|
As is almost always the case, Patrick's motorsport career began in Karting, the young Austrian first competing in 1990, aged 9.
In 1990 and 1991 he finished 3rd in the Austrian Karting Championship, before switching to the prestigious Italian series, which he won in 1995. In the meantime, Patrick was able to get in some extra practice thanks to the fact that his father, Johann, had opened his own indoor karting centre.
Unfortunately, a horrific accident at Graz-Unterpremstaetten in 1997, almost ended the youngster's career, the (then) 16-year-old badly damaging his legs, heels and hip.
As part of his recovery process, Patrick was sent to the famous La Filiére at Le Mans.
In 1998, Patrick made his debut in French Formula 3 Campus, finishing 3rd, moving up to the full French F3 Championship a year later.
In 2000, he switched to the highly competitive German F3 Championship, competing for the BSR team, two wins and a second place (Hockenheim), saw him finish sixth in the championship.
For 2001, Patrick moved up to International F3000, and a seat with (fellow-Austrian) Helmut Marko's team. Unfortunately it was a difficult season for the youngster, who finished 13th in the championship, however a strong 2nd place at Monaco in 2002 saw him finish 10th in the title race.
He remained in F3000 for 2003, Marko's team now funded by Red Bull. The Austrian gave some strong performances, finishing 5th in the championship, despite missing three races as a result of a hand injury.
Although he began the 2004 championship with Super Nova, he later switched to Coloni, going on to take a convincing win at the Hungaroring, thus becoming only the second driver to defeat Arden International's Vitantonio Liuzzi. A second at Monza and third at Hockenheim saw Patrick finish fifth in the championship.
On 22 November 2004, Patrick made his F1 debut when he tested for Minardi at Misano, alongside Tiago Monteiro and Chanoch Nissany.
It came as no surprise that Patrick was the quickest, out-pacing Monteiro by over two seconds.
In early February it looked as though the Italian team was about to announce the signing of the young Austrian as official test driver, however, when Nicolas Kiesa failed to come up with the required funding, Patrick was promoted to the second race seat alongside Christijan Albers.
There are many that predict Minardi will give Red Bull and Jordan a run for their money in 2005, and we already know that the Italian team has witnessed the beginning of quite a few successful careers over the years.
Therefore, if Patrick can do a good enough job in 2005, who is to say we won't see more of the young Austrian in years to come?
|
