JEAN ALESI

'Jean Alesi' (born 'Giovanni Alesi' June 11, 1964) is a French racing driver of Italian origins. His Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan and most notably Ferrari where he proved very popular among the tifosi (Italian fanbase).

Contents

Early career

Formula One

Post-Formula One career

DTM results

Direxiv

Complete Formula One results

Trivia

External links

Early career

Alesi was born to Sicilian parents in Avignon, Vaucluse, which makes him an Italian national too. Starting his career with a passion for rallying rather than racing, he graduated to single seaters through the French Renault 5 championship. In the late 1980s he was very much a coming man in motor racing, winning the 1988 French Formula 3 title, and following it up in 1989 with the International Formula 3000 crown, both after duels with his rival Érik Comas. In 1989 Alesi actually tied on points for the F3000 title with Comas but won on the basis of better points finishes.

Formula One

Alesi debuted in the 1989 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard in a Tyrrell-Cosworth, finishing fourth. He drove most of the rest of the season for Tyrrell while continuing his successful Formula 3000 campaign, (occasionally giving the car up in favour of Johnny Herbert when Formula 3000 clashed), scoring points again at the Italian and Spanish Grands Prix.
1990 was his first full year in Grand Prix racing, with the underfunded Tyrrell team. At the first event, the United States Grand Prix at Phoenix, he was a sensation, leading for 25 laps in front of Ayrton Senna with a car considered as inferior, and also re-passing Senna after the Brazilian had first overtaken for the lead. Second place in the Monaco Grand Prix followed the second place gained in Phoenix, and by mid-season, top teams were clamouring for his services in 1991. A very confused situation erupted, with Tyrrell, Williams, and Ferrari all claiming to have signed the driver within a very short period.

Ferrari were championship contenders at the time, and there he would be driving with French teammate Alain Prost, at that time the most successful driver in Formula One history. Alesi signed with Ferrari, making the choice that not only appeared to maximize his chances for winning the championship and for learning from an experienced and successful teammate, but that fulfilled his childhood dream of driving for the Italian team.

Ferrari, however, experienced a disastrous downturn in form in 1991, while the Williams team experienced a resurgence which would lead them to win five constructor's titles between 1992 and 1997. Alesi's choice of Ferrari over Williams seemed the most logical at the time, but turned out to be very unfortunate. In 5 years at the Italian marque he gained little, except the passionate devotion of the Tifosi, who loved his aggressive style. That style, and his use of the number 27 on his car, led many to associate him with Gilles Villeneuve, a beloved and still-popular Ferrari driver from 1977-1982. When Michael Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996, Alesi and teammate Gerhard Berger swapped places with him, joining the champion Benetton team, who, again, were about to experience a lull in form. After 2 seasons riddled with bad luck and internal politics, Alesi moved on, initially to Sauber and later Prost. Alesi ended his open-wheel career in 2001 with Jordan, bookending his career nicely: Alesi had driven for Jordan in Formula 3000 when he won the championship in 1989.
Alesi was often regarded as flamboyant and emotional, but after his spectacular performance at Phoenix in 1990, his career was notable more for its longevity than for its results. In 2001, he became only the fifth driver to start 200 Grand Prix races, yet from his 201 starts, he only gained one victory - an emotional triumph at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on his 31st birthday. Although he had inherited the lead when Michael Schumacher pitted with electrical problems, the victory was a popular one, particularly after several excellent but ultimately unrewarded drives the year before, namely in Italy.

Post-Formula One career

After Formula One, Alesi was a popular and successful driver in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), where he placed fifth in the 2002 championship for Mercedes with one victory. He repeated this in 2003 but this time scoring two victories. In 2004 he finished seventh in the championship scoring no victories. In 2005 he won the opening race and went on to take seventh place in the standings once more. He retired from the DTM after finishing the 2006 season in 9th place.
Alesi is a wine connoisseur and has a vineyard near his hometown of Avignon, where he resides with his wife, Japanese model, actress, and pop singer Kumiko Goto( ), and their three children.

