Christian Danner

From the ranks of a BMW-blessed crop in the mid-1980s, Christian Danner was an extremely successful touring car driver. He transferred his talent to Formula 3000 and won the 1985 Championship before graduating to Formula 1 with Zakspeed at the end of the year. He drove for Arrows in 1986 after Marc Surer was badly injured in an accident; finishing sixth in Austria, then went back to Zakspeed with Martin Brundle in 1987.

His best result was a fourth place at Phoenix at the wheel of the Rial owned by former ATS wheels boss Gunther Schmid. Danner stepped away from Formula 1 and spent most of the next decade competing in a variety of categories including the Japanese Formula 3000 series, CART and the German national DTM series with an Alfa Romeo.

In recent years he has run a sponsorship consultancy business and worked as a TV commentator in F1 becoming a favourite of the German corporation RTL. Christian’s relaxed yet efficient style has won him many admirers in European boardrooms, his anecdotes and astute observations are drawn from his experiences in competition.