Christian Vietoris

Christian Johannes Vietoris ( , ; born 1 April 1989) is a German retired racing driver. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, most recently for HWA Team. Vietoris has also been a part of the revitalized Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, together with Robert Wickens and Roberto Merhi. Vietoris made his debut in the DTM in 2011, driving for Persson Motorsport, before being promoted to HWA for the 2012 DTM season.

Career Karting

Vietoris started his career through karting, the most common entry point for all racing drivers, in 1994. Nine years after starting his karting career, the young German was the national Junior Kart champion and a year later came second Western German Karting Championship.

Formula BMW

In 2005, Vietoris moved up to Formula BMW ADAC with Eifelland Racing. Vietoris finished his first FBMW campaign sixteenth in the Drivers' Championship with fifteen points, sharing his position with fellow German Dominik Wasem. In 2006, Vietoris moved to Josef Kaufmann Racing, where he won the Drivers' Championship with 277 points and taking nine race wins, his nearest rival being Finland's Mika Mäki. As well as his German FBMW title, Vietoris won the Formula BMW World Final, ahead of other FBMW champions such as Robert Wickens, the 2006 US FBMW champion, and the British Formula BMW champion, Niall Breen, winning himself a test for the BMW Sauber F1 team.

Following his impressive performances in Formula BMW, Vietoris was picked by A1 Team Germany to replace Nico Hülkenberg for the Mexican round of the 2006–07 season.

Formula Three

Vietoris competing at the opening round of the 2008 Formula Three Euroseries season at Hockenheim. In 2007, Vietoris competed in the ATS Formel 3 Cup for Josef Kaufmann Racing, finishing in fifth. He moved on to the Formula Three Euroseries in 2008 for Mücke Motorsport. He had a solid season, ending up eighth in the championship with one win coming at the Norisring. He set a pair of fastest laps – at Mugello and Brands Hatch – and was on pole at the Nürburgring.

Vietoris continued in the F3 Euroseries in 2009 with Mücke Motorsport, finishing as runner-up to the dominant Jules Bianchi. Vietoris won four races over the course of the season, adding a further four podiums and a fastest lap at Brands once again, as he helped keep Mücke in contention for the teams title until he left for GP2 Asia.

GP2 series Vietoris missed the final round of the F3 Euroseries season to join up with the DAMS team for a GP2 Asia Series test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. He raced in the 2009–10 season for the team. He moved to Racing Engineering for the 2010 main series, winning one race en route to ninth place in the drivers' championship. He missed the final round of the season due to appendicitis; his seat was taken by Ho-Pin Tung.

Vietoris remained with Racing Engineering for the 2011 GP2 Series season, alongside Dani Clos. After crashing heavily during the first round of the season at Istanbul, he complained of recurring headaches and was replaced by Álvaro Parente until he recovered and returned to the cockpit in Valencia. At Spa-Francorchamps, he took his first series pole position and converted it into victory, also setting his first fastest lap in the process. He also won the sprint race finale at Monza, rising to seventh in the drivers' championship.

DTM

Vietoris made his debut in the DTM, dovetailing his 2011 GP2 campaign with a season driving a Persson Motorsport Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. His best result as a rookie was a 5th place at Oschersleben. Another highlight was reaching the semi-final at the non-points Showevent at the Olympic Stadium in München.

On 3 April 2012, Mercedes announced the revival of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team that has guided several notable drivers in their racing careers like Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher. With that announcement came the news that Vietoris, together with the reigning Formula 3 Euroseries champion Roberto Merhi and the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Robert Wickens, would become a part of the new Junior Team and that the three of them would drive for the Junior Team in the 2012 DTM season.

Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher was to be involved with the three drivers by serving as a mentor. Driving under the Junior Team-moniker meant for Vietoris that he would switch teams for his sophomore season in the DTM, trading in his place at Persson Motorsport for the elite team of Mercedes in the DTM, HWA Team, replacing Bruno Spengler, who left Mercedes for BMW.

Records Vietoris is the youngest driver ever to win an A1 Grand Prix race. He took the chequered flag during the 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand at Taupo Motorsport Park at just 18 years, nine months and 19 days old, beating the previous record for youngest A1GP winner by exactly five months. That record was held by the team's former driver, Nico Hülkenberg, who won on his debut at Zandvoort in 2006.

Racing record Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2008 Mücke Motorsport Dallara F308/050 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 MUG1 MUG2 PAU1 PAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRH1 BRH2 CAT1 CAT2 BUG1 BUG2 HOC1 HOC2 6th 36 2009 Mücke Motorsport Dallara F308/050 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRH1 BRH2 CAT1 CAT2 DIJ1 DIJ2 HOC1 HOC2 2nd 75 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2006–07 Germany NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA GBRSPR GBRSPR 1st 128 2007–08 NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA ZHUSPR ZHUFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA SHASPR SHAFEA GBRSPR GBRSPR 8th 83

Complete GP2 series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2010 Racing Engineering CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 9th 29 2011 Racing Engineering ISTFEA ISTSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 7th 35

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete DTM results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points 2011 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 HOC ZAN SPL LAU NOR NÜR BRH OSC VAL HOC 14th 4 2012 HWA Team DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC LAU BRH SPL NOR NÜR ZAN OSC VAL HOC 12th 25 2013 HWA Team DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC BRH SPL LAU NOR MSC NÜR OSC ZAN HOC 4th 77 2014 HWA Team DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC OSC HUN NOR MSC SPL NÜR LAU ZAN HOC 4th 69 2015 HWA AG DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 SPL1 SPL2 MSC1 MSC2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 16th 56 2016 Mercedes-Benz DTM Team Mücke Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM HOC1 HOC2 SPL1 SPL2 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 MSC1 MSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HUN1 HUN2 HOC1 HOC2 14th 60 † Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 75% of the winner's race distance.