94 Facts About Alex Yoong

Alexander Charles Yoong Loong is a Malaysian racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 18 Grands Prix from 2001 to 2002.

Alex Yoong later raced in single-seater cars where he won the Malaysian Championship in 1995.

Alex Yoong moved into Formula Renault in 1996 with help from sponsors but finished outside the top-10.

Alex Yoong consulted his father, who believed his son would succeed in lower categories.

Alex Yoong decided to drive in Formula Three but dropped out in 1999 after withdrawal from his sponsors.

Alex Yoong subsequently went into Formula 3000 and managed to improve despite a horrific crash at Spa-Francorchamps during the season.

Alex Yoong raced in Formula Nippon where he achieved no success.

Alex Yoong became the first and, as of 2024, only Malaysian to race in Formula One with Minardi at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix and left the sport in 2002.

Alex Yoong had a less successful career in CART World Series but had improved in the Porsche Carrera Cup with a less successful foray into V8 Supercars.

Alex Yoong raced in A1 Grand Prix series between 2005 and 2008 and scored three victories.

In between this, Alex Yoong raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Alex Yoong worked for Lotus Racing as head of driver development and is a commentator for Fox Sports Asia.

Alex Yoong was born on 20 July 1976 at the Sambhi Clinic in Kuala Lumpur.

Alex Yoong's mother, Johanna Bean, is English, and his father Hanifah Yoong Yin Fah is a Malaysian of Chinese descent through Alex's grandfather Yoong Wan Hoi who emigrated in 1933.

Alex Yoong's grandfather worked as a contractor and steel trader but was forced to retire during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Alex Yoong's father started racing sedans in 1978, and his mother followed suit in 1983 in rallying.

Alex Yoong became an avid follower of Formula One by the age of four.

Alex Yoong cited Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna as his racing heroes.

Alex Yoong's early racing career started in saloon cars in 1992 when he was 16.

Alex Yoong became the youngest driver in Malaysian motorsport history and moved into a one-make Proton series.

Alex Yoong secured his first pole and won in his fourth role and ended up winning two out of five races.

In late 1992, Alex Yoong took up saloon racing and took a Toyota Corolla to the Macau Grand Prix and finished third in the 1600cc class in the Guia Race.

Alex Yoong later moved up into a 400-horsepower DTM-spec BMW and was the most powerful saloon in the region.

Alex Yoong had won the Malaysian national crown, but the Continental Championship campaign was far less successful; producing eight wins and finishing second in the championship missing out by two points.

Alex Yoong was contacted by Paul Stewart to test a Formula Vauxhall car before he gained the opportunity to test a Formula Renault Sport machine at Donington Park and Snetterton for the Startline Racing team.

Alex Yoong began a campaign in Formula Renault with Startline Racing in 1996 along with sponsorship from Malaysian tyre manufacturer, Silverstone tyres.

At the first round in Donington, on lap one, Alex Yoong outbraked three cars entering the Melbourne hairpin with his four tyres locking up, and by the 5th lap, Alex Yoong was in 6th but an eventual collision with Rollo McNally but managed to finish 20th.

Alex Yoong consulted with his father Hanifah, and believed the best chance was to go into lower categories.

Alex Yoong joined Portman Racing Team in their Dallara HKS-Mitsubishi.

Alex Yoong had to adjust to the Mugen-Honda engine and came up with results very similar to Portman Racing.

Alex Yoong's sponsors dropped out, and his father was forced to fund his son's racing activities until the family became indebted.

Alex Yoong missed the first two rounds of the year but made a strong comeback when he returned at Thruxton.

Alex Yoong followed this strong finish with 5th at Brands Hatch, in a race that covered the top seven by 3.4 seconds.

Alex Yoong joined the Italian F3000 championship from the third round onwards.

At the next round at Donington, Alex Yoong ended up starting fifth and drove arguably the best race of his career.

But, Alex Yoong miraculously recovered and closed on Lupberger.

Alex Yoong was treated by Sid Watkins and the FIA medical team on the scene.

Alex Yoong was cleared by doctors of any neurological or spinal injuries but was kept for observation.

Alex Yoong finished in 10th in the Drivers' Championship with eight points.

Alex Yoong went from 23rd on his way to ninth in the first heat before a 12th-place finish in the second to finish seventh overall.

Nakajima said of Yoong "Alex is very much better than I originally thought".

Alex Yoong spent time at the Bukit Jalil institute with psychologist Michel Gagne and trainer Jorg Teichmann to recuperate from his injuries at Spa the previous year.

Alex Yoong returned to Malaysia for the annual Merdeka Millennium Endurance sports car race at Sepang and shared a TVR Chimaera to second place with Adam Lokman and Saladin Mazlan.

Alex Yoong was able to race to sponsors TVR Malaysia, RentakAsia, and DiGi Telecommunications.

At Motegi, Alex Yoong lost 6 places at the start after a multi-car accident and was called in for an early pitstop.

Alex Yoong was visited by Minardi Sporting Director Rupert Manwaring during a visit to Malaysia to meet with potential backers for a Formula One seat.

Alex Yoong attended a two-day test at Mugello, becoming the first Malaysian to test a Formula One car with the FIA granting him his Super Licence.

