The Most Famous

RACING DRIVERS from Austria

This page contains a list of the greatest Austrian Racing Drivers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,080 Racing Drivers, 18 of which were born in Austria. This makes Austria the birth place of the 16th most number of Racing Drivers behind Sweden, and Netherlands.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Austrian Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous Austrian Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Austrian Racing Drivers.

1. Niki Lauda (1949 - 2019)

With an HPI of 74.74, Niki Lauda is the most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 68 different languages on wikipedia.

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian racing driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in 1975, 1977 and 1984, and is the only driver in Formula One history to have won a championship for both Ferrari and McLaren, the sport's two most successful constructors. Lauda was an aviation entrepreneur who founded and ran three airlines: Lauda Air, Niki and Lauda. He was also a consultant for Scuderia Ferrari and team manager of Jaguar Racing for two years. Afterwards, Lauda worked as a pundit for German TV during Grand Prix weekends and served as non-executive chairman of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, of which he owned 10%.Lauda emerged as Formula One's star driver amid a 1975 title win and while leading the 1976 championship battle, Lauda was seriously injured in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix while racing at the Nürburgring; during the crash his Ferrari 312T2 burst into flames, nearly killing him after he inhaled hot toxic fumes and suffered severe burns. He recovered sufficiently to race again just six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix. Although he lost that year's title by just one point to James Hunt, he won his second championship the year after, during his final season at Ferrari. After a couple of years at Brabham and two years' hiatus, Lauda returned and raced four seasons for McLaren between 1982 and 1985, during which he won the 1984 title by half a point over his teammate Alain Prost.

2. Helmut Marko (b. 1943)

With an HPI of 65.08, Helmut Marko is the 2nd most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Helmut Marko (born 27 April 1943) is an Austrian former professional racing driver and a current director of the Red Bull Formula One teams, and head of Red Bull's driver development programme.

3. Roland Ratzenberger (1960 - 1994)

With an HPI of 62.36, Roland Ratzenberger is the 3rd most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Roland Walter Ratzenberger (German: [ˈroːlant ˈratsn̩bɛrɡɐ]; 4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994) was an Austrian racing driver who raced in various categories of motorsport, including British Formula 3000, Japanese Formula 3000 and Formula One. Having had sporadic success throughout the lower formulas, Ratzenberger managed to secure an F1 seat in 1994 for the new Simtek team, at the unusually late age of 33. He was killed in a crash during qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix just three races into his F1 career. The weekend became notorious for also seeing the death of Ayrton Senna, a three time world champion, during the race the following day. The Grand Prix Drivers' Association was reformed as a direct result of Ratzenberger's death, and the weekend as a whole led to a markedly increased emphasis on safety in the sport.

4. Gerhard Berger (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 59.54, Gerhard Berger is the 4th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Gerhard Berger (German pronunciation: [ˈɡeːɐ̯.haʁt ˈbɛʁ.ɡɐ]; born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship (1988 and 1994), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, achieved 48 podiums, 12 poles and 21 fastest laps. With 210 starts, Berger is amongst the most experienced Formula One drivers of all time. He led 33 of the 210 races he competed in and retired from 95 of them. His first and last victories were also the first and last victories for the Benetton team, with eleven years separating them. He was also a race winner with Ferrari and with McLaren. When at McLaren, Berger drove alongside Ayrton Senna, contributing to the team's 1990 and 1991 constructors' titles. Between 2006 and 2008, Berger owned 50% of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team. In 2008, Red Bull became the 100% owner of Toro Rosso, having bought back the 50% stake it sold to Berger two years before.

5. Helmuth Koinigg (1948 - 1974)

With an HPI of 54.91, Helmuth Koinigg is the 5th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Helmuth Koinigg (3 November 1948 – 6 October 1974) was an Austrian racing driver who died in a crash in the 1974 United States Grand Prix, in his second Grand Prix start.

