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Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen
H-HFrentzen.jpg
Frentzen at Brands Hatch, 2006
Born (1967-05-18) 18 May 1967 (age 49)
Mönchengladbach, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Germany German
Active years 19942003
Teams Sauber, Williams, Jordan, Prost, Arrows
Entries 160 (156 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 3
Podiums 18
Career points 174
Pole positions 2
Fastest laps 6
First entry 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
First win 1997 San Marino Grand Prix
Last win 1999 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry 2003 Japanese Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 1992, 2008
Teams Euro Racing
Aston Martin Racing
Best finish 13th (1992)
Class wins 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 1992, 2008
Teams Euro Racing
Aston Martin Racing
Best finish 13th (1992)
Class wins 0

Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born 18 May 1967), nicknamed "HHF", is a German former racing driver. He finished runner-up in the 1997 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, driving for Williams.

Frentzen was born on 18 May 1967 in the West German city of Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia) to Heinrich-Harald Frentzen, a German undertaker and his wife Angela, a Spanish mother. He has two sisters, Sylvia, a theologian, Sonia, a teacher and two half-sisters Samantha, a former student and Nicole-Nadine. His family was connected to motorsport; his father raced between 1950 and 1957. Frentzen's parents divorced when he was eight years old and his father subsequently married Mexican-born Arazelli while Angela returned to Spain.

Frentzen began karting at the age of twelve, after his father brought him his first kart, and made an extraordinarily successful start. In 1981, aged fourteen, Frentzen won the German Junior Kart Championship. Two years later, Frentzen entered the CIK Asia Pacific Championships in Australia driving a Dino although he did not finish. In 1984, he finished runner-up in the 100cc class. He was funded and supported by his father—a funeral director—who also acted as both team boss and head mechanic.

In 1986, Frentzen moved into car racing by entering the German Formula Ford 2000 series. 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 and his teammate Marco Werner finished third in the championship. He also participated in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries, where he finished 6th in the championship, scoring 56 points.

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).


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