Friedrich Jaeger

"When you're travelling at 300 kph, there's no such thing as too safe."

- Friedrich Jaeger, translated, after calling for the 2009 German Supercar finale to be called off.

Friedrich Jaeger (born May 19, 1984 in Mönchengladbach, Germany) is a German race car driver and son of former Formula A and German Supercar champion Franz Jaeger.

He, along with team Wernström Motorsport GmbH, looked to make their TM Master Cup debut at the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix. He failed to qualify for Karjala, but did make the season-ending Round of Decatur.

Early career
Following in his father's footsteps, young Friedrich began racing karts at the age of six, and by the time he was nine, he had been signed to Wernström's young driver program. With a smooth, consistent driving style reminiscent of his father's, Friedrich quickly proved to be the biggest star in the program, and looked to be making his debut with Formula A team O'Connor Racing for 2003.

German Supercar career
Unfortunately for Friedrich, O'Connor Racing revealed midway through 2002 that they planned to build their own engine for 2003, breaking their contract with Wernström, and declined to take up Friedrich. With the only open slots at the wrong end of the field, Wernström focused on reviving their flagging German Supercar team, and Friedrich followed suit. Making his debut in German Supercars at the young age of 19, Friedrich initally had trouble adapting to racing with a full body. However, he lost none of his speed, and frequently qualified near the front in his debut season, though he had difficulty finishing races due to his own inexperience and the unreliability of the car. In fact, he only finished twice, but both times he won from pole, remarkable in a car that many considered quite difficult to drive. This made him the top Wernström driver for 2004 after teammate Herman Schmidt retired following injuries in the last race of 2003.

Throughout 2004, Friedrich struggled, as the Wernström 858-04 proved to be not a very competitive car compared with the Gesslers. Still, Friedrich won at the Lausitzring after a rain-soaked race left half the field spinning off into the gravel. It was during this year that Friedrich began to become known by his father's nickname, Das Jaeger/Jäger (The Hunter), a play on his surname and the fact that he frequently chased down and overtook other drivers towards the end of the race. He would prove to be Franz Redlich's closest threat that year, but still finished a distant second. In 2005, Wernström finally delivered a championship-capable car, and Friedrich used it to full effect, winning nearly half of the races that year, and the championship after a close-fought battle with Franz Redlich. Redlich left German Supercars after 2005, leaving Friedrich to win most of the races in 2006 and take his second title in dominant fashion.

2007-08: Lost seasons
2007 started a bit more difficult for Friedrich – problems for Wernström in pre-season testing meant that their Gessler rivals had the edge, and he could only manage one podium from the first four races. He was more confident heading into Round Five at the Norisring, qualifying on the front row, but a troubled start slip back to ninth by the end of the first lap. However, by the end of Lap 8, he would be back up to fifth, and seemed to have the pace to challenge for victory when his left rear tire suddenly deflated under braking for the hairpin at Turn 2, pitching Friedrich into the Armco and then back across the racetrack. He was then T-boned by another car, and sent barrel-rolling into the tire wall. Friedrich was severely injured in the crash, and had to undergo emergency surgery in order to save his life.

Needless to say, Friedrich spent the rest of 2007 and most of 2008 recovering from his injuries, but he was always focused on getting back racing, which he did for the last three races in 2008. Although the first two races did not go well, he cemented his return by nearly winning the season closer at Hockenheim before his engine failed with six laps remaining.

2009-11: Return to prominence
Friedrich would then prove he had lost none of his speed by frequently running up front and challenging for the title in his first full season back in 2009. However, unreliability would be a problem, and despite winning five races, Friedrich only managed second in the championship. The mechanical gremlins would prove to be licked for 2010 however, and Friedrich took the title in dominant fashion, and followed that up with a fourth championship in 2011.

2012: Farewell tour
Towards the end of 2011 Wernström announced their intention to re-launch their Formula A program for 2012, and gave Friedrich a few tests to see if he was capable of making after waiting for the opportunity for nearly a decade. However, he was off the pace in all preseason tests, and ultimately decided, along with the team, not to pursue a future in Formula A, instead returning to German Supercars. Currently, Friedrich looks the favorite to seal his fifth title and third consecutive, but some bad luck has seen him slip back into the clutches of his championship rivals.

Since the announcement that he would be entering the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix, Friedrich has announced his intention to leave German Supercars at the end of 2012, to hopefully concentrate on the 2013 TM Master Cup season.

Personality and Driving Style
Friedrich is reknowned for his very smooth, consistent, and patient driving style. When overtaking, Friedrich often spends a few laps behind his opponent, if he has not already done so in practice, before striking at their weakest point on the track. If he finds he cannot pass, he will instead edge closer, often intimidating his opponent into making an error. When being passed, he has been known on some occasions to simply concede the place; this usually happens if he is on a different strategy, or if he has a problem. That said, if he does have to fight for position, he does not make passing an easy thing, positioning his car well enough to frustrate trailing drivers. It is by doing this that he secured 3 key wins late in the 2011 season to vault him from 2nd to 1st in the championship.

In the years since his crash at the Norisring, Friedrich has become Germany's most outspoken advocate for improved driver safety standards. He famously called for the 2009 German Supercar finale to be called off due to torrential rain soaking the track, and angrily sat the race out after his protests failed. Friedrich proved to be vindicated when several leading cars spun out at turn 2, and almost the entire rest of the field speared off at the turn 4 hairpin, causing the race to be red flagged and eventually called off. It is believed that this incident is what has provoked Friedrich's desire to leave the series, though he has refused to comment on these rumors.

Despite his outspokeness when it comes to driver safety, Friedrich is otherwise quite shy and reserved, and rarely makes public appearances for his team. He is also a noted player of first-person shooters, particularly the more 'old-school' titles like Doom, Quake, and Serious Sam.