Alex Yoong  Born: 20.07.76  Birthplace:Kuala Lumpur  Team: Minardi  2006 Car Number: 22  Last Season: Equal 19th  GP Pedigree (After the Japanese GP)  Starts: 15  Victories: 0  Poles: 0  Fastest Laps: 0  Points: 0  GP Debut: 2001, Italian GP, Monza   Five-year Stats

Alex Yoong gets his chance to start a season after an extensive winter's testing to start a full season with the Minardi team.

Yoong made his long-awaited Formula One debut in the Minardi with just three races to go after the ousting of Tarso Marques at the struggling team last season.

The 23-year-old, who had been touted a possible newcomer to Grand Prix during the summer, managed 44 laps of his debut in the Italian Grand Prix before he succumbed to engine failure.

He knew what to expect from the perennially underfunded team when mechanical problems forced him out in the United States next time out but he did at last complete the course in his final start of the season in Japan.

Yoong had been driving for seven years, starting in his native Formula Asia series before graduating to the British Formula Renault.

He competed four successful seasons in Europe and gained a deserved victory in Formula Three at Brands Hatch in 1998.

He has also competed in the burgeoning Formula Nippon in Japan and now has three races to impress enough to convince Minardi to stick with him.

But he must be hoping that the equipment can give him a chance to show what he can do alongside the promising Fernando Alonso.

Formula One Career:

2002:	GP with Minardi
2001:	GP with Minardi - (3 races, 0 points)

Background:

2000:	Formula Nippon in Japan
1999:	British Formula Three Championship, four races, one second place and three top six finishes. Formula Three, Macau Grand Prix, seventh.
1998:	British Formula Three Championship.
1997:	British Formula Renault Sport Championship.
1996:	British Formula Renault Sport Championship.
1995:	Formula Asia International Series.
1994:	Formula Asia International Series.