Fabio Leimer

Fabio Leimer
Fabio Leimer
Born	April 17, 1989 (age 37); Switzerland
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	2003–2015
Known for	Winning the 2013 GP2 Series championship

Fabio Leimer (born 17 April 1989) is a retired Swiss professional racing driver, primarily recognized for his triumph in the 2013 GP2 Series.

Karting

Leimer's motorsport journey began in karting in 2003, where he claimed the Swiss Junior Championship title and finished as runner-up the next year. In 2006, he achieved second place in the Swiss ICA Championship.

Formula BMW

Progressing to single-seater racing in 2006, Leimer competed in the Formula BMW ADAC series in Germany. Starting the season with Team Rosberg and later joining Matson Motorsport, he accumulated four points and ended the year eighteenth in the standings. Additionally, he took part in the Formula BMW World Final held in Valencia, securing nineteenth position.

Formula Renault

In 2007, Leimer raced for Jenzer Motorsport across both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championships. Within the Eurocup, he scored points in three events and recorded the fastest lap at Donington Park, finishing seventeenth overall. Meanwhile, in the Italian championship, he earned points in eleven out of fourteen races, achieved two podium finishes at Spa-Francorchamps and Valencia, and concluded the season eleventh in the rankings.

International Formula Master

Leimer stepped up to the International Formula Master series with Jenzer Motorsport in 2008. He secured the runner-up position behind champion Chris van der Drift, winning three races at Estoril, Imola, and Monza, alongside five additional podium appearances. His efforts contributed to Jenzer Motorsport's third place in the teams' championship. In the Formula Master Italia series, he competed twice and finished fourth overall with one victory at Mugello.

During October 2008, Leimer took part in a three-day Indy Lights test with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, a prize initially awarded to German driver Michael Ammermüller who declined it due to personal reasons.

He continued competing in the series for 2009, teaming up with reigning Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion Pål Varhaug. Over the first six rounds, Leimer won races at Pau, Valencia, Brno, Brands Hatch, and Spa-Francorchamps—the latter serving as a support event for the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. He secured the championship title with his sixth victory during round seven at Oschersleben.

GP2 Series

Following his runner-up finish in the 2008 Formula Master season, Leimer tested with Italian outfit Trident Racing at Paul Ricard later that year and with DAMS in 2009 as part of his prize for winning the Formula Master championship.

In October 2009, he underwent testing with Ocean Racing Technology at Jerez and was subsequently confirmed as one of their drivers for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, alongside Alexander Rossi and Max Chilton. Leimer remained with Ocean Racing into the 2010 GP2 Series season, again partnering Chilton. At the season opener in Barcelona, he finished eighth in the feature race and secured pole position for the reverse-grid sprint race, which he won. Despite this early success, no further points were scored throughout the season, leaving him nineteenth overall.

For 2011, Leimer switched to Rapax alongside Julián Leal. He finished fifth in the Asia series and claimed his second sprint race victory of the main GP2 series at Catalunya by setting the fastest lap and benefiting from Romain Grosjean’s disqualification. Additional points earned at Monza helped him finish fourteenth in that year’s championship. Moreover, he won the feature race at the non-championship 2011 GP2 Final held at Yas Marina.

Leimer joined Racing Engineering for the 2012 campaign, partnering Nathanaël Berthon. Although he did not register any wins that year, six podium finishes elevated him to seventh place overall. Demonstrating consistent form throughout 2013, Leimer captured three victories and seven podiums en route to securing the GP2 drivers’ championship title.

FIA World Endurance Championship

In 2014, Leimer became part of the Swiss outfit Rebellion Racing to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship following his participation in the pre-season "Prologue" test. This opportunity represented his debut in sports car racing.

Super Formula

Leimer had intended to race in the 2015 Super Formula championship with Team Mugen, piloting a car equipped with a Honda engine. Nevertheless, on 7 March 2015, his contract was cut short due to financial complications.

Formula One

On 3 June 2015, the Manor Marussia F1 Team appointed Leimer as their official reserve driver for the 2015 campaign, allowing him to take part in FP1 sessions at selected Grands Prix. He took part in one FP1 session during the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Formula E

On 23 June 2015, Virgin Racing revealed that Leimer would replace Jaime Alguersuari for the concluding two rounds in London after Alguersuari was sidelined due to health concerns. Leimer secured 19th position in qualifying and finished 14th in race 10 but crashed out after qualifying 17th in race 11. He completed the season without scoring points, placing 32nd among 35 drivers.

