Jan Krejci

Jan Krejci before pre-qualifying at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix

Plzeň, Czechoslovakia

**Jan Krejči** is a racing driver who formerly competed in Formula One. He previously drove for Fondmetal, Footwork and Minardi from 1991 to 1995.

Following the 1994 season, he was sarcastically nicknamed "The Walls of Prague" by Jack Wilson for his defensive ability in driving.

## **Early Life**

Jan was born on the 9th February 1970 in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia where he would live until 1984 when him and his family moved to East Berlin. Very little else is known about his early life.

## **Racing Career**

### **Early Career (1984 - 1987)**

Jan's racing career started sometime in the year 1984 in championship and non-championship East German junior auto races in which he achieved points finishes and at least two podiums from 1984 to 1987. Very few details are known of his driving at the time but Jan was commonly described as an inconsistent driver who showed brief glimpses of talent throughout this period despite his many issues in qualifying, an Achilles' heel which would be a constant throughout his career.

### **German Formula Three (1988 - 1990)**

Jan was given permission to to leave East Germany in 1988 to take part in the German Formula Three Championship in West Germany with the Volkswagen Motorsport team. He would take part in this championship for three years from 1988 to 1990, where he would achieve many points finishes with a total of six podiums and two wins. One of these was at the Masaryk Circuit in 1989 and another was at the Österreichring in 1990. He achieved these results despite missing the final three races in his second season due to a broken wrist after getting caught up in the highly controversial incident between Ezequiel Zarco and Karl Fischer at the Diepholz Airfield Circuit in August 1989 while attempting to overtake the pair around the outside for 6th place.

*"Really... I don't know what Ezequiel was doing, He went for the gap on the inside of Karl which was closing fast... He could see that corner wouldn't go three wide but he did it anyway, The resulting crash took me out too and I appeared to have lost the most out of it"* *- Jan Krejči speaking after returning to the grid for the 1990 season*

His best championship finish was in the 1990 season where he came third overall, two points away from winning the championship and a single point behind his main rival, the French-Argentine, Ezequiel Zarco.

### **Formula One**

#### **1991 (Fondmetal)**

On 12th December 1990 Jan was announced as the test and reserve driver for new Formula One team Fondmetal's inaugural season in 1991. A notable clause in his contract allowed Jan to make substitute appearances when requested to any other team on the Formula One grid if he was not racing for the Fondmetal team at any point during that weekend.

*Debut (Round 5):*

After spending six months on the side lines Jan finally got to make his debut for the team at the US Grand Prix to replace the abruptly departing Rob Morrison as no permanent driver had been contracted to complete the rest of the 1991 season yet. He struggled in the earlier practise sessions with gearbox issues, missing almost the entirety of FP2 with both gearbox and clutch problems, showcasing the lacklustre reliability of the FA1M-E.

For qualifying Jan set a time of 1:42.043, which had him start 14th on the grid. After making a good start and gaining a position, Jan's race was cut short due to suspension damage caused at the exit of the first corner after being caught up in Kevin Baldoni and Alexander Roy's turn one collision.

   All four drivers involved were forced to retire on the spot and no notable injuries were sustained by any of them, and Jan later stated the following in a post-race interview:

*"Nothing I could have done; I'm quite annoyed by the whole situation to be honest, The team was really pushing hard to secure more points in the championship and then something like this happens. However these things happen in motorsport so I just need to move on and hope for another opportunity to race for the team to crop up in the near future. I haven't spoken with Gabriele about whether or not I'll be given the opportunity to take up the seat full time now Rob is out, but that is a discussion I hope to have rather soon"*

*- Jan Krejči speaking post-race at the 1991 US Grand Prix*

*(Round 9):*

Jan would start the Belgian Grand Prix in 14th place after a difficult qualifying, only starting ahead of Timo Pakkinen and Otto Mäkkinen (Who had a qualifying ban after his collision with Fabiano Margheriti during the German Grand Prix). After a strong first lap, Jan moved up to 13th place. He started to struggle with pace after clipping the wall on lap two at the bus-stop chicane, giving him damage on his rear wing. Despite this and after an early pitstop he was running 7th, over a minute ahead of Guiseppe Bianchi, by the last lap before losing control on his heavily worn tyres at the exit of *Van Damme.* He broke his front-left steering rod on the armco barrier in this crash. However, this did not matter as Jan had completed enough of the race to be a classified finisher in 7th place.

*(Rounds 10):*

Jan's good fortune in Belgium would not continue into the Italian Grand Prix as he would set the slowest registered time in qualifying but would actually start the race in 10th ahead of Jasper Saetern and Fabiano Margheriti after the pair had qualifying collision, forcing them both out of the session early on. Jan would get a poor start, compounded by hesitation at the Ascari chicane, causing him to spin and hit the wall which gave him major front wing damage. He later commented that it made the car "*drive like a bus through the corners."* This caused him to remain at the back for the rest of the race until his engine blew. This caused a large plume of smoke to come pouring out of the rear of his car in a memorable incident during lap 19 which forced him to retire from the Grand Prix.

