Robert Doornbos

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Doornbos's path to Formula One began after he was invited to the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix as a guest of Williams F1, where 1997 Champion Jacques Villeneuve suggested he try Formula Ford. He gave up tennis and finished second in the Opel Lotus UK Winter series with four wins. After Formula 3 and Formula 3000 success — including Rookie of the Year in 2004 with Arden International — Doornbos became Friday test driver for Jordan in 2004. He was appointed as a Minardi race driver from the 2005 German Grand Prix onwards, replacing Patrick Friesacher. Effectively, Doornbos became Minardi's last Formula One driver, since the team was bought by Red Bull just before the Belgian Grand Prix. For 2006, he was appointed test and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing, and after the Italian Grand Prix, when Christian Klien was dropped, Doornbos was promoted to the second race driver role alongside David Coulthard for the remaining three races.

In Their Own Story

At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, Doornbos was involved in a controversial incident with Fernando Alonso, which resulted in the Spaniard incurring a two-second qualifying penalty. Then, after the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing announced that Klien had been dropped from the team, and Doornbos was promoted to the second race driver role alongside Coulthard for the remaining three races. He entered with a bang by qualifying in the top-ten for his first race, in China. However, he touched Robert Kubica at the first corner during the race and the delay restricted him to 12th place at the finish. On 15 August 2006, Doornbos made the news with a fundraiser for the children of the 'Stichting Geluk en Vrijheid' (Foundation Happiness and Freedom). At a speed of 326 km/h (204 mph), he drove his Red Bull Formula One Car over the highway A7 on the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands.

Reader's Guide

Robert Doornbos spent most of 2006 as Red Bull Racing's test and reserve driver, testing at the racetracks on Fridays, ready to step into a race drive if either David Coulthard or Christian Klien were unable to race. In the majority of the Grand Prix tests on Fridays, he was to be found in the top-ten, and a number of times he achieved a top-three time. After the Italian Grand Prix, when Red Bull Racing announced that Klien had been dropped from the team, Doornbos was promoted to the second race driver role alongside Coulthard for the remaining three races. He qualified in the top-ten for his first race in China, but touched Robert Kubica at the first corner and finished 12th. Doornbos was subsequently signed as one of the team's test drivers for 2007, alongside Michael Ammermüller, with Coulthard and Mark Webber taking the race seats. In his role as Formula One test and racing driver, Doornbos was given several demonstrations, including driving a Formula One car on public roads twice in the Netherlands.

Did You Know?

• Doornbos became Minardi's last Formula One driver, since the team was bought by Red Bull just before the Belgian Grand Prix.
• In his first Formula One race, at the 2005 German Grand Prix, he collided with Jacques Villeneuve — the man who had advised him to start his career as a race driver.
• Doornbos drove his Red Bull Formula One car at 326 km/h (204 mph) over the highway A7 on the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands as a fundraiser.
• He and Christijan Albers would have become the first all-Dutch team line-up since 1962, but Doornbos raced with a Monegasque licence.
• Doornbos qualified in the top-ten for his first race as a Red Bull Racing driver, the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.