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2006	Formula BMW ADAC	Team Rosberg	18	0	0	0	0	4	18th
2006	Formula BMW ADAC	Matson Motorsport	18	0	0	0	0	4	18th
2007	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Jenzer Motorsport	14	0	0	1	0	17	17th
2007	Italian Formula Renault 2.0	Jenzer Motorsport	14	0	0	0	2	161	11th
2008	International Formula Master	Jenzer Motorsport	16	3	1	3	8	79	2nd
2008	International Formula Master#Formula Master Italia series \|	Jenzer Motorsport	2	1	1	2	1	48	4th
2009	2009 International Formula Master season	Jenzer Motorsport	16	7	6	12	9	106	1st

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2009–2011	2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season	Ocean Racing Technology	7	0	0	0	0	0	31st
	2010 GP2 Series season	Ocean Racing Technology	20	1	0	1	1	8	19th
	2011	2011 GP2 Series season	Rapax Team	18	1	0	1	2	15	14th
2011 GP2 Asia Series season		2011 GP2 Series season	Rapax Team	4	0	0	0	1	9	5th
2011		align=left 2011 GP2 Final	align=left Racing Engineering	2	1	1	1	1	13	style="background:#FFFFBF;" 1st
2012	2012 GP2 Series season	Racing Engineering	24	0	1	2	6	152	7th
2013	2013 GP2 Series season	Racing Engineering	22	3	1	1	7	201	style="background:#FFFFBF;" 1st
2014–2015	2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season - LMP1	Rebellion Racing	8	0	0	0	0	19	17th
	2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season - LMP1	Rebellion Racing	align=left 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP1	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	rowspan=2 align=left 2014–15 Formula E season	Virgin Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	32nd
Team Aguri (test driver)	Test driver
2015	2015 Formula One season	Manor Marussia F1 Team	Test driver
2016	2016 Ferrari Challenge Europe#Trofeo Pirelli (Pro)	Octane126	6	1	4	2	5	89	5th
2017	2017 Ferrari Challenge Europe#Trofeo Pirelli (Pro)	Octane126	8	1	0	1	6	105.5	6th
2017	[[]] 2017 24H Series#A6 class	Octane126

Full Formula BMW ADAC Results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole positions) (Races in italics signify fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Position	Points Earned
2006	Team Rosberg	HOC1 Race 1 13th	HOC1 Race 2 17th	LAU Race 1 14th	LAU Race 2 15th	NÜR1 Race 1 Retired	NÜR1 Race 2 15th	OSC1 Race 1 8th	OSC1 Race 2 Retired	OSC2 Race 1 14th	OSC2 Race 2 10th	NOR Race 1 17th	NOR Race 2 12th							19th place	4 points
2006	Matson Motorsport													NÜR2 Race 1 17th	NÜR2 Race 2 15th	ZAN Race 1 11th	ZAN Race 2 15th	HOC2 Race 1 16th	HOC2 Race 2 14th	19th place	4 points

Full Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Results

(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold) (Fastest laps are indicated by italics)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final Standing	Total Points

|- 2007 !nowrap |Jenzer Motorsport

|style="background:#EFCFFF;" |VLL1 
 Race 1  
 Retired 
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |VLL1 
 Race 2  
13th 
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |VLL2 
 Race 1  
12th 
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |VLL2 
 Race 2  
15th 
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |SPA 
 Race 1  
4th  
|style="background:#FFDF9F" |SPA 
 Race 2  
3rd  
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |VAL 
 Race 1  
5th  
|style="background:#DFDFDF;" |VAL 
 Race 2  
2nd  
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |MIS 
 Race 1  
8th  
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |MIS 
 Race 2  
7th  
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |MUG 
 Race 1  
13th  
|style="background:#EFCFFF;" |MUG 
 Race 2  
Retired  
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" |MNZ 
 Race 1  
5th  
|style="background:#EFCFFF;" |MNZ 
 Race 2  
Retired  
!11th place 
!161 points

|}

Full Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Results

(key) (Events shown in bold represent pole positions) (Events in italics denote fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final Position	Points Scored
2007	Jenzer Motorsport	ZOL 1 18	ZOL 2 12	NÜR 1 12	NÜR 2 7	HUN 1 19	HUN 2 19	DON 1 7	DON 2 Ret	MAG 1 5	MAG 2 28†	EST 1 16	EST 2 24	CAT 1 21	CAT 2 32	17th	17

Full International Formula Master Results

(key) (Pole positions are indicated in bold) (Fastest laps are shown in italics)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
2008	Jenzer Motorsport	VAL < br >1 < br > 4	VAL < br >2 < br > 3	PAU < br >1 < br > Ret	PAU < br >2 < br > 18	BRN < br >1 < br > 4	BRN < br >2 < br > 13	EST < br >1 < br > 1	EST < br >2 < br > 7	(remaining results truncated for brevity)
(summary row omitted)
(2009 results truncated for brevity)

Complete GP2 Series Results

(key) (Pole positions appear in bold) (Fastest laps are marked in italics)

