(born
January 14 ,
1973 in
Rome ), also known as Fisico, is an
Italian Formula One racing driver. He currently drives for the world constructors champion
Renault team and has also driven for
Sauber ,
Jordan ,
Benetton and
Minardi . For most of his career he has consistently outpaced his team-mates, and was eventually declared the winner for Jordan of the chaotic
2003 Brazilian Grand Prix a week after the event. Until 2005 he had never been in a team with genuinely competitive equipment. Since joining the Renault team he has been overshadowed by world champion
Fernando Alonso but has taken two further victories with Renault.
Like most current
Formula One Drivers , Fisichella began
Kart Racing as a youngster. In
1992 , he competed in the Italian
Formula Three series, racing for the RC Motorsport team. He finished runner up in
1993 , and in
1994 he won the championship, behind race victories in
Monaco and
Macau . He left open-wheel racing briefly in 1995, driving for
Alfa Romeo in the
International Touring Car Championship series. In
1996 , he made the move to Formula One, racing for Minardi for half the season before being replaced by
Giovanni Lavaggi , the team needing a driver with funding.
Fisichella, tipped early on to be a successor to greats like
Prost ,
Senna , and
Stewart , made his full F1 assault in
1997 with Jordan, scoring his first podium at the
Canada . That year he outclassed reigning Formula Nippon champion
Ralf Schumacher , his team-mate. At Hockenheim he led for much of the race, but was denied the win by an inspired Gerhard Berger and a puncture. A superb second behind Schumacher at Spa in drenching conditions marked him out as a real talent and for 1998 he was snapped up by Benetton.
The timing was unfortunate. Benetton were now without works Renault engines and would not win another race. The first half of 1998 saw some very promising displays. Second places at Montreal and Monaco hinted at a strong season. At Montreal he had been in contention for the win, but gearbox problems slowed him and eased Michael Schumacher's path to the victory. Austria saw a maiden pole, but a clash with
Jean Alesi during the race cost him any chance of a good result. For the second half of the year, Benetton's pace dropped off, and only two more points would be added to his score.
1999 was much the same. A few podiums were achieved, but the car was very inconsistent. Heartbreak came at the Nurburgring. Fisichella had been leading and was on course for the win, but crashed out. It would be his last chance of a win for some years.
In 2000 the story was similar. Early season podiums surprised many, but Benetton's now traditional poor second half of the season meant that he failed to score any more points. Since joining Benetton, Fisichella had comprehensively outclassed team-mate
Alex Wurz and the Austrian made way for
Jenson Button in 2001.
Renault now owned the team, but the 2001 car was poor. Experiments with wide-angle engines did not deliver competitive levels of power and for most of the year the Benettons were left to scrap with the
Minardi s. However, the efforts of technical director
Mike Gascoyne and his staff saw the car improve. At Hockenheim Fisichella led home a 4-5 finish, whilst at Spa he put in an epic drive to grab the team's only podium of the year. Despite his dominance over Button that year, he found himself forced to leave to make way for Jarno Trulli in 2002. He returned to Jordan, but the team was in decline. The 2002 season saw him take just seven points, but little more was possible. In 2003 Jordan were forced to use Ford engines, Honda having ended their works supply. The car was very uncompetitive, but freak circumstances in Brazil saw Giancarlo take his first victory. Only a seventh at Indianapolis enhanced his score that year.
Unhappy at Jordan's fall down the grid, Fisichella moved to Sauber in 2004. Hopeful of using the team as a springboard to Ferrari, he drove well all year, comfortably outpacing Massa for much of the season. His strong performances rekindled the interest of old team-boss Briatore and for 2005 Fisichella returned to Benetton, which had been bought by Renault during his absence. A win at Melbourne signalled his Formula One breakthrough, but it proved to be a false dawn. Poor luck ruined many of his races and team-mate Fernando Alonso began to dominate him. All too often Fisichella would be in a strong position, before something went wrong. Racing commentator
Tony Jardine has suggested that technical problems hampering his season are simply due to resources being directed at team mate (and World Championship leader) Alonso.
The gulf in speed between Fisichella and Alonso was noticeable however. Many felt that Fisichella did not capitalise on his chances. A last lap surrender to Kimi Raikkonen at Suzuka cost him the win and prompted many to question his mindset.
Fisichella is one of the sport's fastest drivers, but after so many seasons with lowly placed teams, perhaps his motivation suffered. ITV's expert
Martin Brundle has suggested that Fisichella's problems are mental. He needs to have strong support from a team to perform to his maximum. Whether he will get that next season could determine his future in the sport.
On the
21st November 2005 Fisichella had his road licence confiscated for a speeding offence. He was apparently traveling at 148 km/h in a 60 km/h zone on the outskirts of Rome.
Fisichella's win in
Brazil on
April 6 ,
2003 didn't come easy. Battling with
McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen amidst heavy rain and numerous crashes, Fisichella took the race lead on lap 53, soon before the race was
Red-flagged . However, he was demoted to second place on the podium, because (per
Regulations ) Räikkönen was the race leader two laps prior to the red flag. Several days later, though, the
FIA determined that Fisichella had already begun his 55th lap before the red flag, meaning that ''he'', and not Räikkönen, had been leading the race two laps before its premature end, awarding the man known as "Fisi" or "Fisico" his first F1 victory. For nearly two years, Fisichella was the only F1 driver to have won a race without having stood atop the podium. ''(See
2003 Brazilian Grand Prix for more race details).''
Giancarlo has managed three victories in his Formula 1 career, in Brazil 2003, Australia 2005 and Malaysia 2006. He took his first points in 1997 in the Jordan at Imola with 4th place. He took his first podium at Canada that same year in 3rd place, another followed at Spa in Belgium. In 1998 podiums came at Monaco and Canada, where he nearly won. 1999 was a troubled year but he still managed 2nd place in Canada. 2000 was a better year for him, with podiums in Brazil, Monaco and Canada. 2001 was a disastrous year in a poor Benetton, but he managed a podium finish at Spa. For 2002 he moved to Jordan and suffered, no podiums but a string of fifth placed finishes around mid season helped his beat team mate Takuma Sato. 2003 brought Giancarlo his first win at a very wet Brazilian Grand Prix, but the rest of the year earnt him only one point. 2004 was spent at the Sauber Team, again no podiums but he did manage a good points haul. 2005 and his big chance came at Renault. He started the year fantastically with a win in Australia, but poor luck after that with problems at nearly every race, and he ended the season 5th in the championship.
Fisichella is married to Luna and they have two children, Carlotta and Christopher.
(Note: grands prix in denotes race '''victories'''.)
