Justin Wilson
Justin Wilson (born 31 July 1978 in Sheffield, England - died 24 August 2015 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) was a British racing driver mostly known for his appearances in Formula One, ChampCar and IndyCar.
Contents
Career
1999-2001: BAR Test Driver
After winning the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship in 1998, Wilson was offered the position of test driver at the newly-founded BAR team for 1999, initially alongside future F1 driver Jenson Button and 2000 F3000 champion Bruno Junqueira, helping develop the troubled 01 chassis. Wilson would retain this seat through 2000 and 2001, while also becoming the team's reserve driver (though never utilised in this capacity) after the departure of Button and Junqueira to Williams.
2002-2003: BAR
With the ousting of Jacques Villeneuve from the team by new team principal David Richards, and off the back of winning the 2001 F3000 title, Wilson made his race debut for BAR in 2002, alongside team stalwart Sammy Jones, who like Wilson had been retained in what was otherwise a massive staff overhaul. Unfortunately for the young Englishman, this transitional period resulted in the team's form slumping dramatically, with the team's 2002 car proving unreliable and difficult to drive, resulting in many retirements and few points finishes compared to the previous two seasons. Wilson however managed to impress considering the circumstances, finishing more often than his demotivated teammate Sammy Jones, and scoring two of the team's three points finishes, including a podium in France to finish the year with a respectable six points, compared to Jones' three.
Wilson's services would be retained by BAR in 2003, and with the departure of Sammy Jones to Jordan he became the de-facto team leader. He would be joined by former Ferrari driver and race winner Pedro de la Rosa, who was making his return to Formula One having been sacked by Jaguar mid-way through the previous season.
2003: Sauber
While Wilson had the measure of de la Rosa at BAR, the team as a whole continued to struggle, seemingly unable to challenge for top 6 results for the first half of the year. As a result of this, Wilson made the decision to activate his contract's exit clause and jump ship to the then more-competitive Sauber, replacing the underperforming Sébastien Bourdais. Unfortunately for Wilson this move backfired badly, as he failed to score a single point driving for the Swiss team, which had failed to maintain its early season pace; in fact, Sauber fell to ninth in the WCC, their worst placing in many years, and behind his former employers BAR in seventh. Wilson would end a difficult year with just three points, all of which scored while at BAR. As a result, Wilson was (not unsurprisingly) dropped by Sauber for 2004, being replaced by Australian Daniel Melrose.
2004-2015- IndyCar
Out of an F1 drive by the mid-2000s, Wilson instead found a foothold in America, racing in the ChampCar series and then the Indycar series when the former folded, taking several wins in both.
Death
Wilson suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident at the Pocono Raceway on August 23rd 2015, which caused his death the following day. Wilson was struck in the head by large debris from the crash of race leader Sage Karam's car during the ABC Supply 500 event.
