Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was one of the three young drivers Mercedes developed in sports prototypes in the early nineties, alongside Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. Born in Mönchengladbach in 1967, he reached Formula 1 in 1994 with Sauber, where over three seasons he made it clear he had more pace than car. His first podium came at Monza in 1995.

In 1997 Williams chose him to replace Damon Hill, the reigning champion. He won at Imola, scored seven podiums and finished second in the championship, although that result carries an asterisk: it came after Schumacher was disqualified from the standings. Alongside Jacques Villeneuve, who took the title, he never quite settled, and in 1999 he swapped Williams for Jordan.

That was the best year of his career. He won in France in the rain and at Monza, and reached the final stretch with a real chance of fighting Häkkinen and Irvine for the title. He finished third, the best championship position any Jordan driver has ever achieved. After that it was downhill: Jordan dropped him midway through 2001, he moved on to Prost and to an Arrows team that folded mid-season, and he said goodbye in 2003 with Sauber, the team where he started, finishing third at Indianapolis from fifteenth on the grid.

Three wins and eighteen podiums sum up a fast driver who almost always reached the good teams a year too late.