Christian Vietoris


Christian Vietoris is a German racing driver, currently driving in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for HWA Team. Vietoris is also a part of the revitalized Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, together with Robert Wickens and Roberto Merhi. Vietoris made his debut in the DTM in 2011, driving for Persson Motorsport, before being promoted to HWA for the 2012 DTM season.

Career

Karting

Vietoris started his career through karting, the most common entry point for all racing drivers, in 1994. Nine years after starting his karting career, the young German was the national Junior Kart champion and a year later came second Western German Karting Championship.

Formula BMW

In 2005, Vietoris moved up to Formula BMW ADAC with Eifelland Racing. Vietoris finished his first FBMW campaign sixteenth in the Drivers' Championship with fifteen points, sharing his position with fellow German Dominik Wasem. In 2006, Vietoris moved to Josef Kaufmann Racing, where he won the Drivers' Championship with 277 points and taking nine race wins, his nearest rival being Finland's Mika Mäki. As well as his German FBMW title, Vietoris won the Formula BMW World Final, ahead of other FBMW champions such as Robert Wickens, the 2006 US FBMW champion, and the British Formula BMW champion, Niall Breen, winning himself a test for the BMW Sauber F1 team.
Following his impressive performances in Formula BMW, Vietoris was picked by A1 Team Germany to replace Nico Hülkenberg for the Mexican round of the 2006–07 season.

Formula Three

In 2007, Vietoris competed in the ATS Formel 3 Cup for Josef Kaufmann Racing, finishing in fifth. He moved on to the Formula Three Euroseries in 2008 for Mücke Motorsport. He had a solid season, ending up eighth in the championship with one win coming at the Norisring. He set a pair of fastest laps – at Mugello and Brands Hatch – and was on pole at the Nürburgring.
He continued in the F3 Euroseries in 2009 with Mücke Motorsport, finishing as runner-up to the dominant Jules Bianchi. Vietoris won four races over the course of the season, adding a further four podiums and a fastest lap at Brands once again, as he helped keep Mücke in contention for the teams title until he left for GP2 Asia.

GP2 Series

Vietoris missed the final round of the F3 Euroseries season to join up with the DAMS team for a GP2 Asia Series test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. He raced in the 2009–10 season for the team. He moved to Racing Engineering for the 2010 main series, winning one race en route to ninth place in the drivers' championship. He missed the final round of the season due to appendicitis; his seat was taken by Ho-Pin Tung.
Vietoris remains with Racing Engineering for the 2011 GP2 Series season, alongside Dani Clos. After crashing heavily during the first round of the season at Istanbul, he complained of recurring headaches and was replaced by Álvaro Parente until he recovered and returned to the cockpit in Valencia. At Spa-Francorchamps, he took his first series pole position and converted it into victory, also setting his first fastest lap in the process. He also won the sprint race finale at Monza, rising to seventh in the drivers' championship.

DTM

Vietoris made his debut in the DTM, dovetailing his 2011 GP2 campaign with a season driving a Persson Motorsport Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. His best result as a rookie was a 5th place at Oschersleben. Another highlight was reaching the semi-final at the non-points Showevent at the Olympic Stadium in München.
On 3 April 2012 Mercedes announced the revival of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team that has guided several notable drivers in their racing careers like Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher. With that announcement came the news that Vietoris, together with the reigning Formula 3 Euroseries champion Roberto Merhi and the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Robert Wickens, would become a part of the new Junior Team and that the three of them would drive for the Junior Team in the 2012 DTM season.
7-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher was to be involved with the three drivers by serving as a mentor. Driving under the Junior Team-moniker meant for Vietoris that he would switch teams for his sophomore season in the DTM, trading in his place at Persson Motorsport for the elite team of Mercedes in the DTM, HWA Team, replacing Bruno Spengler, who left Mercedes for BMW.

Records

Vietoris is the youngest driver ever to win an A1 Grand Prix race. He took the chequered flag during the 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand at Taupo Motorsport Park at just 18 years, nine months and 19 days old, beating the previous record for youngest A1GP winner by exactly five months. That record was held by the team's former driver, Nico Hülkenberg, who won on his debut at Zandvoort in 2006.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

)
YearEntrantChassisEngine1234567891011121314151617181920DCPoints
2008Mücke MotorsportDallara F308/050MercedesHOC
1
7		HOC
2
2		MUG
1
28†		MUG
2
19		PAU
1
5		PAU
2
4		NOR
1
6		NOR
2
1		ZAN
1
13		ZAN
2
11		NÜR
1
Ret		NÜR
2
Ret		BRH
1
5		BRH
2
Ret		CAT
1
3		CAT
2
2		BUG
1
28†		BUG
2
10		HOC
1
EX		HOC
2
Ret		6th36
2009Mücke MotorsportDallara F308/050MercedesHOC
1
7		HOC
2
2		LAU
1
8		LAU
2
1		NOR
1
6		NOR
2
1		ZAN
1
3		ZAN
2
4		OSC
1
4		OSC
2
1		NÜR
1
8		NÜR
2
2		BRH
1
3		BRH
2
4		CAT
1
6		CAT
2
4		DIJ
1
1		DIJ
2
6		HOC
1		HOC
2		2nd75

