P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The Brazilian was also Sporting Director and latterly a consultant at McLaren.
Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion, has sadly passed away at the age of 56. He suffered a heart attack while racing with his son at The Concourse Club in Florida on December 29th. De Ferran achieved notable success in his racing career, including back-to-back CART titles in 2000 and 2001. He also set the closed-course land speed record in 2000, reaching a speed of 241.428mph, which remains unbeaten. After his racing career, de Ferran ventured into Formula 1 management with BAR-Honda in 2005 but resigned in 2007. He later joined McLaren as Sporting Director and returned to the team in a consultancy role in 2021. Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of Gil de Ferran during this difficult time.