Jan wouldn't make the start of the Spanish Grand Prix as his car was withdrawn on the morning of pre-qualifying after the team discovered a two inch crack in his clutch. This caused him to miss the session and the stewards did not grant him special permission to race.

*(Round 12):*

The final Grand Prix of the season would not be one to remember for Jan, despite qualifying well in 11th place just ahead of Jasper Saetern. His first lap however would be a difficult one as a collision with Giuseppe Bianchi would cause rear wing damage which would cost him lap time until it eventually caused the entire rear wing to collapse on lap 19 at the exit of *Spoon Curve.* This caused him to go spearing out of control into the armco barrier at over 130mph. The front left suspension unit was forced backwards through the car, breaking three of his fingers and his left forearm. Jan was first assessed at the circuit's medical centre before being taken by ambulance to Mie Prefectural General Medical Center in the nearby city of Yokkaichi, where he stayed for two days before being taken back to his home in Czechoslovakia where he would be fully recovered by late November of that year.

#### **1992 (Footwork)**

After fully recovering Jan would be announced to be driving for the Footwork team for the 1992 season. The season would start off poorly as Jan was unable to comfortably fit in the car and had to drive with the seat removed. He would spend almost all of the season at the back of the grid unable to keep up with the pace of the other cars. His main chance of points would be at the race-soaked second race of the season in Brazil where he was running in 9th until the final 3 laps when he would lose both 5th and 6th gears causing him to be overtaken by both Danilo Koren and a recovering Rolph Mills before the end of the race.

As Jan didn't score any points in 1992 he was classed as a non-contender in the championship.

#### **1993-1995 (Minardi)**

##### **1993**

After a poor 1992 season Jan was intent to move up the grid for 93' and was announced to be driving for Minardi in January of that year on a two year contract with the team, However Minardi's performance from 92' proved to be difficult to replicate as a large amount of the team followed Alexsandro Pinho's move to Ferrari.

Jan's season would be greatly similar to the year prior excluding a single points finish, An 8th place at the French Grand Prix pushing him up to 19th in the championship ahead of his rookie teammate Manuel Valentini.

1993 was the first season in which Jan raced under a Czech racing licence after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

##### **1994**

*Early Season:*

Continuing onwards with Minardi for 1994, Jan's season would get off to a rocky start with poor qualifying sessions, leaving him with much work to do in the races. He would manage to fight his way up fromt the back of the grid to P13 and P15 for the first two rounds respectively. This was followed by a pair of rough races, both ending in DNF's.

Following Jan's poor start to the season, during which he scored no points in the first five rounds, questions were beginning to be asked about whether he should retain his seat for 1995.

*Later Season:*

Jan's poor fortune would continue for the US Grand Prix. He crashed out on lap two while attempting to avoid the spinning Ligier of Samson Bagratyan at the first corner. Following this Jan wouldn't even start the German Grand Prix following engine issues on the formation lap. This would be the catalyst for his very public argument with Minardi team boss Gabriele Tredozi.

Following this, Krejci would finally get what he had been waiting for at the Belgian Grand Prix. He struggled in qualifying and was only able to start 14th alongside his teammate Ralf Goldbach. After a cautious start avoiding a turn one incident he would get up to 10th place. From there he would spend the rest of the race fighting against his team-mate Goldbach, Johnson, Toom and a recovering Timo Pakkinen who had taken major sidepod damage earlier on in the race. Jan would Eventually finish 9th on the line after struggling with tyre wear.

Going into the final two rounds of the season Minardi and Ligier were both on 8 points. However, the minardi pairing would come out on top as Ralf Goldbach would finish 10th at the final Grand Prix in Japan, securing 8th in the Constructors' Championship.

##### **1995**

Jan's 1995 season would go very poorly. He would spend the whole season firmly off the pace of his teammate, Goldbach and would claim his lack of pace came from the major changes in the rear wing specification of the Minardi M195 in comparison to the car from the year prior. These changes were made necessary by the regulation changes introduced for the 1995 season.

The only highlight of Krejci's season would be a surprise fifth place in qualifying for the extremely wet conditions on the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix. However his efforts would be in vain after he would be forced to start in the T-car from the pitlane after his Minardi suffered an electrical failure on the line at the beginning of the formation lap.

## Nationality and FIA licence issues

Jan faced a plethora of political hurdles both inside and outside of the sport throughout his career. His first licence (used only in the 1989 German Formula three season) he raced East Germany nationality due to restrictions from his native CSR's (Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic) communist government at the time however, Upon the end of velvet revolution in November 1989 Jan was able to race under his own Czechoslovakian nationality through a CFR (Czechoslovakian Federal Republic) licence until the eventual dissolvement of the CFR on January 1st 1993 and has since raced under a Czech racing licence across several categories.

## Complete Racing Record

**Complete German Formula 3 World Championship Results:**

\*A new points system was introduced for the 1989 season onwards

**Complete Formula One Championship Results:**