Albers can breathe a sigh of relief!

Just a week ago, Christijan Albers participated in his first DTM race since October 3, 2004. After a three-year absence, he has returned to German touring cars, a series in which he had previously excelled.

However, Albers was disappointed with his result in the first race of the season. Indeed, he had to retire after three laps due to a collision with Ralf Schumacher. Despite this highly simplified race, he impressed the press and the crowd by placing his 2006 version Audi A4 in 14th position on the starting grid after Saturday’s qualifications.

After two years spent in Formula 1, which was his ultimate dream, he snatched the last spot in DTM in extremis. His stint in the top category of motor racing proved to be unfruitful; one year with Minardi, one year with Midland, and half a year with the Dutch team Spyker were enough to shatter his dreams of becoming a Formula 1 world champion.

Since his F1 driving career ended, Albers has not attended any of the races. He has closed the Formula 1 chapter, a chapter he will never reopen. His farewell in F1 was anything but pleasant: « In my opinion, they had no right to dismiss me in that manner, » said Albers.

Everything ended up in court, and after months of negotiation, both parties reached an agreement, about which Albers could not say anything: « That’s the hardest part. No one knows what really happened, and no one will ever know. End of story! »

His years in Formula 1 were very difficult: I was hit right in the face, and I still am over and over again. It was a very tough period for me. I went to every Grand Prix with the feeling that I was going to lose, and I couldn’t do much. There were no resources in these teams. Once, I even had to pay for new springs myself because there was no budget. You go to races, but you know very well that you can’t improve.

Because no one really knows the true reasons for his departure from F1, there are many rumors about his exit. One of the biggest incidents was with the fuel pump in France, his penultimate Grand Prix: « What no one saw at that moment was that my teammate Adrian Sutil was in front of me in the pits. Two cars from the same team should never be called in at the same time. Of course, it was my fault… »