|
|
| Birth Name(s) : Giancarlo Fisichella |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
|
Partner:
|
| Profession:
Athlete |
| << Add Giancarlo Fisichella To Your Favorites |
Giancarlo Fisichella Advertisements
|
Full Giancarlo Fisichella Biography
Giancarlo Fisichella (born January 14, 1973 in Rome, Italy), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He currently drives for the reigning world constructors' champions, Renault, and has previously driven for Sauber, Jordan, Benetton and Minardi. He has won three races in his career to date, the first of which was at the chaotic 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix; an unusual set of circumstances at the end of that race had meant that the rules were unclear about who won. Fisichella was eventually declared the winner in the following week, and collected his trophy in an unorthodox ceremony at the following race. Fisichella has endured mixed fortunes at his current team, Renault. He was brought in to the team to replace fellow Italian Jarno Trulli, and won his first race with the team in Australia in 2005. However, after that race it was his team-mate, the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, that would win the greater share of races for Renault. Although highly rated as a driver, Fisichella was unable to keep pace with eventual champion Alonso, managing just one further race win since his debut. Outside of driving, he runs his own GP2 team, FMS International.
Like most current Formula One drivers, he 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, following 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, making his debut for the Minardi team. However he did not complete the full season since Minardi required a driver who could bring funding to the team, and replaced Fisichella with Giovanni Lavaggi. For 1997 he made the move to Eddie Jordan's eponymous team, where he drove alongside former F1 champion Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf, himself a former Formula Nippon champion. Fisichella gained his first podium finish at the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix, and went on to finish higher in the points standings than his team-mate. At Hockenheim a victory looked to be within reach for Fisichella, but a puncture and the performance of an on-form Gerhard Berger denied him the win. Fisichella was able to show his talent again at the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix in which he finished a commendable second behind Michael Schumacher. Following this race, the Benetton team signed him for 1998.
Fisichella's season was to follow a similar pattern in 2000. He again gained some surprise podium finishes early in the year, but Benetton's now unfortunately traditional poor second half of the season meant that he failed to score any more points. Since joining Benetton, Fisichella had comprehensively outperformed his Austrian team-mate Alexander Wurz, who would then leave the team to make way for British rookie Jenson Button in 2001. Renault had purchased the Benetton team by the start of the 2001 season, but their investment was too late to enable much progress with Benetton's uncompetitive 2001 car, and as a result, Fisichella was battling for much of the season with teams such as Minardi and Prost. However, the efforts of technical director Mike Gascoyne and his staff did result in improvements over the year, culminating in a 4-5 finish at the German Grand Prix and a third place finish for Fischella at the Belgian race. Despite Fisichella gaining the team's best results that season, he left the team to rejoin Jordan for 2002.Fisichella driving for Jordan at the 2002 US GP.
2006 proved to be a similar season for Fisichella. Having won in Malaysia, putting in a strong performance to win from the pole position, he failed to maintain that pace for the upcoming races, and even failed to reach the top ten in qualifying for two races. This form, in addition to a penalty in Monaco for allegedly impeding David Coulthard, meant Fisichella was again unable to challenge his team mate Alonso for the drivers' Championship. Some strong results in the second half of the 2006 season, including finishing ahead of Alonso at the US Grand Prix, enabled Fisichella to obtain his best ever results: Fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 72 points, one win, and five podium finishes.
In 2007 Giancarlo Fisichella became Renault's lead driver after the departure of Fernando Alonso. His team mate is the team's former test driver, the young Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who is replaced as test driver by Nelson Piquet Jr. The team have new sponsors for 2007 following the ban on tobacco advertising, and consequently their 2007 colours are white, orange, and dark blue, with Renault's traditional yellow also still seen on the cars and team overalls.
After finishing third in the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, Fisichella dedicated the result to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died of a heart attack on the Thursday before the race. |
|
Giancarlo Fisichella Special Offers
|
| Add Giancarlo Fisichella Biography (SuperUSERS) + |
| Add Giancarlo Fisichella Review/Comment
|
HQ Giancarlo Fisichella Pictures (1) | Random Giancarlo Fisichella Picture
|
| << Back to the Giancarlo Fisichella Homepage |
|
