List of Famous Racing Drivers
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the 2017 Super Formula Championship. He made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix. He moved to Red Bull Racing in 2019, before moving back after trading with Alexander Albon from Toro Rosso between the Hungarian and Belgian rounds to partner Daniil Kvyat. Gasly took his maiden Formula One victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix while driving for AlphaTauri.
Jacques Villeneuve
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve is a Canadian professional auto racing driver and amateur musician. Villeneuve currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the #5 car for FEED Vict Racing in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. He is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle, who was also a racer. Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. As of 2020, no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the Formula One Drivers' title. Villeneuve also won 11 Grands Prix.
Fabien Barthez
Fabien Alain Barthez is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and racing driver. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, AS Monaco, Manchester United, and Nantes. At international level, he represented the France national team, with whom he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, representing his nation at a total of three editions of both the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship; he also reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, after which he retired from international football.
Nikita Mazepin
Nikita Dmitryevich Mazepin is a Russian racing driver who currently competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Hitech Racing. He is due to race for the Haas F1 Team in the 2021 Formula One World Championship.
Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves, is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He won the Indianapolis 500 three times: in 2001, 2002, and 2009, and was runner-up in the IndyCar Series drivers' championship in 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2014. He won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2020. Castroneves began competitive go-karting at age 10, before progressing to car racing, in the Formula Chevrolet Brazil, Formula 3 Sudamericana, the British Formula Three Championship, and Indy Lights. He entered Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1998 with Bettenhausen Racing and with Hogan Racing in 1999, achieving one second place each with both teams. Castroneves moved to Team Penske in place of Greg Moore for 2000 and 2001, winning three races in both years.
Sophia Flörsch
Sophia Flörsch is a German racing driver, competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Campos Racing, and previously raced in Formula Regional European Championship, Formula 4 in both Germany and Italy, as well as the Ginetta Junior Championship.
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën. In the 2018 season he was one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total. He received the Princess of Asturias Sports Award in 2020. Sainz is currently competing in Extreme E for the Acciona | Sainz XE Team alongside teammate Laia Sanz.
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg is a German professional racing driver who drove in Formula One in 2010 and from 2012 to 2020. In 2015, he also contested two rounds of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season for Porsche, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans on his first attempt. He was the 2009 champion of the GP2 Series, and is a previous champion of both the Formula 3 Euro Series and A1 Grand Prix, as part of A1 Team Germany. He is one of 5 drivers since 2005 to win the Formula 2 championship in his debut season, the others being Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Charles Leclerc, and George Russell. As of December 2020, Hülkenberg holds the record for the most Formula One career starts without a podium finish, a record he broke when he failed to finish in his 129th race and in so doing passed Adrian Sutil's previous record of 128, Hülkenberg's record stands at 179 Grands Prix.
Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato , nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indy 500, and the twentieth driver to have multiple Indy 500 wins. He also became the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race when he won the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Alex Zanardi
Alessandro Zanardi is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again in 1999; his best result was a sixth-place finish in the 1993 Brazilian GP. He returned to CART in 2001, but a major crash in the 2001 American Memorial resulted in the amputation of his legs. He returned to racing less than two years after the accident; competing in the European Touring Car Championship in 2003–2004 and then in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2009, scoring four wins.