Biography

At the age of 14 however, rather than discovering 'Rock 'n' Roll, Adrian discovered Karting, and his life was changed forever. "From that moment on the sound of racing engines was the only music I wanted to hear," he admits.

Spending the next few years honing his skills in Karts, Adrian switched to single-seaters in 2002, winning all ten rounds of the Swiss Formula Ford Championship in addition to taking five wins in the Austrian Formula Masters Championship.

There followed a difficult season in the Formula BMW ADAC championship, his best result being a sixth place, with things only marginally improving in 2004 when he switched to the Formula 3 Euroseries. That said, in Euroseries he drove for Colin Kolles team, the two forging a relationship that would eventually lead to Formula One.

For 2005 he remained in Euroseries but switched to the ASM Team, where he was partnered by upcoming British hot-shot, Lewis Hamilton. Adrian was no match for the British youngster, who won fifteen races to the German's two. However, the German finished runner-up in the championship and second (to Hamilton) in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.

Adrian missed the last two rounds of the 2005 Euroseries in order to represent his country in A1 GP, taking part in three races (Portugal, Australia and Dubai), his best result being two twelfth positions.

In 2006, Adrian followed the example of many before him, heading off to Japan, where he contested, and won, the F3 championship. In addition to one appearance in Super GT, the German finished third at Macau.

2006 also saw the youngster get his F1 break, recruited as one of three test drivers for Midland F1 Racing (formerly Jordan), and managed by his former Euroseries boss Colin Kolles.

Adrian took part in three Friday test sessions (at the European, French and Japanese rounds) giving a fairly good account of himself.

Nonetheless, there was widespread surprise when Spyker, which had bought Midland in September, subsequently confirmed that Adrian had been signed as its second driver (partnering Christijan Albers) on a "long-term contract".

"This is a great signing for team," said Spyker Team Principal Colin Kolles, however, the majority of the paddock, not least Tiago Monteiro, remained flummoxed that Adrian had made it to F1 so quickly and with no real track record, so to speak. Even the German seemed surprised by the decision, admitting: "To be honest I thought I would be a test driver in 2007".

Almost from the outset, it was clear that Adrian, although not exactly 'special' in the Lewis Hamilton sense, was good. Indeed, he was very good.

Looking at the stats it would appear the German had a miserable season, scoring one point, and that the result of Tonio Liuzzi being penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag. However, along the way there were some remarkable performances, most notably in a wet Saturday free practice session in Monaco, where he topped the timesheets, and at Spa, where a strong drive - combined with a good tyre strategy - saw him mixing it with the Top Ten, giving David Coulthard a hard time. There were also a number of excellent qualifying performances, Monaco springing to mind (again).

Yes, there were mistakes, often the result of over exuberance, such as Canada, Monaco and Silverstone, but for the most part the German youngster was impressive. After all, why else was he being looked at by Toyota, Williams and even McLaren, as it searched for a replacement for Fernando Alonso, at the end of 2007?

As it is, Adrian opted to remain with Spyker which had now become Force India, with team owner, billionaire Vijay Mallya, clearly impressed with the German driver, while at the same time convincing him that the Silverstone outfit meant business.

"He's a very good, quick driver," said Mike Gascoyne, who has worked with some excellent drivers over the years. "Mentally he has the ability, he just has to remain focussed."

Sadly, the team was not able to give him a car with which he could do very much, indeed it was essentially the 2007 car, which in itself was a derivative of Midland's 2006 contender.

Nonetheless, Adrian did his best, the season highlight coming at Monaco when he was running in fourth with just 6 laps remaining at which point he was clouted by Kimi Raikkonen's out-of-control Ferrari. Despite the subsequent outcry, it was later revealed that the German had overtaken three cars under a yellow flag and if he hadn't been eliminated from the race by the Finn he would have been handed a 25s penalty.

Retained by Force India for 2009, we looked forward to seeing how Adrian would progress, particularly in light of the technical partnership the team had established with McLaren and Mercedes. For the most part he didn't disappoint.

Although the new partnership with McLaren and Mercedes signalled a major step forward for Force India, it was agreed so late that the fruits of it were only really noticeable towards the end of the season, the VJM02 having originally been designed to accommodate a Ferrari engine.

Nonetheless, thanks to excellent work from the team in accommodating the Mercedes FO108W powerplant, the McLaren gearbox and Mercedes KERS system, not to mention sterling work from the aero department, by season end the car was a different beast to that with which Adrian began the season.

Like his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian struggled in the early races, the German rarely making it beyond Q1 and therefore leaving himself with a mountain to climb the following day. Nonetheless, there were some strong performances most notably in Australia where he finished just outside the points having started from sixteenth and China where, with 6 laps remaining, he was running sixth until he aquaplaned in the treacherous conditions.

However, there were mistakes also, such as Bahrain where he was penalised for blocking Mark Webber during Q1 and Spain where he caused an incident that eliminated Jarno Trulli and caused the two Toro Rosso drivers to collide.

By the time the circus arrived at Silverstone the effects of the marriage with McLaren and Mercedes were finally beginning to appear however, brake failure in Q1 left Adrian eighteenth on the grid while the following day - despite a new car and engine - he could only manage seventeenth.

Making the most of the conditions Adrian qualified seventh in Germany however, next day a certain points finish ended in disaster when he collided with Kimi Raikkonen whilst leaving the pits.

There were more upgrades in time for Valencia where Adrian finished tenth, having qualified twelfth, before the team really came into its own at Spa, the first of the season's two seriously low-downforce races.

While Adrian qualified and finished eleventh, he and his team were buoyed by the fact that teammate Fisichella took pole and finished second in the race, the Italian crossing the line just 0.939s behind the winner, Kimi Raikkonen.

When Fisichella moved to Ferrari to replace Felipe Massa, Adrian effectively became team leader, the German instantly responding to the responsibility of his new role. At Monza he qualified second subsequently finishing fourth in the race out-paced by only the Brawns and that man Raikkonen.

In Japan Adrian qualified fourth and Brazil third however, there were no more points. Indeed, in Singapore Adrian was hit with a $20,000 fine for causing an avoidable accident while in Japan he was involved in a trackside row with Jarno Trulli after the collided on the first lap. The Italian was subsequently fined $10,000 for his outburst.

Retained by Force India for 2010 Adrian has to build on the progress he made in 2009 while also cutting down on the incidents. He must also hope that his team's partnership with McLaren and Mercedes pays off.

Statistics - at the end of 2009 Season

Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 3
Grand Prix: 51
Wins: 0
Points: 6
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 1

Best result in 2009: 4th (Italy)
Best qualifying 2009: 2nd (Italy)
Worst qualifying 2009: 19tht (3 times)
2009: Out-qualified Giancarlo Fisichella 6 times
2009: Out-qualified Tonio Liuzzi 4 times
2008: Out-qualified by Giancarlo Fisichella 6 times
2009: Out-qualified by Tonio Liuzzi 1 time

2009: Completed 732 out of 988 laps (74.1%)
2009: Finished 13 times from 17 starts (76%)