Giancarlo Fisichella

Birthdate: January 14th 1973   Country: Italy   Gender: M

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History: 1984 -  Italian Minikart Championship (60cc). 1985 -  1987 Karting, 100cc Italian Cadets Championship. 1988 -  1991 Karting,100cc International Class. 1992 -  Italian Formula 3 Championship - 8th (1st in the Imola Grand Prix). 1993 -  Italian Formula 3 Championship - 2nd Pole Position and 2nd in the Monaco Grand Prix. 1994 -  Italian Formula 3 Champion. 10 wins, 5 second places, 3 third places, 11 pole positions. Pole position and victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. 1995 -  Formula 1 - test driver for Minardi. 2nd in the Motor Show Challenge. DTM/ITC - 2nd in race at Mugello. 1996 -  Formula 1 - reserve driver for Minardi. Ferrari test driver. Winner of the Bologna F1 Supersprint with Benetton. ITC - 6th in the Championship, 5 podium finishes. 1997 -  Formula 1 - Jordan - 8th in World Championship 4th San Marino, 6th Monaco, fastest lap Spain, 3rd Canada, 2nd Belgium, 4th Monza, 4th Austria. 1998 -  Formula 1 - Mild Seven Benetton Playlife - 9th in World Championship. 2nd Monaco and Canada, pole position Austria. 1999 -  Formula 1 - Mild Seven Benetton Playlife - 9th in World Championship 2nd Canada. 2000 -  Formula 1 - Mild Seven Benetton Playlife - 6th in World Championship; 2nd in Brazil, 3rd in Monaco and Canada. 2001 -  Formula 1 - Mild Seven Benetton Renault Sport. 2003 -  Formula 1: BMW Williams F1, 12th, 12 points (1 podium finish) 2004 -  Formula 1: BMW Williams F1, 11th, 22 points

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Fast Italian Giancarlo Fisichella has probably never shown his true potential in Formula 1, which is a shame as when he first entered in 1996 he was tipped as a future champion.

His few races in 1996 with Minardi were, well, unspectacular. However they were enough to impress team boss Eddie Jordan, and the Italian was chosen to partner Ralf Schumacher in 1997.

He undoubtedly got the better of his German team-mate over the course of the season. He led races and took podiums but sadly a win eluded him. At the end of the season that was a court battle between Benetton and Jordan for Fisichella's services. Benetton won the battle.

Fisichella would spend four years at Benetton, with varying levels of success. In 1998 he took podiums, with second place finishes coming in Monaco and Montreal. However the team he had just left, Jordan, won a race with Damon Hill. In 1999 Benetton did worse, with Fisichella and Alex Wurz? struggling to score points. Fisi still reaped a podium at Montreal, Canada. 2000 saw 3 podiums but a bad second half of season.

In 2001 the car was not fast and was very unbalanced just like he did against his previous team mates he outqualifyed and out scored Jenson Button regularly through out the season. Despite a this and a podium at Spa Flavio Briatore dropped him and he returned to Jordan.

However the 2002 Jordan was worse than ever, and Fisichella and team-mate Takuma Sato struggled to score points. Incredibly Fisichella won the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2003 in controversial circumstances. Having passed Kimi Raikkonen on lap fifty-one the race was red-flagged on lap fifty-three. A mistake by stewards saw Raikkonen handed the victory, only for the decision to be overturned a week after the race. It wasn't the way Fisichella wanted to win his first Grand Prix, but at least he had a victory.

With no more points in 2003 apart from 2 in Indianapolis Fisichella left Jordan to join Sauber. He scored points more regularly, but never reached the high point of 2003. It would be his only season at Sauber. Renault beckoned.

It all started well, with Fisichella taking victory first time out in Australia. However since then Fisichella has struggled to match his team-mate, Fernando Alonso. In fact, this is the first time since 1996 where the Italian has been outperformed by a team-mate. Some say he may leave and join Williams for 2006, however Fisichella will be out to prove a point in the remaining races of 2005.

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Statistics

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Statistic	#	Percentage	First	Last
Number of Grand Prix	196	100%	1996	2008
Number of starts	196	100.00%	1996	2008
Number of finishes	130	66.33%	1996	2007
Number of finishes on podium	18	9.18%	1997	2006
Number of finishes in points	72	36.73%	1997	2007
Number of retirements	66	33.67%	1996	2008
Number of wins	3	1.53%	2003	2006
Number of pole positions	3	1.53%	1998	2006
Number of fastest laps	2	1.02%	1997	2005
Number of doubles (pole position & win)	2	1.02%	2005	2006

Seasons:	13 (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Leading:	19 times during 170 laps in 14 Grand Prix with a total of 872.828 Km
Points:	267 (Average per start: 1.36)
	Points per season - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 20 16 13 18 8 7 12 22 58 72 21 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Team:	Minardi Team SpA (1996), Benson and Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot (1997), Mild Seven Benetton (1998), Mild Seven Benetton (1999), Mild Seven Benetton Playlife (2000), Mild Seven Benetton (2001), DHL Jordan Honda (2002), Jordan Ford (2003), Sauber Petronas (2004), Mild Seven Renault F1 Team (2005), Mild Seven Renault F1 Team (2006), ING Renault F1 Team (2007), Force India F1 Team (2008)
Chassis:	Minardi M195B (1996), Jordan 197 (1997), Benetton B198 (1998), Benetton B199 (1999), Benetton B200 (2000), Benetton B201 (2001), Jordan EJ12 (2002), Jordan EJ13 (2003), Sauber C23 (2004), Renault R25 (2005), Renault R26 (2006), Renault R27 (2007), Force India VJM-01 (2008)
Engine:	Ford ED 3.0 V8 (1996), Peugeot 3.0 V10 (1997), Playlife 3.0 V10 (1998), Playlife 3.0 V10 (1999), Playlife 3.0 V10 (FB02) (2000), Renault Sport RS21 (2001), Honda RA002E (2002), Ford Cosworth CR-4 3.0 V10 (2003), Petronas 04A (2004), Renault RS25 (2005), Renault RS26 (2006), Renault RS27 (2007), Ferrari Type 056 (2008)