Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Happy Birthday, Robert Doornbos!

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Dutch driver Robert Doornbos turns 33 today, so to celebrate here's a picture of him at Hockenheim in Germany in July 2005 where he was making his Formula One début with the Minardi team.

Originally planning on becoming a tennis player, Doornbos had switched disciplines and was replacing the Austrian driver Patrick Friesacher who had encountered sponsorship issues. Doornbos made an impact in his very first race when he was involved in a collision with Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve on lap 4.

He went on to make 11 Grand Prix starts in total. Eight of them were with Minardi, and then when that team was bought out at the end of the season he made a further three starts in 2006 with the renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso.

After leaving Formula One, Doornbos subsequently contested the 2009 IndyCar Series season with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.