David Dwyer

Sydney, Australia

**David Dwyer** (born 17th May 1985) is an Australian racing driver currently driving for Red Bull Racing in the Formula One World Championship. In 2011 he won the Formula One Drivers' Championship with Red Bull Racing.

## Early years

David Dwyer was born in Sidney, Australia, on 17th May 1985. He is the son of Jack Dwyer, CEO of the technology company Dwytech, and of former clothes designer Barbara Müller. When David was two years old, they moved to the german city of Colonia, Barbara's birthplace.

His family followed motorsport very closely, with his father usually going to track days at the Nordschleife. This proximity to the track is what lead David to grow a passion in motorsport, since they would visit the track regularly thanks to their proximity. When David was six years old, he would get his first taste of a go-kart.

Thanks to the wealth of his family, he would find an easy path into the top teams of the regional karting championships at the time, where David would start his racing career at the age of seven. He would also finish his studies while racing in diferent championships, but decided not to pursue any career since he would enjoy some success while racing karts.

## Early racing career

Ever since he got a taste of racing at the early age of six, David Dwyer has always had a steering wheel in his hand. He began competing in regional karting championships in Germany with the financial backing of both of his parents. He would enjoy moderate success in his early races before jumping to the international scene.

### Formula BMW ADAC (2002-2003)

David would get his first taste of open-wheel racing at the 2002 Formula BMW ADAC championship. He joined the championship with the Mücke Motorsport team, achieving two race wins at the final round of the season and finishing 6th in the standings.

For 2003 he would remain with Mücke Motorsport, taking pole at 17 of the 20 rounds and winning 14 of them, claiming the championship in the process.

It was thanks to this season that he was contacted by the Red Bull Junior programme, a programme that offers funding and support for the promising young drivers that are part of it.

### 2004 Italian Formula Three Championship

For 2004, David would travel to Italy to compete in the Italian Formula Three Championship with the Red Bull sponsored Target Racing team. Out of the 18 races disputed that season across 9 different tracks, David would win half (9) of them. This showed the beginning a pattern that would follow in his career, with impressive showcases of pace at certain times but inconsistency throughout a championship season. He would finish 3rd in the standings that season.

### 2005 GP2 Series

David would compete in the inaugural season of the GP2 Series in 2005, now joining the ART Grand Prix team with his now usual Red Bull livery. This would prove to be a highly contested season, with several drivers capable of winning the title in the last few rounds.

Dwyer claimed pole position in 10 of the 12 qualy sessions that season, solidifying that his one lap pace was lightning quick. He would go on to win 8 out of the 24 races that season, claiming the first GP2 Series championship by just three points over his rivals.

During this season, Dwyer would complete several tests with the Red Bull Racing F1 team, and with the strong belief at the time that Red Bull was looking to buy his way to a second team to get his junior drivers early into Formula One to gain experience, all was looking good for David Dwyer to make his Formula One debut the following Season.

## Formula One Career

### 2006 - 2007 (Toro Rosso)

David Dwyer debuted at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix with the newly formed Toro Rosso team. This team would prove to be a training ground for young Red Bull academy drivers to get to grips quickly with a Formula One racing car.

David made the most of his debut with an underperforming car, finishing that years Australian Grand Prix in 9th place, taking points for the only time that season. He would spend the rest of the season battling the Porsche and Jordan cars on track.

For 2007 things started the same as 2006, but the team would enjoy a bit of support from their sister team at Red Bull, with a slight boost in perfrormance that helped Dwyer finish 2nd in Spa and 3rd at the final round in Brazil.

Theese final performances proved to the Red Bull family that Dwyer was ready to jump to the main team.

### 2008 - 2011 (Red Bull Racing)

David climbed up to the main Red Bull Racing team for the 2008 season, alongside his Toro Rosso teammate Marco Zimmermann. At his first qualifying session of the 2008 season in Australia, Dwyer would obtain pole position, showing that the car had made several improvements for that year. The car lacked race pace compared to the one lap pace it showed for the entire season, with Dwyer failing to get on the podium at the early rounds of the season.

For the Austrian Grand Prix, Dwyer achieved a 2nd place in qualifying, just behind Georgina Hill. He would convert this front row start into his first Grand Prix victory, and the first for the Red Bull Racing team. He would finish in 6th place in the driver's standings that season.

With the 2009 Formula One season came new car regulations, and Red Bull showed that the decision to abandon the 2008's car developement early was a right call to make, since it was showed from very early on that the car had an amazing potential. David took pole position for a total of 8 out of the 12 rounds that season, but only managed to convert two of them into race wins due to driver errors and mecanical failures. This season proved that the Red Bull was a volatile car with a lot of pace but was very tricky to drive. It also showed that Dwyer still had a lot to learn and mabye wasn't quite as ready to challenge for the world championship. The team would win the Constructors' Championship however, with strong showings from Zimmermann, who challenged for the Drivers' Championship. This would mark Dywer's status as the number two driver for the following season.

At the 2010 season, Renault brought a different concept for their engine which would prove that one of the biggest weaknesses of the Red Bull, engine failures, was now solved. The first half of the season didn't go Dwyer's way, with two second places to his name but also three retirements. The later half of the season was far stronger, with five podiums, including a race win at the 2010 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He would finish in 4th that season, beating his teammate in the process.

For the 2011 season, a combination of car upgrades made the Red Bull one of the cars to look out for that season. It was apparent that the Red Bull had improved in race pace, but Ferrari and McLaren had also brought a large number of innovations to their cars. The introduction of DRS also helped one of the Red Bulls biggest weaknesses, straight line speed.

David began the season with four consecutive podium finishes, and was standing firmly in 3rd in the standings, following Stine Olander and Eric Flynn, but failed to maintain this momentum with a mistake at the British Grand Prix, finishing 12th. A win in Austria would put Dwyer back into the title fight. It was at the Belgian Grand Prix where luck would go into Red Bulls favor, with Flynn retiring in three of the last five races,, putting him out of contention, and Olander retiring in two of them.

A final title showdown was set between David Dwyer and Stine Olander. David would secure pole position for the final round, with Stine failing to qualify inside the top 10. A retirement from Olander meant that David Dwyer was sure to become the 2011 Formula One world champion, becoming the first ever Red Bull Racing Formula One champion.