Voting Station

Gerhard Berger

Please vote to return to collections.

Auto Racer

The Resume

    (August 27, 1959- )
    Born in Worgl, Austria
    Formula One racing driver
    10-time Grand Prix winner
    Drove for Benetton (1984-87; 1996-97), Ferrari (1987-90; 1993-96) and McLaren (1990-93)
    Finished 3rd overall in the Formula One World Championship twice (1988, 1994)
    Known for his close association and friendship with Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna
    Co-owner of the Toro Rosso F1 team (2006-08)
    Was appointed President of the FIA Single Seat Commission (2012)

Why he might be annoying:

    He signed on with McLaren after Alain Prost's very public parting with the organization.
    His rationale may have been that - with McLaren's top dog out of the picture - he may actually have a real shot at glory. He clearly didn't count on facing Ayrton Senna.
    His colorful personality made up for an otherwise unremarkable racing career.
    He was a practical joker.
    On one occasion, during a joint helicopter ride, Senna was showing off his new 'carbon fire composite' briefcase, which he claimed was virtually 'indestructible.'
    On hearing this, Berger reportedly opened the helicopter door and, to test the theory, tossed it out of the aircraft.
    His antics ranged from harmless pranks (filling Senna's bed with frogs) to jokes that went awry on a more serious note (causing his Ferrari Lucia Y10 to flip in the speedway because his teammate - who went to the hospital from the accident - was driving 'too conservatively').
    On another occasion, he replaced Ayrton's passport photo with a photo of male genitalia, resulting in his being held up by custom agents on a trip to Argentina (Senna retaliated by gluing Berger's credit cards together).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He had a funny, wild sense of humor.
    He was a key contributing factor to McLaren's back-to-back 1990/1991 constructors title wins.
    He was a hugely popular figure among Mclaren fans, during a time deemed by many to be the Golden Age of the team's history.
    He was the first Formula One driver to get through to the seemingly impenetrable and distant Ayrton.
    He was a staunch advocate for changes in the F1 safety regulations.
    His advocacy emerged from his experiences at Imola's Tamburello corner, where he had been involved in serious crashes (ironically, Ayrton Senna would be dealt a fatal blow to the head on the same track years later).
    He scored Ferrari their first win in four years at the German Grand Prix, during an emotional period when he was still shaken from the deaths of both Senna and fellow Austrian Roland Ratzenberger (1994).
    He remained close with Senna's family after the fatal crash; acting as a pall-bearer and later serving as a racing adviser to Ayrton's nephew, Bruno Senna.
    He became the first driver to showcase an F1 racing car on the then-new Shanghai Grand Prix circuit; driving a Ferrari F2003-GA (2003).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying