Robert Doornbos

Whilst most of his peers in their teens were learning their trade in karts merely dreaming of making it to Formula 1, Doornbos was happily hitting tennis balls at national level in his native Holland, no doubt inspired by the deeds of his countryman Richard Krajick, who had taken the Men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1996. However, an invitation to attend the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix as a guest of Williams, found Robert immediately smitten on motor racing and his sporting ambitions were henceforth channelled away from the tennis court and onto the race track.

Finishing runner-up in the 1999 Opel Lotus UK Winter Series (taking four wins) showed an undoubted aptitude for motor sport and the following season Doornbos competed in the Belgian Formula Ford Zetec Championship, once again finishing second overall. Robert then opted to move up the Scholarship class of the British F3 where he showed, on occasion, the speed to defeat the opposition notching two wins. However the young Dutchman also had his fair share of incidents and could manage no better than fifth in the final points standings, a long way behind champion Robbie Kerr.

Instead of graduating to senior F3 class in Britain, Doornbos returned to Europe to find a place with Team Ghinzani in the German F3 series. Although an outright win proved elusive, he did manage a couple of second-place finishes when pitted against the likes of Gary Paffett, and Timo Glock, eventually taking eleventh place overall. Remaining with the team, this time in the Formula 3 Euro Series, Robert's season opened with a fine second place behind Ryan Briscoe at the season-opener in Hockenheim, but thereafter he only found occasional podiums. Without doubt his most pleasing result was a second on aggregate in the Korean Super Prix at the end of the year.

Motor racing is all about being in the right team at the right time and Doornbos shrewdly accepted the role of number two-driver to Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Arden International squad to contest the 2004 International F3000 Championship. In a tightly knit outfit, the Dutchman, although overshadowed by his more experienced Italian team mate, was extremely competitive and took third place in the Championship the highlight of which was a win in the wet at Spa after gambling on a late set-up change just before the race.
Already eyeing an opportunity to break into Formula 1, Robert seized the chance to replace Giorgio Pantano at Jordan for the final two races of the year where he took on the role of Friday tester with relish.

Electing not to compete in the newly introduced GP2 series to replace F3000 in 2005, Doornbos initially retained his reserve driver role at Jordan before the opportunity came to race for Minardi after Partick Friesacher ran out of cash. In joining his compatriot Christijan Albers at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in July, the pair became the first all-Dutch pairing to race together for a Grand Prix Team.

For 2006 Robert secured the third driver role at Red Bull and with it the chance for him to measure his progress against a proven yardstick in the shape of the experienced David Coulthard. When second driver Christian Klien’s performances failed to match the team’s expectations, Doornbos was promoted for the final three races of the season. The Dutchman performed respectfully enough, but the seat was already earmarked for Mark Webber in 2007.

The Dutchman has signed up as a test driver for Red Bull once more but, itching to get back to racing action, he also has plans to contest the Champ car series.