67 Facts About Gerhard Berger

Gerhard Berger was born on 27 August 1959 and is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver.

Gerhard Berger competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship, both times driving for Ferrari.

Gerhard Berger won ten Grands Prix, achieved 48 podiums, 12 poles and 21 fastest laps.

Gerhard Berger led 33 of the 210 races he competed in and retired from 95 of them.

Gerhard Berger was a race winner with Ferrari and with McLaren.

Gerhard Berger was fortunate to be alive after a serious road accident shortly after entering Formula One.

Finally in a car that allowed him to exploit both his talent and the exceptional power of the BMW turbo engine, coupled with a clever Pirelli tyre strategy, Gerhard Berger won his first Grand Prix in Mexico using the Benetton B186.

Gerhard Berger was on course for an easy victory at his home race, the 1986 Austrian Grand Prix before being forced into the pits from a comfortable lead with a flat battery.

Gerhard Berger was successful in Group A touring cars during this time, racing for the highly rated German Schnitzer BMW team, driving the highly competitive BMW 635 Csi in the European Touring Car Championship.

Gerhard Berger won the 1985 Spa 24 Hours partnering Italian touring car ace Roberto Ravaglia and fellow Formula One driver, Marc Surer of Switzerland.

At the season ending 1985 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Gerhard Berger had to obtain permission from the FIA, FOCA, and from Arrows team to race in a Group A touring car race which was a support category for the weekend.

Gerhard Berger was running a close second to Nigel Mansell at the Hungaroring before he was forced to retire.

At Estoril for the Portuguese Grand Prix Gerhard Berger dominated the race from pole position before spinning in the latter stages to finish second after pressure from Alain Prost.

Success at both Suzuka and Adelaide for the Japanese and the Australian Grands Prix, including pole positions in both events and the fastest lap in Adelaide, ensured Ferrari and Gerhard Berger went into the winter season with boosted confidence and both team and driver were tipped as favourites for the 1988 Championship.

Gerhard Berger's wins gave Ferrari its first back to back victories since the late Gilles Villeneuve won the Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix in 1981.

Gerhard Berger was the only driver to break the McLaren stranglehold in 1988, winning the Italian Grand Prix after Senna tangled with Jean-Louis Schlesser, who had temporarily replaced Nigel Mansell in the Williams-Judd.

Gerhard Berger was the only non-McLaren to take pole in 1988 when he sat on pole for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

At the very wet British Grand Prix for instance, Gerhard Berger led the opening laps from Senna having already attained pole position, consequently building a large cushion over the rest of the field before having to slow just to finish.

Gerhard Berger was leading the final race of the season at Adelaide ahead of Prost and Senna before he clashed with former Ferrari driver Rene Arnoux in the Ligier while trying to lap the Frenchman.

Gerhard Berger did just that and after passing Senna for 2nd on lap 3, he set numerous fastest laps before finally catching and passing Prost on lap 14.

For 1989, Gerhard Berger was joined at Ferrari by Nigel Mansell.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Gerhard Berger tangled with Senna at the very first corner as the Brazilian found himself trapped between Riccardo Patrese's Williams-Renault to the left and Gerhard Berger's Ferrari to the right, with the three drivers dicing for the lead.

Gerhard Berger attributed this to Ferrari's unique semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox, saying that his return would have been delayed if Ferrari still used the traditional gear stick transmission used in all other F1 cars in 1989.

Gerhard Berger won the next race in Portugal which was overshadowed by the accident involving Mansell and Senna, and then finished second at the next race in Spain.

At the British Grand Prix it was announced that Alain Prost would leave McLaren at the end of the season to join the Scuderia while Gerhard Berger decided to sign for McLaren who, with their Honda V10 engines, was at the time the best and fastest team in Grand Prix racing.

From 1990 to 1992 Gerhard Berger joined Ayrton Senna at McLaren.

Gerhard Berger's arrival was met with great anticipation as he had proven great form for Benetton and Ferrari.

Gerhard Berger took three wins in these three seasons, gifted the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix by Senna; as well as victories in Canada and Australia in 1992.

At the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix Gerhard Berger finished first, around 45 seconds ahead of the eventual winner Senna, but was penalized by one minute for creeping at the start before the green lights.

Gerhard Berger started from pole position at the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix.

In 1990 Gerhard Berger failed to win a race for his new team, while teammate Senna won the Drivers' Championship for the second time.

In 1992, Gerhard Berger won the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix having overtaken Riccardo Patrese's Williams and attacking teammate Senna before the Brazilian retired.

Patrese did not realize that Gerhard Berger was heading towards the pitlane touched the McLaren's rear wheel and went airborne, narrowly missing a bridge, before coming to a halt in front of the armco of the pitlane.

