Christian Vietoris

Christian Vietoris is a German racing driver who spent the most of his career in the DTM, driving for Mercedes from 2011 to 2016. He was a race winner just once in DTM, in 2014, when he finished fourth in the championship points.

Earlier in a career, Vietoris was pretty successful in single-seater competitions, winning the Formula BMW ADAC and World Final in 2006, finishing as a vice-champion in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2009 and scoring a couple of victories in GP2 Series.

Christian Vietoris

The beginnings

Bornin April 1989, Vietoris started his career in karting in 1994. He spent 10 years in the various categories and had some very good results. He was Junior ADAC Kart champion in 2003 and also won many regional championships what was enough to secure him a progress to the higher level.

The next stop in Christian’s career was the Formula BMW ADAC. In 2005, his first season in the series, Vietoris finished 16th overall. At the same time, he became the member Deutsche Post Speed Academy what was very useful.

As a Formula BMW champion, Vietoris tested BMW-Sauber F1 car

Formula BMW World champ in 2006

In 2006, Christian became the Formula BMW ADAC champion driving for Josef Kaufmann Racing. He had nine race wins that year and won the title with a big margin. The German driver also won the Formula BMW World Final in Valencia what allowed him a test with Sauber Formula 1 team.

Thanks to the excellent results in 2006, he also debuted in A1 Grand Prix, driving for Team Germany in the round held in Mexico where he was a substitute to Nico Hulkenberg.

Christian Vietoris in Mücke Motorsport's Dallara-Mercedes

Three season in the Formula 3

After a successful year, Vietoris moved to German Formula 3 in 2007. He stayed with the same team and had a relatively good season during which he scored one win out of 12 races before finishing 6th in the Drivers’ championship in his only season in the series.

The following two years Christian spent driving for Mucke Motorsport in the Formula 3 Euro Series. In 2008, he finished 6th in the points after he has won one race. The following season was much better. Vietoris won 4 out of 18 races and finished the season as a vice-champion, losing to Jules Bianchi.

Christian Vietoris wontwo races in the GP2 Series

Two seasons in the GP2 Series

The German driver missed the last round of 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series as he joined DAMS for the Asian GP2 Series. Vietoris appeared in eight races and scored one win before he took 10th place in the final standings.

That experience helped him a lot to get a full-time drive in GP2 for 2010 campaign. Vietoris moved to Racing Engineering team and had a solid season in which he won one race. At the end of the season, German racer was 9th, while in 2010 he moved up to the 7th position, with two wins in his books.

The final position could be better but Vietoris missed two rounds due to health reasons. In the first round in Istanbul, he had a heavy crash after which he complained about headaches, so he was replaced by Alvaro Parente until full recovery

Christian's DTM Mercedes in 2011

DTM debut with Mercedesin 2011

In 2011 Vietoris became Mercedes factory driver and in parallel to his GP2 Series duties, he became a pilot of Persson Motorsport, one of the Mercedes’ teams in DTM championship. His best result as a rookie was a 5th place at Oschersleben while at the end of the year he was 14th overall.

Since 2012, Christian is focused solely at DTM. He moved to the elite HWA Team and made a step forward in the final standings, moving up to the 12 place. The same year he became a part of revived Mercedes-Benz Junior Team that has guided several notable drivers like Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Celebrating maiden DTM victory at Oschersleben

The best Mercedes driver in DTM for two years

Vietoris stayed with HWA Team and in the following two years he was the best placed Mercedes pilot in DTM championship. In 2013, he finished 4th overall, still without a victory but with four podium finishes. For the first time in his career, Christian won the pole position, for the race at Lausitzring.

The same position in the final classification Vietoris won in 2014 but he scored his maiden victory in DTM, in the second race of the season at Oschersleben. In the penultimate round at Lausitzring, the HWA Team’s member finished 2nd. That season was the best so far in Christian’s career.

Christian Vietoris at Zandvoort in 2016

Leaving DTM at the end of 2016

The following two years weren’t as good as Mercedes struggled in the battle against BMW and Audi. In 2015, Vietoris had only one podium finish, taking 2nd place at Norisring. In the final eight races that year he failed to pick points, so dropped to the 16th place overall.

For the 2016 DTM campaign, he left HWA Team and joined Mucke Motorsport but that change did not change anything. The 3rd place at Zandvoort and the 2nd at Hockenheim were the only memorable moments of the season which the Mercedes driver finished at the 14th place.

At the end of 2016, he left DTM and stayed out of racing for one season. Then, in 2018, he joined Mercedes customer team Strakka Racing in some GT endurance races, including 24 Hours of Spa, but without notable results.

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