Alex Yoong made his Formula One debut at the Italian Grand Prix, replacing Tarso Marques.

Alex Yoong secured backing from the Malaysian government-controlled lottery company Magnum, and made a deal with Minardi for the last three races of the 2001 season.

At Indianapolis, Alex Yoong retired after 38 laps due to a gearbox failure.

At Suzuka, a track he knew well, Alex Yoong finished in 16th, three laps down.

Alex Yoong was racing as high as fifth after passing David Coulthard for sixth.

Alex Yoong eventually finished seventh after being passed by Mika Salo.

In Brazil, Alex Yoong finished 13th despite spinning and called it the toughest race he had ever done.

At Monaco, Alex Yoong participated in the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco before the actual event.

Alex Yoong drove a Lotus 72 that was driven by Ronnie Peterson.

Alex Yoong led until a safety car intervention when Yoong discovered his car was stuck in fifth gear and was forced to drive in this manner until the end of the race.

The race saw Alex Yoong retire after running over debris on the approach to Massanet and sidewalled the armco to sustain damage his right rear track rod.

At the Nurburgring, Alex Yoong declared the track "a bit of a go-kart circuit" as he disliked the layout.

Rumors spread that Alex Yoong was to be replaced by either Alonso, who was Renault's test driver, or Bryan Herta and Justin Wilson.

On lap nine, Alex Yoong spun into the gravel at turn two before retiring on Lap 14.

Alex Yoong later stated the deals were not related to his salary.

Alex Yoong went into Champ Car to join Dale Coyne racing to partner Joel Camathias after Roberto Gonzalez left due to a lack of sponsorship.

Alex Yoong was signed on a contract for the remainder of the season was signed after an impressive test session at the Arizona Motorsports Park gave the opportunity for more sponsorship to come forward.

Alex Yoong found a drive in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia after being invited to drive a guest car in a round supporting the Macau Formula Three Grand Prix.

Alex Yoong was team-mates with Luke Searle, Alan Gurr and Geoff Full in a BMW 320i.

For 2004, Alex Yoong was embarking in a career in the media for ESPN Star Sports as a Formula One presenter.

The damage caused the car to sit out for the rest of the weekend, but Alex Yoong bounced back at Queensland Raceway to start ninth.

Alex Yoong was replaced with Owen Kelly for the remaining rounds of the championship.

Alex Yoong drove for A1 Team Malaysia in the A1 Grand Prix series.

Alex Yoong became the lead driver and put together an outfit of primary Malaysian crew members, an example followed by other National teams.

The first test session at Brands Hatch saw Alex Yoong set the third fastest time behind France and Brazil and the second test had brought in GP2 Driver Fairuz Fauzy.

At the Lausitzring, Alex Yoong started in 18th and charged up to seventh by the end of the first lap and ended up in sixth.

Alex Yoong drove at Eastern Creek to qualify ninth and finished eighth and fifth respectively.

At his home race in Malaysia, Alex Yoong repeated his results at Eastern Creek in Australia.

Alex Yoong made up for the retirements with a good qualifying for sixth place and finished fourth in the sprint race after a terrific overtaking pass on Neel Jani.

Alex Yoong gained a second place in the feature race, which saw him sustain three minor collisions and a mistimed, delayed pit stops and many overtaking moves.

The final two rounds in China saw a victory in the sprint race whilst Alex Yoong scored a podium in the feature race by finishing second.

The first round in Amsterdam saw Alex Yoong collide with a stalled car before the warm-up lap but set the fastest lap and finished 17th and earlier ended up 12th in the sprint race.

Alex Yoong suffered from four consecutive retirements from the races in Zhuhai and New Zealand.

Alex Yoong did not attend the races at Australia and South Africa, bringing an end to starting 45 successive races.

In Shanghai, Alex Yoong started from 6th in the Sprint race and managed to climb up to 4th where he finished and scored 6th in the sprint race.

Alex Yoong was very competitive, holding the third position in Lammers' Dome-Judd when the throttle stuck, sending the car into the wall at the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight and breaking both steering arms.

Alex Yoong was replaced by Marco Bonanomi for the third race weekend in Bahrain, due to a lack of sufficient time for racing.

Lotus Racing announced on 9 December 2009 that Alex Yoong would become the leader of their young driver development programme.

Alex Yoong currently focuses on the development of drivers in Asia.

In November 2010, Alex Yoong partnered Marchy Lee and Matthew Marsh at the 1000km Zhuhai race, driving an Audi R8 LMS.

Alex Yoong has earlier competed for the water skiing event in the 1997 Jakarta Games where he won a silver medal.

Alex Yoong returned to Water skiing at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games and he claimed one gold medal and one silver medal in the men's slalom and jump events on 17 November 2011.

Alex Yoong was a representative for Malaysia in the 1992 Junior World Waterski Championships held in Colombia, before he concentrated on his motorsport career.

Alex Yoong is currently a driver in the Audi R8 LMS Cup with Audi TEDA.

Alex Yoong eventually finished on the final podium position in third.

Philippa Alex Yoong claimed the bronze for Malaysia with 1,860 points.

Alex Yoong has remained an enthusiastic promoter of motorsports in his home country however, and has been seen doing media and Formula One commentating work for Malaysian television and Fox Sports Asia.