Alexander On Podium On F1 Debut - 30 April 2007
Peter Alexander scored a podium finish at Hockenheim at the weekend on his Formula 1 debut...

PA Motorsport Team Owner Peter Alexander finished on the podium at his first Euroboss meeting and his first visit to Hockenheim! Alexander was driving a Simtek S951 and after suspension failure in Saturdays race curtailed a certain podium finish, he raced from the rear of the grid on Sunday to finish 3rd.

Peter Alexander took part in his first Formula One race at Hockenheim in Germany at the weekend and finished on the podium. Alexander managed to secure 3rd place in his Simtek S951 F1 car.

 

Alexander, who had not been to the ultra fast Hockenheim circuit before qualified 4th overall  and top British driver just 9 tenths of a second off of pole position. The front row of the grid had been secured by the Benettons of Klaus Zwart and Pierre Schroader whose cars had 70 bhp more than Alexanders Simtek as well as benefitting from semi automatic gearboxes.

 

During the first race Alexander, who is the Chief Instructor at Brands Hatch and Snetterton circuits in the UK, managed to get the Simtek S951 up into 3rd place and was challenging for 2nd place when the rear suspension failed. Alexander managed to keep control of the Formula 1 machine and bring it back to the pit lane to retire. Sundays race would be started by the finishing positions from Saturdays race so Alexander would be forced to start last.

 

During Sunday morning warm up Alexander was 3rd fastest and feeling confident for the race ahead after the mechanics had replaced the right rear suspension on the Simtek. At the first start a car stalled resulting in an aborted start, then, the rain started to fall despite the temperatures being nearly 30 degrees. At the second start Alexander made a superb getaway passing several cars on the grid including a car that had lost control off of the grid. On the first lap round Alexander was in second place about to pass for the lead when the red flags came out as a result of the start line accident. Normal grid postions were to be resumed so it was to the rear of the grid again for Alexander. Undeterred, at the third start Alexander got another superb getaway and passed a few cars from the start. Alexander got his head down to pass most of the grid to grab 3rd place at the finish being beaten only by the more powerful Benettons, thus landing a podium finish on his Formula 1 debut.

 

The next round is the UK round which takes place at Donington Park on May 19th.

Photo: Peter Alexander (right) celebrates on the podium at Hockenheim. Photo by Bear Media.

More photos from Hockenheim can be found in the Picture Gallery under 'other'