Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is a German former racing driver. He finished runner-up in the 1997 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, driving for Williams. He was funded and supported by his father, a funeral director. He is married to German entrepreneur and businesswoman Angela Lladosa.

About Heinz-Harald Frentzen in brief

Summary Heinz-Harald FrentzenHeinz-Harald Frentzen is a German former racing driver. He finished runner-up in the 1997 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, driving for Williams. He was funded and supported by his father, a funeral director. He has two sisters and two half-sisters. His father raced between 1950 and 1957; his mother is a Spanish-born entrepreneur. Frenten’s father divorced when he was eight years old and his father subsequently married Mexican-born Arazelli while Angela returned to Spain. He began karting at the age of twelve, after his father brought him his first kart, and made an extraordinarily successful start. In 1981, aged 14, he won the German Junior Kart Championship. In 1985, he moved into car racing by entering the German Formula Ford 2000 series. In 1988, he progressed to German Formula Opel Lotus in 1988 in the Junior Team of former Formula One driver Jochen Mass. In 1989, he competed against many future stars including Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. In 1994 he was given a Formula One drive by Peter Sauber in a Mercedes powered car. 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.

For the 1997 season, he replaced Damon Hill at the Williams-Renault team, which had won the drivers’ championship three times since 1992. Despite qualifying for many races on the front row, he had a tendency to drift back in the race, usually finishing well behind teammate Jacques Villeneuve. The next year he lost the works Renault engine instead using a re-branded version called Mecachrome. He took his first win off the circuit at the San Marino Grand Prix when a brake disc exploded, throwing him into retirement. He ended up second in the championship with 81 points, having scored one win to Villeneueve’s seven. He also participated in the World Sports Prototype Championship driving a Mercedes-Benz C11 scoring one podium and six points. In the same year, he also scored five points in International Formula 3000, moving to Vortex Motorsport and scoring 5 points in that year’s series. He is married to German entrepreneur and businesswoman Angela Lladosa.