F1 Legends - Gerhard Berger - 1080p - SDTV Transcode - [[OptimusPr1me]]

The last of the playboys? It's a tag that probably overemphasises Gerhard Berger's devil-may-care approach to Formula 1. Yet in a career that coincided with the sport's step-change in worldwide popularity, there was something in the Austrian's attitude that chimed of an earlier, more relaxed, era.

As Bernie Ecclestone realised his vision and the coffers swelled, F1 made strides in how it went about its business. Big money meant corporate rigour, with the likes Ayrton Senna and, in particular, Michael Schumacher setting new standards of professionalism among drivers. All of a sudden they were athletes.

Not that Berger was unprofessional: no-one gets to see out the best years of their career at Ferrari and McLaren without showing commitment to the job in hand. But compared to the fearsomely intense Senna (his team-mate at McLaren between 1990 and 1992 and the owner of a briefcase Berger, a noted practical joker, once threw out of a helicopter they were sharing), he definitely seemed a throwback.

One never got the impression that F1 was the be-all with Berger - something that might, perhaps, be traced back to his formative years. Whereas Senna had been karting since boyhood, his friend Berger was working for his father's haulage business when, aged 22, he started racing saloon cars for fun in 1981.

A move to F3 soon followed, where Berger found a useful ally in Dr Helmut Marko. Now an 'advisor' to the Red Bull team, Marko was then running a team of his own in which Berger raced for in the European Championship. He also raced in the European Touring Car Championship for BMW - another crucial connection in what was proving a rapid ascent.

It was at the behest of the German manufacturer that Berger made his F1 debut for the ATS team at the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix. Their backing also ensured a seat at Arrows the following year - but only after he had narrowly escaped death in a road accident during the off-season. Thrown from his car when it plunged off a cliff, Berger sustained a broken neck.

Amazingly, he was back behind the wheel within weeks. The 1985 season proved difficult but Berger's career really took off the following year when he joined Benetton. Becoming a regular frontrunner, Gerhard's debut victory duly came in the Mexican Grand Prix, which he won after his car lasted an entire race distance a single set of Pirelli tyres. How times have changed in Formula 1.


Gerhard's Ferrari overalls and race helmet

A move to Ferrari swiftly followed but, having enjoyed such a meteoric rise it was, with hindsight, at around this point that Berger's career actually plateaued. More race wins were to come, including a glorious victory in the 1988 Italian Grand Prix just days after the death of Enzo Ferrari, but he would never find himself in serious title contention.

Quicker than anyone on his day, it could be argued that Gerhard lacked the consistency to challenge the likes of Senna week in, week out, even when he had the machinery to do so. Neither should one underestimate the consequences of the horrifying accident he suffered during the early laps of the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix - Berger miraculously escaping with little more than minor burns when his Ferrari hit the wall and burst into flames at the same Tamburello corner where Senna lost his life five years later.

There would be ten grand prix victories in all, the last coming for Benetton at Hockenheim in 1997, Berger's swansong year as a driver. Not that you'd necessarily notice if Gerhard felt it was a haul that didn't do justice to his quicksilver talent: still a regular in the paddock via stints as BMW's Competitions Director, co-owner of Toro Rosso with Dietrich Mateschitz (he was the first sportsman Red Bull sponsored in the mid-80s) and now President of the FIA's Single Seat Commission, Berger remains a jocular, popular member of the F1 fraternity.

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