Adrián Campos

Adrián Campos Suñer (born in Alcira, Valencia, June 17, 1960) is a retired Formula One driver from Spain. He participated in 21 Grands Prix, debuting on April 12, 1987, without scoring a championship point. He later moved into team management, with more success.

Racing career

Early Years

Campos' first success was in radio-controlled car racing, winning the Spanish Championship in 1980. He switched to car racing a year later, and competed in Formula Three from 1983 to 1985, finishing 3rd in the 1985 German Championship. He raced in Formula 3000 in 1986, with modest success.

Formula One

Having done some testing for Tyrrell in 1986, Campos raced in the F1|1987 and F1|1988 F1 seasons for the Minardi team, alongside compatriot Luis Perez-Sala. He only completed two of the 21 races he entered, although more of these were due to mechanical failures than driving errors. However, these retirements caused him to lose his motivation and in 1988, he was replaced by Pierluigi Martini after failing to qualify three times in five races.

After Formula One

Campos competed in Spanish Touring Cars, winning the championship in 1994.

Team management

After F1, Campos has been successfully involved in team management. He founded Adrian Campos Motorsport (now Campos Grand Prix) in 1998, with Marc Gene winning the Open Fortuna by Nissan championship in its first year before immediately reaching Formula One. He also ran Fernando Alonso in his early years.

The team entered the GP2 series when it was launched for 2005. Two fifth places were the best results that year. The team opened 2006 with a podium at Valencia for Adrian Valles, but neither he nor fellow Spaniard Felix Porteiro scored another podium all year (Portiera was second on the road at Silverstone, but a steering rack irregularity caused him to be disqualified).

The signing of veteran Giorgio Pantano for 2007 lead the team forward, Pantano scoring two victories and 3rd overall, with team-mate Vitaly Petrov also winning at the season finale at Valencia. For 2008 Petrov remained, with Ben Hanley replaced in the second car by Lucas di Grassi after three rounds. Di Grassi immediately recaptured his 2007 form, with three second places in his first four starts, and subsequent wins at the Hungaroring and the new Valencia Street Circuit - which represented a double for the team, as Petrov won race one, having scored just one other podium all year. The Campos team won the 2008 Teams' Championship.

Campos has been linked to a move into Formula One, and he considered buying the assets of the defunct Super Aguri team. [http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4028&Itemid=219]

Personal life

His maternal grandfather Luis Suner was a noted industrialist in Spain. [http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-camadr.html] . His father founded the Avidesa frozen food company. He has a son whose name is also Adrián Campos. [ [http://www.adricampos.com/ Official website of Adrián Campos Jr.] ]

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

* [http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/campos/index.html Profile on F1 Rejects]
* [http://www.camposgrandprix.com/ Campos GrandPrix site]