About Me
********************Giancarlo Fisichella************************** Like many before him, Giancarlo Fisichella's introduction to motorsport came through karting. He was eleven years old when he first took to the track. Fisichella recorded twelve wins in the 1984 Italian 60cc Minikart Championship in his very first season of competition. Remaining with the 100cc category in 1988, Fisichella was the Italian Team Champion and moved up to international competition for the first time. He recorded twenty one wins that season, and recorded pole position at the 100cc karting World Championships. 1989 brought further international success; Fisichella won the prestigious Hong Kong Grand Prix, was 2nd in the European Championship and came home in 4th place at the World Championships. After a further two seasons in karting, during which he recorded numerous further wins on his scorecard, it was time to move into single-seaters. The move came in 1992 with a drive in the Italian F3 Championship. Fisichella became only the third driver in history to win a race in his first season, ending the year eighth overall. His progress continued in 1993 when he claimed the runner-up slot in the Championship. Fisichella also took pole-position, and finished second in that year's Monaco F3 Grand Prix. 1994 was a fantastic season recording ten wins and eleven pole positions enroute to the Italian F3 Championship crown. Next came Formula One with a testing contract with Minardi in 1995. He dovetailed those testing duties with a works Alfa Romeo drive in the DTM/ITC (German Touring Cars). Fisichella looked set to continue in a testing role in 1996, as financial requirements dictated that Minardi put a paying driver in the second seat alongside Pedro Lamy. However, at the last minute Fisichella was asked to step in. He made his Grand Prix debut in Australia and took part in a further 8 races, recording his best finish in Canada where he came home 8th. The Jordan Peugeot team signed Fisichella for the 1997 season. Eddie Jordan chose the highly acclaimed Italian to complete an exciting line-up alongside Ralf Schumacher. The Italian proved that he has the finesse and speed required - leading at Hockenheim and finishing second at Spa. However, the Italian was compromised as the Jordan chassis which was inconsistent and only allowed Fisichella to show his speed on the faster circuits. For 1998 Fisichella moved to the Benetton team - his big chance to prove that he could win at the highest level. The season began slowly with team-mate Alexander Wurz stamping his authority within the team. However, as the season progressed, Fisichella settled into his new environment and duly picked up his pace, scoring a pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix and 16 championship points. Fisichella remained at Benetton in 1999 and while few doubt he has the pace, his task was made increasingly difficult with an uncompetitive chassis and a mediocre engine in the Supertec (Playlife V10). On the positive side, the Italian dominated in the team scoring 13 championship points, showing up Wurz who complained that he lost out to Fisichella due to his relative size. The highlight of the 1999 season must have been the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, where Fisichella led the wet race until spinning off in the final stages. At the time it seemed surprising that Fisichella stayed faithful to Benetton in 2000, then came the news that Flavio Briatore was returning to the team and then in May 2000 that Renault had purchased the team outright and would take complete control for 2002. While Alexander Wurz continued to under perform in 2000, Fisichella raised his game significantly in the first half of the season with a string of superb results including second place at the Brazilian Grand Prix and third places at Montreal and Monaco. Meanwhile, the Italian's seat came under threat from Jacques Villeneuve, but the Canadian opted to stay with British American Racing. Fisichella duly re-signed with the team for 2001 and will be joined by Jenson Button. However, the Italian's second half of the 2000 season can be described as nothing better than dismal. A series of accidents and mistakes combined with a poor chassis balance led to nine straight non-points paying positions. Fisichella - contract in pocket - seemed to have given up. From 1997, he was a full-time F1 driver, and since then has almost never been out of the top ten in the championship. A determined driver known for his finesse, Giancarlo has developed his technical understanding of the sport in several teams. He has competed under the colours of Minardi, Jordan and Benetton before joining the Renault F1 Team in 2005. It was his best season so far, with victory in the opening race. Afterwards, the Italian battled against poor luck and unreliability, but nevertheless played a key role in securing the constructors championship for the team.