Gerhard Berger then went on to win the Australian Grand Prix for the second time after a battle with Patrese.

Gerhard Berger therefore won his last race for McLaren and McLaren's last race with Honda engines.

Gerhard Berger was persuaded by Ayrton Senna and by his countryman Niki Lauda to return to the Italian team in 1993 as Lauda felt Gerhard Berger brought valuable experience with him from his partnership with Senna.

Gerhard Berger had a number of spectacular incidents during the season including a clash with Michael Andretti at the start of the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix and a dramatic impact with the armco at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix having just exited the pits.

The 1993 Monaco Grand Prix was perhaps where Gerhard Berger displayed his fighting qualities best of all, obtaining second fastest lap before he attempted an opportunistic move on Damon Hill's Williams at Loews hairpin while challenging for second position.

In 1994, Gerhard Berger recovered from the deaths of close friend Senna and countryman Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, to score an emotional win at Hockenheim for the 1994 German Grand Prix in the Ferrari 412T, the first win for Ferrari since the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix.

Gerhard Berger scored two pole positions in 1994, the first at Hockenheim and then at Estoril for the 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix where he retired from while leading.

Gerhard Berger was in the lead at the final round at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix when he made a mistake, letting his former teammate Nigel Mansell pass and win for Williams.

Gerhard Berger produced another aggressive drive for third having received a 10-second stop-go penalty for a jump start and then climbing up through the field from 14th position at the 1995 German Grand Prix, making a number of overtakings on the way.

At Monza both Ferrari drivers were in contention for the win, when an on-board camera on Jean Alesi's Ferrari fell into the path of Gerhard Berger and smashed the Austrian's front suspension after damaging Alesi's car.

Gerhard Berger could have remained at Maranello, but felt that the new Ferrari V10 engine would take too much time to develop.

Gerhard Berger spent his final two years in the sport at the team he drove for in 1986 while sporting a revised helmet design, with the Austrian flag being rotated horizontally.

Gerhard Berger nearly won the German Grand Prix for the second time in his career before his Renault V10 engine blew up, handing victory to Damon Hill in the Williams.

Consequently, Gerhard Berger was significantly slower down the straights than teammate Jean Alesi.

The Benetton B197 had a lacklustre opening to the 1997 season at Melbourne but the team and Gerhard Berger bounced back at the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Gerhard Berger finishing second having overtaken Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher.

Gerhard Berger then scored Benetton's final Grand Prix victory at the age of 37, again at Hockenheim, coming back after a 3 race layoff following a sinusitis surgery and the death of his father in a light aircraft accident.

Gerhard Berger announced his decision to leave Benetton at the end of the season during the same weekend.

Gerhard Berger eventually retired at the end of the season, his final race seeing him finish a very close fourth in Jerez only seconds behind the victor Mika Hakkinen.

Sauber offered Gerhard Berger a drive for 1998 to partner Alesi, but the Austrian turned down the offer for a number of reasons, not least because of the new regulations for grooved tyres which the Austrian did not find inspiring.

Gerhard Berger opened the door of the helicopter and threw the briefcase out, to Senna's disbelief.

Gerhard Berger asserted innocently that he only sought to test the hypothesis.

Gerhard Berger later recounted further events before the 1990 Australian Grand Prix.

Senna's fame meant he rarely had his passport checked, but on a later trip to Argentina, Gerhard Berger's prank resulted in officials holding the Brazilian for 24 hours.

Gerhard Berger's pranks continued at his new team for 1993, Scuderia Ferrari.

Later when Todt enquired about his roadcar, Gerhard Berger conceded the two had put some "slight curb marks on the roof".

The strong connection between Senna and Gerhard Berger has extended beyond the Brazilian's death in 1994.

Gerhard Berger later acted as an advisor to Bruno Senna, Ayrton's nephew, who made his Formula One debut with the HRT F1 Team in the 2010 World Championship, and subsequently switched to Williams.

Gerhard Berger was the first to drive a F1 car on the new Shanghai Grand Prix circuit when he demonstrated a 2003 Ferrari F2003-GA.

On 25 April 2004,10 years after Ayrton Senna's death, Gerhard Berger drove the JPS Lotus Renault 97T, which Senna had used in the 1985 championship, for three laps at Imola before the start of the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix.

Gerhard Berger sold his share back to Mateschitz in November 2008.

In 2012 Gerhard Berger was appointed President of the FIA Single Seat Commission.

In March 2017, Gerhard Berger became chairman of ITR, the promoter of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.

In 1996 Gerhard Berger modified his original design with the Austrian flag rotated horizontally.

Gerhard Berger was driving his team's "second entry", and as the team had only entered one car for the entire championship, the second entry was ineligible to score points.