Photo: Penske
Gil de Ferran, 1992 British Formula 3 champion, double IndyCar champion and winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500, has died in the United States.
According to media reports, de Ferran suffered a heart attack while competing with his son at an event in Florida.
De Ferran was born in Paris in 1967, moving to Brazil when he was four. After winning the Brazilian Formula Ford championship in 1987 he followed the path of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna to Britain. Running Alan Cornock’s Fulmar Reynard he finished third in both the British and Esso championships in 1989, before being signed by Paul Stewart Racing for dual British and European campaigns in Formula Vauxhall/Opel Lotus in 1990.
Though he beat team-mate David Coulthard in both, championship success eluded him as Vincenzo Sospiri and Rubens Barrichello took the titles.
For 1991, de Ferran moved up to F3 with Edenbridge Racing, helping the team to develop the out-of-favour Reynard 913 and taking three wins. For 1992 his hard work in sorting the Reynard chassis paid dividends as, reunited with PSR, he dominated the British championship.
He stayed with PSR for his graduation to Formula 3000 in 1993, taking three wins in two seasons and a championship best of third in 1994.
Despite two brief outings in contemporary Formula 1 cars, which were too insubstantial to even merit being considered tests, there were no openings to move up with Barrichello and Coulthard, so de Ferran made the move to the USA and IndyCar.
His big break came when he joined Penske Racing in 2000, winning the IndyCar title in his first season with the team and doubling up the following year. He bowed out of driving single-seaters at the end of 2003, having notched up his only Indianapolis 500 win in his final season.
Having become a team owner, he made a brief reappearance behind the wheel of one of his own team’s Acuras in the American Le Mans Series in 2008 and 2009, maintaining his strong links with Honda.
On the other side of the pit wall, he was BAR Honda’s Sports Director in F1 from 2005 to 2007, and sporting director of McLaren from 2018 to 2021, renewing his links with the team in 2023.
In a statement Roger Penske paid tribute to de Ferran, who “defined class as a driver and as a gentleman. As an IndyCar champion and an Indianapolis 500 winner, Gil accomplished so much during his career, both on and off the track.”
David Salters, president of Honda Racing Corporation USA paid tribute to his “special place in all our hearts,” adding that “Gil was a big part of the Honda racing family and CART heritage…He was an extremely talented man and brilliant racer.”
In its statement, McLaren commented on de Ferran as “an important and integral part of our Racing team [who] made a lasting impact on everyone racing and working alongside him.”
Formula Scout extends its deepest sympathies to his family, wife Angela and children Luke and Anna, his friends and colleagues from the motor-racing community.