Giancarlo Fisichella Born: 14th January 1973, Rome, Italy Grand Prix starts: 231 Grand Prix victories: 3 Points total: 275
Giancarlo Fisichella was born in Rome and took up karting at an early age. He graduated to Formula Three in his late teens and won the Italian Championship in 1994. After a brief foray into touring cars, he joined the Minardi Formula One team but soon moved to Jordan and then to Benetton (which eventually became Renault). He struggled in uncompetitive cars and could only finish mid-table so he rejoined Jordan for 2002 and 2003.
Fisichella won his first grand prix, albeit in controversial circumstances, at a very wet Interlagos in Brazil. The weather and several accidents forced stewards to end the race at the end of lap 55, but as Fisichella had just overtaken Raikkonen there was some confusion as to who had won and the result wasn't decided in the Italian's favour until several days later. But Fisichella won again in Australia in 2005 and eventually finished a creditable fifth in the championship. His third and final win came for Renault in Malaysia in 2006. In his best season to date, he finished fourth in the drivers' standings but the departure of team-mate Fernando Alonso saw the team's fortunes slide and 2007 was a poor season.
When Alonso returned in 2008, Fisichella moved to Force India but the car's handling let it down and he failed to score a point. Despite a superb second place at Belgium the following year, and a brief stint with Ferrari, Fisichella was not retained and he retired from F1 at the end of the 2009 season.