DTM results

★ 2002 - 5th in the championship, 1 victory,

★ 2003 - 5th, 2 victories,

★ 2004 - 7th,

★ 2005 - 7th, 1 victory,

★ 2006 - 9th

Direxiv

Alesi was an active spokesman for the Direxiv team in their bid for entry to the 2008 Formula 1 series. It was planned as a McLaren B Team with backing and engines from Mercedes. However, the proposal was beaten to the final grid place by Prodrive.

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in 'bold' indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1989	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 018	Cosworth V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN'	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 10	HUN 9	BEL	ITA 5	POR	ESP 4	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		9th	8
1990	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 018	Cosworth V8	USA 2	BRA 7																9th	13
		Tyrrell 019				SMR 6	MON 2	CAN Ret	MEX 7	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER 11	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA Ret	POR 8	ESP Ret	JPN DNS	AUS 8
1991	Scuderia Ferrari SpA	Ferrari 642/2	Ferrari V12	''USA'' 12	BRA 6	SMR Ret	MON 3	CAN Ret													7th	21
		Ferrari 643							MEX Ret	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 3	HUN 5	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 3	ESP 4	JPN Ret	AUS Ret
1992	Scuderia Ferrari SpA	Ferrari F92A	Ferrari V12	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA 4	ESP 3	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 3	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	HUN Ret							7th	18
		Ferrari F92AT													BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 5	AUS 4
1993	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari F93A	Ferrari V12	RSA Ret	BRA 8	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 3	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 9	GER 7	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 2	POR 4	JPN Ret	AUS 4		6th	16
1994	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 412T1	Ferrari V12	BRA 3	PAC Inj	SMR Inj	MON 5	ESP 4	CAN 3												5th	24
		Ferrari 412T1B								FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	'ITA' Ret	POR Ret	EUR 10	JPN 3	AUS 6
1995	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 412T2	Ferrari V12	BRA 5	ARG 2	SMR 2	ESP Ret	''MON'' Ret	CAN 1	FRA 5	GBR 2	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 5	EUR 2	PAC 5	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	5th	42
1996	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B196	Renault V10	AUS Ret	BRA 2	''ARG'' 3	EUR Ret	SMR 6	''MON'' Ret	ESP 2	CAN 3	FRA 3	GBR Ret	GER 2	HUN 3	BEL 4	ITA 2	POR 4	JPN Ret		4th	47
1997	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B197	Renault V10	AUS Ret	BRA 6	ARG 7	SMR 5	MON Ret	ESP 3	CAN 2	FRA 5	GBR 2	GER 6	HUN 11	BEL 8	'ITA' 2	AUT Ret	LUX 2	JPN 5	EUR 13	4th	36
1998	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C17	Petronas V10	AUS Ret	BRA 9	ARG 5	SMR 6	ESP 10	MON 12	CAN Ret	FRA 7	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER 10	HUN 7	BEL 3	ITA 5	LUX 10	JPN 7		11th	9
1999	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C18	Petronas V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 6	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 14	AUT Ret	GER 8	HUN 16	BEL 9	ITA 9	EUR Ret	MAL 7	JPN 6		16th	2
2000	Gauloises Prost Peugeot	Prost AP03	Peugeot V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	GBR 10	ESP Ret	EUR 9	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 14	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 12	USA Ret	JPN Ret	MAL 11	-	0
2001	Prost Acer	Prost AP04	Acer V10	AUS 9	MAL 9	BRA 7	SMR 9	ESP 10	AUT 10	MON 6	CAN 5	EUR 15	FRA 12	GBR 11	GER 6						15th	5
	B&H Jordan Honda	Jordan EJ11	Honda V10													HUN 10	BEL 6	ITA 8	USA 7	JPN Ret

Trivia

★ Alesi injured his back after the first race of the 1994 season (Brazil) and was replaced in the Pacific Grand Prix and the San Marino Grand Prix (round 3) by Nicola Larini.

★ Following Alesi's first and only GP win in the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, his Ferrari ran out of fuel as he waved to fans on the backstraight and he was given a lift back to the pits by Michael Schumacher.

★ Alesi had a cameo role as himself in the Sylvester Stallone movie Driven.

★ He supports F.C.Juventus Torino.

External links

★ Jean Alesi Official website

★ F1 Rejects article