Gerhard Berger Biography

By Andrew Hooper
May 15 2002

	BMW power played a big part in Gerhard Berger's racing career, so it is entirely appropriate that the Austrian has moved into a management role with the company after retiring from the cockpit. In his role as BMW Motorsport Director, Gerhard has been responsible for overseeing the successful return of BMW to the forefront of motorsport. Taking up his position in late 1998, Gerhard settled back into the Formula 1 paddock with ease and proved just as adept behind a desk as he had behind the wheel. Gerhard has always mixed business with sport. While still racing in Formula 3 in 1982, he was already in charge of the Europatrans Freight Company in Austria, a business he has continued to build up ever since. It is Formula 1 that Gerhard will always be associated with however. He made his debut in a BMW turbo-powered ATS in 1984 and demonstrated his talent immediately by finishing sixth in only his second grand prix. Gerhard then moved via Arrows-BMW to Benetton-BMW for 1986. It was with this team that the Austrian would win his first grand prix, taking victory in Mexico City. This was also BMW's last victory of the turbo era. Berger had dovetailed his F1 commitments with a BMW touring car drive during this period, and was part of the winning team in the Spa 24 hours in 1985. His ties with BMW ended temporarily in 1987 however, when the Austrian joined Ferrari's F1 team. Gerhard won the final two races of the season and was the only man to beat the dominant McLaren's in 1988. In front of Ferrari's home crowd at Monza he led home team-mate Michele Alboreto for a glorious 1-2 finish. After a difficult season blighted by poor reliability in 1989, Gerhard switched to McLaren alongside Ayrton Senna. He struggled at first on account of being simply too tall to fit the McLaren cockpit. However, he would eventually win three races for the team and develop a strong friendship with the great Brazilian. The 1993 season saw Gerhard return to Ferrari. Helping to take the team back to the forefront of F1 after several seasons in the doldrums, Gerhard's 1994 German Grand Prix victory was Ferrari's first in four years. He then returned to Benetton but would retire at the end of the 1997 season, having taken ten victories, 12 pole positions and 21 fastest laps in his 14 seasons of F1. After just half a year off, Gerhard returned to the grand prix scene in a new role: as BMW Motorsport Director. The public face of the team's engine programme, his success in the management side of motorsport has been such that it is now easy to forget how much he achieved as a driver in his two decades on the racing scene.