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516171819202122DCPoints
2006–07GermanyNED
SPR		NED
FEA		CZE
SPR		CZE
FEA		CHN
SPR		CHN
FEA		MYS
SPR		MYS
FEA		IDN
SPR		IDN
FEA		NZL
SPR		NZL
FEA		AUS
SPR		AUS
FEA		RSA
SPR		RSA
FEA		MEX
SPR
Ret		MEX
FEA
9		CHN
SPR		CHN
FEA		GBR
SPR		GBR
SPR		1st128
2007–08GermanyNED
SPR
6		NED
FEA
9		CZE
SPR
7		CZE
FEA
8		MYS
SPR		MYS
FEA		ZHU
SPR		ZHU
FEA		NZL
SPR
2		NZL
FEA
1		AUS
SPR		AUS
FEA		RSA
SPR		RSA
FEA		MEX
SPR		MEX
FEA		SHA
SPR		SHA
FEA		GBR
SPR		GBR
SPR		8th83

Complete GP2 Series results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314151617181920DCPoints
2010Racing EngineeringCAT
FEA
Ret		CAT
SPR
18		MON
FEA
14		MON
SPR
DNS		IST
FEA
7		IST
SPR
Ret		VAL
FEA
12		VAL
SPR
Ret		SIL
FEA
6		SIL
SPR
10		HOC
FEA
Ret		HOC
SPR
10		HUN
FEA
2		HUN
SPR
2		SPA
FEA
11		SPA
SPR
Ret		MNZ
FEA
4		MNZ
SPR
1		YMC
FEA		YMC
SPR		9th29
2011Racing EngineeringIST
FEA
11		IST
SPR
Ret		CAT
FEA		CAT
SPR		MON
FEA		MON
SPR		VAL
FEA
Ret		VAL
SPR
13		SIL
FEA
2		SIL
SPR
Ret		NÜR
FEA
Ret		NÜR
SPR
4		HUN
FEA
8		HUN
SPR
10		SPA
FEA
1		SPA
SPR
13		MNZ
FEA
6		MNZ
SPR
1		7th35

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

YearEntrant12345678DCPoints
2009–10DAMSYMC1
FEA
6		YMC1
SPR
1		YMC2
FEA
Ret		YMC2
SPR
14		BHR1
FEA
14		BHR1
SPR
9		BHR2
FEA
Ret		BHR2
SPR
14		10th9

Complete DTM results

Year TeamCar123456789101112131415161718 Pos Points
2011Persson MotorsportAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008HOC
13		ZAN
15		SPL
15		LAU
9		NOR
11		NÜR
13		BRH
13		OSC
5		VAL
12		HOC
Ret		14th4
2012HWA TeamDTM AMG Mercedes C-CoupéHOC
4		LAU
11		BRH
6		SPL
Ret		NOR
8		NÜR
16		ZAN
Ret		OSC
12		VAL
12		HOC
10		12th25
2013HWA TeamDTM AMG Mercedes C-CoupéHOC
3		BRH
8		SPL
7		LAU
3		NOR
3		MSC
10		NÜR
3		OSC
18		ZAN
15		HOC
7		4th77
2014HWA TeamDTM AMG Mercedes C-CoupéHOC
15		OSC
1		HUN
20†		NOR
21†		MSC
7		SPL
9		NÜR
6		LAU
2		ZAN
5		HOC
14		4th69
2015HWA AGDTM AMG Mercedes C-CoupéHOC
1
14		HOC
2
11		LAU
1
17		LAU
2
7		NOR
1
4		NOR
2
2		ZAN
1
12		ZAN
2
8		SPL
1
4		SPL
2
8		MSC
1
Ret		MSC
2
20		OSC
1
18		OSC
2
21		NÜR
1
15		NÜR
2
14		HOC
1
12		HOC
2
Ret		16th56
2016Mercedes-Benz DTM Team MückeMercedes-AMG C63 DTMHOC
1
5		HOC
2
14		SPL
1
Ret		SPL
2
17		LAU
1
5		LAU
2
7		NOR
1
10		NOR
2
15		ZAN
1
3		ZAN
2
20†		MSC
1
23		MSC
2
14		NÜR
1
13		NÜR
2
17		HUN
1
17		HUN
2
14		HOC
1
22		HOC
2
2		14th60

† Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 75% of the winner's race distance.