A BMX world champion at the age of 12, podium finisher for Benetton and Williams in Formula 1, serial test jockey for some of Adrian Newey’s most outlandish car designs, and a double Le Mans winner – Alex Wurz packed a lot into a racing career. And he’s still one of F1’s most influential voices today as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association
WORDS STUART CODLINGP PORTRAITS ANDY HONE
There are those who used to say former driver Alex Wurz ruined Formula 1. He was, after all, among the key architects of the halo – back when it was fashionable among the opinionati to heap ordure upon a safety development which has now saved several lives (and, as Alex says, “hasn’t lost a single fan”). It’s little wonder that a man who still holds the record for the fastest F1 accident of all time – he was travelling at 189mph when an incorrectly mounted tyre burst at a Paul Ricard test – should be an advocate of safety, with a firm grip on the baton once held by Sir Jackie Stewart.
Why, you ask, does a driver who retired from F1 16 years ago still quietly wield so much influence? Because he’s respected by all the people who matter, from the championship’s stakeholders and power-brokers to the competitors themselves. Being the GPDA chairman is a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it…
GP Racing: Your dad did rallycross so racing was always in the family. At what point did you decide that motor racing was going to be for you rather than BMX?
Alex Wurz: There was no real karting scene in Austria. I’d always said I want to be a racecar driver because my dad was a racing driver, and my friend’s dad as well. But BMX came along and I did it for a few years until someone turned up in my dad’s driving centre [Wurz Sr ran a driver training company] and said, “Can I run in an engine for this go kart?” I saw it and said to my dad, “This is better than pushing pedals around!” I had a few laps in it and that’s how I started karting. I was already 15 so it was quite a late start – like I said, there was nothing in Austria, the guy who came to run in his engine raced in Germany.
So then I got hooked on karting. I was already too tall and too heavy for the rules but anyway, we bought a two-year-old kart and I did the mechanics myself. It was very low budget, but that was okay because I’d done a lot of driving in my father’s training centres so I learnt vehicle dynamics and tyre science. And that proved later to be a very good advantage.
GPR: Budget seemed to be an issue in single-seaters and you ended up in touring cars with Reinhold Joest��
