HUN 5	BEL 4	ITA 7	LUX 5	JPN 5		7th	17
1999	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan 199	Mugen Honda MF-301 HD 3.0 V10	AUS 2	BRA 3	SMR Ret	MON 4	ESP Ret	CAN 11	FRA 1	GBR 4	AUT 4	GER 3	HUN 4	BEL 3	ITA 1	EUR Ret	MAL 6	JPN 4		3rd	54
2000	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan EJ10	Mugen Honda MF-301 HD 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA 3	SMR Ret	GBR 17	ESP 6	EUR Ret	MON 10	CAN Ret	FRA 7	AUT Ret								9th	11
		Jordan EJ10B	Mugen Honda MF-301 HE 3.0 V10											GER Ret	HUN 6	BEL 6	ITA Ret	USA 3	JPN Ret	MAL Ret
2001	Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda	Jordan EJ11	Honda RA001E 3.0 V10	AUS 5	MAL 4	BRA 11	SMR 6	ESP Ret	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN	EUR Ret	FRA 8	GBR 7	GER						13th	6
	Prost Acer	Prost AP04	Acer 3.0 V10													HUN Ret	BEL 9	ITA Ret	USA 10	JPN 12
2002	Orange Arrows	Arrows A23	Cosworth CR-3 3.0 V10	AUS DSQ	MAL 11	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 6	AUT 11	MON 6	CAN 13	EUR 13	GBR Ret	FRA DNQ	GER Ret	HUN	BEL	ITA			18th	2
	Sauber Petronas	Sauber C21	Petronas 02A 3.0 V10																USA 13	JPN
2003	Sauber Petronas	Sauber C22	Petronas 03A 3.0 V10	AUS 6	MAL 9	BRA 5	SMR 11	ESP Ret	AUT DNS	MON Ret	CAN Ret	EUR 9	FRA 12	GBR 12	GER Ret	HUN Ret	ITA 13	USA 3	JPN Ret		11th	13

Complete DTM results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2004	OPC Team Holzer	Opel Vectra GTS V8 2004	HOC1 11	EST 12	ADR 12	LAU Ret	NOR Ret	SHA* 7	NÜR Ret	OSC 14	ZAN Ret	BRN 6	HOC2 12	14th	3
2005	OPC Team Holzer	Opel Vectra GTS V8 2005	HOC1 Ret	LAU1 14	SPA 15	BRN 3	OSC 14	NOR 6	NÜR 12	ZAN 3	LAU2 7	IST Ret	HOC2 18	8th	17
2006	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2006	HOC1 3	LAU 13	OSC 4	BRA 17	NOR 11	NÜR 6	ZAN 5	CAT 3	BUG 10	HOC2 14		7th	24

* A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1992	C1	4	M	Lola T92/10 Judd GV10 3.5L V10	Euro Racing	Charles Zwolsman, Sr. Shunji Kasuya	271	13th	6th
2008	GT1	007	M	Aston Martin DBR9 Aston Martin 6.0L V12	Aston Martin Racing	Andrea Piccini Karl Wendlinger	339	16th	4th

External links

• Heinz-Harald Frentzen Official website
• Hybrid Racing AG Official website

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.