DECEMBER 12, 2003

Goodbye Heinz-Harald

Heinz-Harald Frentzen has known for some time that he was not going to be in Formula 1 in 2004 but the news was not confirmed until today when it was announced that the German will be racing for the Opel factory team in the DTM. The 36-year-old will encounter some of his old F1 adversaries there, notably Jean Alesi, who drives for the rival Mercedes-Benz team.

A veteran of 157 Grands Prix, Frentzen won races for Williams in 1997 and Jordan in 1999 and was runner-up in the World Championship in 1997 (after Michael Schumacher was thrown out of the championship result).

Frentzen started his F1 career in 1994 with Sauber before making his breakthrough at the highest level with Williams in 1997. He then moved on to Jordan but the relationship turned sour in 2001 and there followed lengthy legal action. Heinz-Harald had less than satisfactory times with Prost and Arrows but ended his career on the upswing with Sauber once again, his best result this year being third at Indianapolis.