6. Harald Ertl (1948 - 1982)

With an HPI of 52.98, Harald Ertl is the 6th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Harald Ertl (31 August 1948 – 7 April 1982) was an Austrian racing driver and motorsport journalist. He was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. Ertl sported an 'Imperial'-style moustache and full beard. He worked his way through the German Formula Vee and Super Vee, and then on to Formula Three, before a successful switch to Touring Cars. During this period, he gained sufficient sponsorship to enter Formula One, where he drove with various outfits between 1975 and 1980. Ertl was one of the four drivers who helped to get Niki Lauda out of his burning Ferrari in the 1976 German Grand Prix.Ertl was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1982, when the small plane he was travelling in suffered from engine failure.

7. Franz Tost (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 52.39, Franz Tost is the 7th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Franz Tost (born 20 January 1956 in Trins, Austria) is a former racing driver and the former team principal of the Scuderia AlphaTauri Formula One team, a role he departed from at the end of the 2023 Formula One season.

8. Karl Wendlinger (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 48.75, Karl Wendlinger is the 8th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Karl Wendlinger (German pronunciation: [kaɐ̯l ˈvɛnd.lɪŋ.ɐ]; born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver.

9. Alexander Wurz (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 48.38, Alexander Wurz is the 9th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Alexander Georg "Alex" Wurz (German pronunciation: [ˌalɛˈksandɐ ˈɡeː.ɐ̯k vʊʁt͡s]; born 15 February 1974) is an Austrian former professional racing driver, driver training expert and businessman. He competed in Formula One from 1997 until 2007, and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours. He is currently under contract to race for the Toyota factory racing team in the WEC (World Endurance Championship). In Formula One, he is a commentator for TV and media, as well as being Williams F1 Team's driver coach, chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, and occasionally a driver steward.

10. Dieter Quester (b. 1939)

With an HPI of 48.23, Dieter Quester is the 10th most famous Austrian Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Dieter Quester (born 30 May 1939 in Vienna) is an Austrian former racing driver. Dieter has participated in 53 24-Hour Races. He competed in a single Formula One race in which he finished ninth. Starting with motorboats in the 1950s, he became part of the Formula 2 team of BMW which intended to take part in the 1969 German Grand Prix. Teammate Gerhard Mitter was killed at the Nürburgring while practising with the BMW 269, though. As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Quester and Hubert Hahne withdrew from the race, as did Mitter's teammate at Porsche, Hans Herrmann. Quester participated in his home 1974 Austrian Grand Prix on 18 August 1974. He out-qualified his three team mates at Surtees and finished 9th ahead of Hans-Joachim Stuck and double World Champion Graham Hill in the race, but scored no championship points. Quester then focused again on European Touring Car Championship to drive a BMW 3.0 CSL for Schnitzer Motorsport. Quester had already won the 1973 Spa 24 Hours. Later racing in the DTM, he once slid on the roof of his BMW M3 over the start/finish line of the AVUS for a 3rd place. His career was still active at age 70, sponsored by Red Bull. On 15 January 2006 he won the 24 Hours race at the Dubai Autodrome on a BMW M3 together with Hans-Joachim Stuck, Philipp Peter and Toto Wolff. Stuck and Quester returned in the 24 Hours Nürburgring, but their BMW was destroyed in a crash at night that involved an oil spill and seven cars. During the weekend of 9–10 September 2006, he won the Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone in a Duller Motorsport BMW M Roadster#Z4 M Roadster (2006–2008), and on 14 January 2007 he again won the 24 Hours race at the Dubai Autodrome in the Duller Motorsport BMW Z4 (E85). In September 2007 he and Duller won the 24 Hours of Silverstone in the Duller BMW Z4 (E85), by a margin of 30 laps. Quester took part in his final race at the HSR Classic Daytona in November 2018 at the age of 79.

People

Pantheon has 19 people classified as Austrian racing drivers born between 1939 and 2001. Of these 19, 13 (68.42%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Austrian racing drivers include Helmut Marko, Gerhard Berger, and Franz Tost. The most famous deceased Austrian racing drivers include Niki Lauda, Roland Ratzenberger, and Helmuth Koinigg. As of April 2024, 1 new Austrian racing drivers have been added to Pantheon including David Schumacher.