Robert Doornbos: Dutch Driver Across Formula One, Champ Car and IndyCar

Robert Doornbos is a Dutch former driver from Rotterdam whose career spanned Formula One, Champ Car and IndyCar. Competing on a Monegasque licence, he took outings with Minardi and Red Bull Racing across 2005 and 2006, and two Champ Car victories followed in 2007. Superleague Formula, A1 Grand Prix and a 2009 IndyCar stint completed the list.

Who is Robert Doornbos?

Robert Michael Doornbos is a Dutch former racer who was born in Rotterdam in 1981. His Formula One work came with Minardi and Red Bull in 2005 and 2006, and he took Champ Car wins in 2007. Later came Superleague Formula, A1 Grand Prix and IndyCar drives.

He started as a tennis player, and his route to a Formula One cockpit ran through Formula Ford, Formula Three and Formula 3000. He acted as a test and third driver at Jordan and Red Bull before getting race seats.

A tennis player turned Formula Ford driver who won two Champ Car races in his first season, then struggled to hold on to a seat.

How did Doornbos get from tennis into racing?

Doornbos was a tennis player first. A 1998 invitation to the Belgian Grand Prix as a Williams F1 guest sparked his interest. The 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve advised him to try Formula Ford, as he was considered too big and too old for karts.

He gave up tennis and joined JR racing for the 1999 Opel Lotus UK Winter championship. He finished second in the title race, collecting four poles, four fastest laps and four victories.

In 2000 he moved into the Formula Ford Zetec Benelux series. He finished second in the Belgian title chase and fifth overall, adding a pole, three fastest laps and six podiums.

How did Doornbos perform in British and German Formula Three?

In 2001 Doornbos competed in the Scholarship class of British Formula Three with FGR Racing. He ended fifth with two poles, two wins and nine podiums, and a second place in the support race for the British Grand Prix brought him attention.

Next he moved to the German series run by Team Ghinzani. Four podiums came without a win, and a sixth-place finish in the Macau Grand Prix rounded out the period.

He stayed with Ghinzani into 2003 for the European Formula Three Championship, reaching the podium seven times. He also took pole for the Formula Three Masters at Spa-Francorchamps and finished second in Korea.

What did Doornbos achieve in Formula 3000?

Red Bull backed his step up to Arden International, the reigning International Formula 3000 champions, for the 2004 season. Vitantonio Liuzzi was his team-mate, and the rookie award came to Doornbos with a third-place championship finish.

He set one fastest lap and collected four podium finishes in the season, one of them a race win at Spa-Francorchamps.

Did Doornbos race in Formula One?

Yes. He worked as a Jordan test driver in 2004 and 2005, then raced eight Grands Prix for Minardi in 2005 and three in 2006 as a second driver for Red Bull Racing. Most of his race starts came in the second half of those seasons.

Shortly before the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, Jordan named him its official Friday test driver, replacing Timo Glock, who had been moved up to race duties after Giorgio Pantano's sponsorship support fell away. He impressed over the final races of 2004 and was kept on for 2005.

In 2005 he covered Friday running at nearly all of the first eleven events. Franck Montagny covered the European Grand Prix, and Jordan could not run a third car at Canada after overusing tyres at the previous race.

On 19 July 2005 Minardi appointed him as a race driver from the German Grand Prix, replacing Patrick Friesacher, whose sponsors had stopped paying. His first race for the team ended in a collision with Jacques Villeneuve, who had earlier encouraged him.

His best finishes for Minardi were 13th places in Turkey and Belgium. He would have been Christijan Albers's team-mate in the first all-Dutch line-up since 1962, when Carel Godin de Beaufort and Ben Pon shared a car for Ecurie Maarsbergen at the Dutch Grand Prix, but his Monegasque licence meant that was not the case.

Red Bull bought Minardi before the Belgian Grand Prix, so Doornbos became the last Formula One driver for the team in its earlier form. He retired on the final lap of the season finale, while Albers had gone out a few laps earlier.

How was Doornbos used at Red Bull Racing in 2006?

