Nationality: German
Born: 1967
Races: 80
Debut: Brazil 1994
Teams: Sauber (‘94-’96), Williams (‘97-’98), Jordan ('99-)
Current Team: Jordan |
Frentzen’s first break into single seater racing was in 1988 when he drove in the Formula Ford GM Euroseries. After giving the young Mika Hakkinen a hard time in the final two races, Heinz-Harald moved to German Formula 3, in which he finished in second place behind Karl Wendlinger but ahead of Michael Schumacher.
In 1990, he moved into F3000, while driving sports cars at the same time with Mercedes who groomed him for racing. However, despite high finishes, he was not propelled up into F1, so in 1992, he moved across Asia to Japanese F3000. Good form here eventually saw him land a drive with Sauber Mercedes, the engine suppliers having followed him since he left sports car racing.
Three years at the cautious Swiss team, who lost Mercedes’ backing in 1995, taught him about racing against superior machinery, and in 1997 he moved to Williams as a replacement for World Champion Damon Hill.
During the two years that he raced for them, he only saw one win and for 1999 surrendered his place to the long fought for Ralf Schumacher. In 1999 he moved to Jordan alongside the ageing Hill.
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