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JOHNNYBET

Biography

SEASON INFORMATION
13/01/2018



[Official Website]
Biography
Michael first came to attention in 2002, when, aged 14, he won the (ISA Junior) European Kart Championship, having first taken up the sport in 1997. The following year he stepped up to Formula A, contesting the German Kart Championship, finishing runner-up, going on to finish seventh in the Super A World Championships a year later. People were beginning to take notice, for at a time when a certain Ferrari driver was cleaning up in F1, Germany had a new young star, whose first name just happened to be Michael and whose second name ender in 'er'. Amongst those that took notice was Red Bull, which signed the youngster to its Red Bull Junior Team, meanwhile Michael finished fifth in the Super ILC Kart World Championship. In 2004, still only 18, Michael made the switch to single-seaters, contesting the German Formula Renault series, in which he finished third overall, and the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, in which he finished eleventh. 2005 saw the German finish runner-up in both Formula Renault 2.0 Italia and the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, taking 9 wins, 21 podium positions and 7 pole positions. For 2006 he made the move up to GP2 with Arden International. Following a strong start to the season, including a win at Valencia and second at Imola, the team became less and less competitive and consequently Michael struggled, eventually finishing eleventh. However, 2006 wasn't all doom and gloom. Following Red Bull's decision to drop Christian Klien, and promote Robert Doornbos to the second race seat, alongside David Coulthard, Michael was drafted in to the team as 'Friday driver'. In late September the German completed the necessary mileage at Jerez to qualify for his Superlicence, thereby enabling him to carry out his duties as 'Friday driver' for Red Bull at the final three Grands Prix of the season. For 2007, in addition to his role as test driver for the Red Bull F1 team, Michael was scheduled to contest the GP2 Series with French outfit ART Grand Prix, which had the distinction of having won both drivers and team titles since the series first came into being in 2005. Sadly, injuries played havoc with Michael's 2007 season, and in GP2 he was replaced by a succession of drivers before his drive finally went to Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi. In late 2007, Michael headed to Carlin Motorsport to replace Sebastian Vettel in the World Series by Renault following the youngster's departure to the Toro Rosso F1 team. Ironically, Buemi follows Michael as official test driver for Red Bull in 2008, while the young German is now making waves in A1 GP, taking a win in Zhuhai in December 2007 and a further win at Taupo in January 2008.

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