Alan van der Merwe (born 31 January 1980) is a South African race car driver, entrepreneur and former driver of the Formula One medical car, alongside FIA Medical Delegate Dr. Ian Roberts.

Racing career

Van der Merwe won the 2001 Formula Ford Festival. In 2003 he was the British Formula 3 Champion, and drove for

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in Formula 3000/ GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the pre-existing David Sears Motorsport, sponsored by ...

in Formula 3000 in 2004. His sponsorship money ran out mid-season and he took a contract as a part-time tester for

BAR Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

–

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

. In 2005 and 2006, Van der Merwe raced in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series for

A1 Team South Africa A1 Team South Africa was the South African team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management A1 Team South Africa's owner was Tokyo Sexwale. The Chief Executive Officer of the team was Dana Cooper and the technical and sporting ...

, with a best placed finish of 7th in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In 2006, he joined the Bonneville 200 MPH Club, driving a modified BAR–Honda 007 car to speeds in excess of for their ''

Bonneville 400 British American Racing (BAR) was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year. Subsequently, they formed a partnership with Honda which ...

'' project; an attempt to set an official land speed record for a Formula One car on the famous

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

. In 2008, he drove for James Watt Automotive in the 1000 km of Silverstone, part of the

2008 Le Mans Series The 2008 Le Mans Series was the fifth season of ACO's Le Mans Series. It was a series for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring style cars broken into 4 classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It ran from 6 April to 14 September 2008 with five rounds tak ...

, finishing in 33rd place and completing 159 laps. He returned to

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

in the final round at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

FIA role

Van der Merwe was the official driver of the FIA medical car in Formula One events from 2009 until the end of the 2021 season, when he was replaced due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Alan van der Merwe
at Driver Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Merwe, Alan 1980 births A1 Team South Africa drivers Bonneville 200 MPH Club members British Formula Three Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Formula Ford drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Land speed record people Living people South African racing drivers Carlin racing drivers Haywood Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Super Nova Racing drivers DAMS drivers Sportspeople from Johannesburg