Heinz-Harald Frentzen became a grand prix winner with Williams in the nineties, but never scaled the heights many predicted for him earlier in his career.
Before reaching F1, Frentzen was part of Mercedes’ highly-rated junior driver roster, along with Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. But while Schumacher landed his F1 debut as early as 1991, Frentzen had to wait over two years more for his opportunity.Frentzen arrived in Formula 1 with Sauber in 1994. He caught the eye of Frank Williams, who did a deal with Frentzen in 1995 for him to replace Damon Hill at the end of the following season.
The news of Hill’s impending departure caused a stir when it broke the following year, while he was on the way to the world championship. Nonetheless Frentzen took his place alongside Jacques Villeneuve the following year.
Frentzen officially finished runner-up to his team mate in that year’s world championship. However he was promoted to second place following Schumacher’s disqualification for his collision with Villeneuve in the finale. Frentzen picked up a single victory, at Imola, and was generally out-paced by Villeneuve.
The team’s form nose-dived in 1998 when new technical regulations were introduced. Neither driver won a race and both left at the end of the season.
While BAR-bound Villeneuve never won another race, Frentzen revived his career with Jordan, scoring two victories with them in 1999 and coming within striking distance of the championship that year.
But new team mate Jarno Trulli ran him close in 2000 and halfway through the following season Frentzen was shown the door. He continued the season with Prost and qualified a remarkable fourth in that year’s Belgian Grand Prix for the struggling team, which folded at the end of the season.
Frentzen’s next stop was another doomed team, Arrows. Their 2002 machine showed potential but the team was mired in financial trouble and folded after the British Grand Prix in 2002.
He returned for a swansong season with Sauber in 2003 and gave them a podium finish in his penultimate race. But he was replaced by Felipe Massa the following year. Frentzen later raced in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) and then in GT series.
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