In the long history of Formula 1, all the European drivers who have achieved success in the top automotive category were born in the western part of the Old Continent, entering the roll of honor together with their colleagues from the rest of the world (except for the Asians, the only ones who have never won a world championship between the five continents). In this sense, still today, the other half Eastern European it doesn’t have the same wheel-riding tradition as the west. Not surprisingly, the first driver to make his debut in the Circus belonging to this slice of the globe was the Czech Tomas Enge, who only contested three GPs in the second half of 2001 with Prost. After him, and even before the recent advent of Russian pilots, there was however a Hungarian capable of giving the first smile not only to his own nation, but also to an entire region increasingly distant from the Soviet era: Zsolt Baumgartner.
Born in Debrecen on January 1, 1981, Baumgartner grew up in a family that owned a Renault dealership, where he cultivated his passion for engines. His debut on karts at the age of 13 gave way to a long experience in the minor leagues, culminating with success in the German Formula Renault in 1999. A statement that gave him the opportunity to conduct tests with the Formula 1 McLarens, approaching drastically to the world of the Circus. In fact, after other tests at the wheel of the Jordanthe same Irish team hired him as a test driver for the 2003. In that season, just on the eve of Hungarian GPhis debut took place: called in extremis to replace Ralph Firman – victim of an accident in qualifying which forced him to a forced stop period as a precaution – Baumgartner wrote an important page not only of his life, but also of his own nation in motorsport : the home race became home to the first participation of a Magyar driver in a Formula 1 GP. Even today, almost two decades after then, no other compatriot has managed to replicate the same feat.
In the 2004 instead it was there Minardi to hire him as an official driver, later becoming the first Eastern European driver to complete an entire Formula 1 season. Often proving to be faster than his teammate Gianmaria Bruni, the event that made him history took place on the occasion of the United States Grand Prix. On the Indianapolis circuit, Baumgartner was in fact able to make the most of a race characterized by many retirements and accidents, finishing eighth. Due to the sporting rules of those years, which provided for the awarding of world championship points to the first eight riders who reached the finish line, the Hungarian therefore conquered a point: this, in addition to being the first and only one of his career, also became the first absolute obtained from a Eastern Europeanas well as the first for Minardi after two years. Not finding a reconfirmation for 2005, his career continued away from the starting grid of the top flight.
Later that year, he returned to Jordan as third driver for the second half of the season, before retiring permanently from F1. After experiences in the Champ Car, in 2007, and in the 1000 Km of the Hungaroring in 2010, the Hungarian returned to the Circus for the project F1 Experiencesdriving two-seater cars intended for celebrities eager to experience the thrill of Formula 1. Regardless of what the future holds, Zsolt Baumgartner will always remain the first breath of the ‘east wind’.
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