Profile of Alexander Wurz on Famous Like Me

Alexander Wurz was born on 15 February 1974 at Waidhofen/Thaya in Lower Austria as the second son of former rallycross ace Franz Wurz (European Rallycross Champion 1974, 1976 and 1982). Alex first tasted competition in the BMX World Championship and won it outright in 1986. This gave him an underlying physical fitness suitable for motor racing. He became the youngest ever winner of Le Mans, before moving up to Formula One. As of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, he has participated in 53 grands prix, scoring a total of 32 championship points. His debut was on June 15, 1997, filling in for fellow Austrian, Gerhard Berger. He impressed with a podium position in just his third race and was rewarded with a full race seat for the following season. He spent the following three seasons driving for Benetton during which time it appeared that he was often outperformed by his team mate, Giancarlo Fisichella. Unable to find a race seat at a leading team for 2001, he took on the role of third (ie, test) driver for McLaren. This is a role he has performed with distinction ever since. At various times he has been linked in rumours to a return to a full race seat. His large size for a Formula One driver has perhaps been a factor which has not helped.

In April 2005, with Juan Pablo Montoya injured, Wurz drove strongly for McLaren in the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, finishing fourth in the race, but taking third place after both BAR-Honda drivers were disqualified.

Complete Formula One results

(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)

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