2011 GP2 Series season 2012 GP2 Series season (2013 GP2 Series season) (Racing Engineering) SEP F EA1 BHR F EA1 CAT MON SIL NÜR HUN SPA MNZ MRN YMC 1 12 1 9 18 Ret 4 15 4 3 4 3 4 5 1 6 5 3 4 3

Year	Team Entry	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15	R16	R17	R18	R19	R20
2010	Ocean Racing Technology	CAT < br /> FEA < br /> 8	CAT < br /> SPR < br /> 1	MON < br /> FEA < br /> Ret	MON < br /> SPR < br /> 17	IST < br /> FEA < br /> 13	IST < br /> SPR < br /> 15	VAL < br /> FEA < br /> Ret	VAL < br /> SPR < br /> Ret	SIL < br /> FEA < br /> 17	SIL < br /> SPR < br /> 13	HOC < br /> FEA < br /> 21	HOC < br /> SPR < br /> Ret	HUN FEA 'Ret' \| style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'HUN' SPR '11'					19th	8
nowrap \| Rapax Team	style='background:#EFCFFF;' \| 'IST' FEA 'Ret'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'IST' SPR '20'	style='background:#DFFFDF;' \| 'CAT' FEA '8'	style='background:#FBFFBF;' \| 'CAT' SPR '1'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'MON' FEA '9'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'MON' SPR '7'	style='background:#EFCFFF;' \| 'VAL' FEA 'Ret'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'VAL' SPR '14'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'SIL' FEA '15'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'SIL' SPR '11'	style='background:black; color:white;' \| 'NÜR' FEA 'DSQ'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'NÜR' SPR '8'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'HUN' FEA '11'	style='background:#CFCFFF;' \| 'HUN' SPR '11'	style='background:#EFCFFF;' \| 'SPA' FEA 'Ret'	style='background:#EFCFFF;' \| 'SPA' SPR 'Ret'	style='background:#DFFFDF;' \| 'MNZ' FEA '7'	style='background:#DFDFDF;' \| 'MNZ' SPR '2'		14th	15
nowrap \| Racing Engineering SEP 4 6 BHR1 7 12 BHR2 2 8 CAT 12 11 MON 18 retired valencia-4-3 silverstone-14-9 hockenheim-2-4 hungaroring-9-14 spa-retired-5 monza-5-2 mugello-3-3	7th	152
1st	201

Full GP2 Asia Series outcomes

(key) (Entries in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final Position	Points
2009–10	Ocean Racing Technology	YMC1 FEA 17	YMC1 SPR Ret	YMC2 FEA Ret	YMC2 SPR Ret	BHR1 FEA 20	BHR1 SPR 15	BHR2 FEA Ret	BHR2 SPR DNS	31st	0
2011	Rapax	YMC FEA 10	YMC SPR 6	IMO FEA 6	IMO SPR 2					5th	9

Full GP2 Final outcomes

(key) (Entries in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Race 1	Race 2	Final Standing	Points Scored
2011	Racing Engineering	YMC FEA 1	YMC SPR 10	1st	13

Full FIA World Endurance Championship outcomes

Year	Team	Category	Chassis Model	Engine Type	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Overall Rank	Points Total
2014	Rebellion Racing	LMP1 Class	Lola B12/60	Toyota (RV8KLM 3.4 L V8)	SIL Retired	SPA Retired	LMS Retired	COA Retired	FUJ 10	SHA 8	BHR 6	SÃO 7	17th	19

24 Hours of Le Mans outcomes

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Category	Laps Completed	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Template:Country data CHE Template:Namespace detect showall Rebellion Racing	Template:Country data AUT Template:Namespace detect showall Dominik Kraihamer Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Andrea Belicchi	Rebellion R-One-Toyota	LMP1-L	73	DNF	DNF

Full Formula E results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final Position	Points Earned
2014–15	Virgin Racing	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI	PUT	PDE	BUE	MIA	LBH	MCO	BER	MSC	LDN 14	LDN Ret	32nd	0

Complete Formula One participation

(key) (Pole positions shown in bold; fastest laps in italics)

Year	Team Entry	Chassis Model	Engine Supplier	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	World Drivers' Champion (WDC)	Points Scored
Template:F1	Manor Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR03B	Ferrari 059/3 V6 Turbocharged, 1.6L	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	AUT	GBR	HUN TD	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	getRUS	getUSA	getMEX	getBRA	getABU	–	–

Ferrari Challenge Europe performance

Year

Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali outcomes

Year	Category	Team	Vehicle	Track	Pos.
2016	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Template:Country data SUI Template:Namespace detect showall Octane126	Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo	United States Daytona International Speedway	20th place
2017	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Template:Country data SUI Template:Namespace detect showall Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Mugello Circuit	Champion (1st)

External links