Longtime fans remember Heinz-Harald Frentzen as one of the fastest drivers of his generation, a third Grand Prix winner, two pole winners and 18 podium finishes in teams such as Sauber, Williams and Jordan.
And connoisseurs of motorsport history will say that Frentzen was once considered no less talented than Michael Schumacher – this was more than 30 years ago, when they, like Karl Wendlinger, were members of the Mercedes youth program and performed in endurance races that took place as part of the World Sports Car Championship.
In 1997, Frentzen became vice world champion, in 1999, on behalf of Jordan, he took third place, but then his career began to decline, and in 2003, after parting with Formula 1, he spent a few more seasons in the DTM , competed in the Le Mans and Nürburgring marathons, in GT racing, and little has been heard of him in recent years. But this summer, Heinz-Harald made another appearance in the paddock and was invited to join the Beyond the Grid podcast on the championship’s official website.
“I hardly talk to people from the world of Formula 1, except that we accidentally crossed something with Sauber’s Beat Zender, and I’ve had several meetings with him,” said Frentzen. “Even though my sister is married to Nick Heidfeld’s brother, I don’t speak to him often either. You could say I live in isolation.
When we talk about my career in Formula 1, I start with the fact that I have nothing to complain about. I agree it could have been more successful, but still they were great times – now I remember them in this vein.
When I left F1 in 2003 I was a little sad because I didn’t like how it ended, but then I told myself I had every reason to be happy because, for example, I could survive all kinds of serious changes. , in Canada in 1999.”
In 1997 Heinz-Harald played for Williams, but at the end of the season he had almost half as many points as Jacques Villeneuve, his teammate who became world champion. Now Frentzen is ready to admit that the moment of his career, when he was on that team, was not the best.
“There were so many switches and buttons in the Williams car that the Sauber car didn’t have, and unlike Jacques I just didn’t know what they were for, didn’t know and didn’t understand how everything worked there,” he continued. the German veteran of Formula 1. The FW19 was much more complex than any vehicle I have dealt with before.
The beginning of the 1997 season was unsuccessful and everyone asked Frank Williams questions: why did he invite me to the team? And then I found out that Adrian Newey left Williams, among others, because Frank and Patrick Head decided to sign a contract with me without informing him.
Overall, I came to Williams at the wrong time. The pressure was very high, but that’s not even the point. At first I just couldn’t understand the car at all, and when I sort of figured it out, half a season had already passed.
Patrick Head was not easy to work with at all. He always had his own opinion, which he considered to be the only true one. And even when I got the first win at Imola, he was very upset because we and my engineer were using tactics that he didn’t like. But it was thanks to the tactics of a later pit stop that I was able to stay ahead of Michael Schumacher. To do this, I saved fuel on the first stretch, and Patrick wanted me to just kick the ground.
Of course, in the end he was happy that the team won, but he was not happy with the way we did it. Overall, that season with Williams was one of the hardest of my career. During two years with the team I realized that it’s not enough just to be fast; you need to understand all the features of the car and know how to act to increase the speed.
But we can say that racer Frentzen’s share prices fell slightly after the 1998 season. Few people were interested in working with me, and only Eddie Jordan approached me through my manager, and then only because he could get me for very little money. But he missed one important point: the basic amount of the contract was very modest, but we agreed that for every point I earned I was entitled to a generous prize.
At the end of the 1999 season I finished third with 54 points, and Eddie had to pay me a lot of money, but in the end everyone was happy. Someone recently told me that if there was the same points system in Formula 1 at the time as it is now, I could become champion.
Of course, if I had really become a champion, my whole future life would have turned out differently … “
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