After Minardi was absorbed into Red Bull's set-up, Doornbos had no race seat for 2006. Christian Horner, his former Formula 3000 boss, had become Red Bull Racing's sporting director and gave him the test and reserve role. He spent most of the year on Friday track sessions, ready to step in if David Coulthard or Christian Klien could not race.

In most Friday sessions he was inside the top ten, and several times he set a top-three time. During the 2006 Hungarian weekend he was drawn into a dispute with Fernando Alonso that earned the Spaniard a qualifying penalty of two seconds.

After the Italian Grand Prix Red Bull dropped Christian Klien, and Doornbos took the second race seat alongside Coulthard for the final three races. In China he qualified in the top ten, but he made contact with Robert Kubica at the first corner and finished 12th.

He was then signed as a 2007 test driver, alongside Michael Ammermuller, while Coulthard and Mark Webber took the race seats.

He also took part in several demonstrations. In 2005 he joined the line-up for the Monaco aan de Maas event, held in his home city, Rotterdam. On 15 August 2006 he drove a Red Bull F1 car at 326 km/h (204 mph) over the A7 motorway on the Afsluitdijk, raising money for the Stichting Geluk en Vrijheid children's foundation.

How did Doornbos's 2007 Champ Car season go?

He took a Minardi Team USA seat for the 2007 Champ Car World Series after missing out on a Formula One drive. He finished second on debut at the Vegas Grand Prix, won at Mont-Tremblant and San Jose, and finished third in the points as Rookie of the Year.

At Vegas he qualified third and reached the podium on debut, something no rookie had managed since Nigel Mansell in 1993. At Cleveland a drive-through penalty probably cost him a first win, though he still came second behind Paul Tracy.

A week later he won at Mont-Tremblant in Canada and shared the championship lead with Sebastien Bourdais. ESPN's broadcast team then nicknamed him Bobby D, a name he reportedly liked.

He won at San Jose too. A first-lap accident at turn one took off his front wing, which pushed him onto an alternative pit plan that he exploited. He finished the year third in the points and claimed the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year award.

What happened to Doornbos after the Champ Car merger?

When Champ Car merged with IndyCar for 2008, the Minardi half of the operation stayed out, leaving HVM Racing as a one-car team and Doornbos without a drive. He declined seats with uncompetitive outfits while he looked for a better opportunity.

On 21 May 2008 he was announced to drive for A.C. Milan in Superleague Formula, a series in which the cars carry football club sponsorship. He finished third in the series' inaugural season.

In 2008-09 he and Jeroen Bleekemolen shared the Team Netherlands entry in A1 Grand Prix. They alternated races, the team finished fourth in the championship, and each driver won one sprint race.

How did Doornbos's 2009 IndyCar season go?

Doornbos joined Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the 2009 IndyCar Series without any experience on ovals. He started second at Kansas, his first oval race, and never finished lower than twelfth in his first three starts. He left the team in August, and a planned move to HVM Racing never materialised.

Fellow Dutchman Arie Luyendyk coached him on ovals. The Kansas grid position came about because Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves were disqualified for dipping below the white line in qualifying.

Alongside team-mate Graham Rahal, the team's cars claimed the first row, something not seen since Milwaukee in 2006. He held the lead for a spell, but on his stop under caution he touched a stationary tyre in the bay ahead, was penalised to the back and faded from contention.

On 4 August 2009 he announced on his website that he was leaving the team with immediate effect. The team agreement allowed a departure after 12 races, and he used that option. The next day he signed with HVM Racing for the rest of 2009, to run through 2010, but that agreement fell through.

What has Doornbos done since racing?

Doornbos is among the co-founders of Kiiroo, a Dutch firm that makes adult products. He also works as a Formula One analyst for Ziggo Sport, the Dutch broadcaster, drawing on his time in every category he raced in.

His broadcast work keeps him close to Formula One, while the company interest lies outside motorsport. Both roles reflect a career that moved from the cockpit into business and media.

What does Doornbos's racing record look like?