Jarno Trulli

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Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (right)
Nationality	Italian
Car #	12
Current team	Toyota F1
World Championship career
Races	168 (165 starts)
World Championships	0
Wins	1
Podium finishes	7
Pole positions	3
Fastest laps	0
First race	1997 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2004 Monaco Grand Prix
Latest win	2004 Monaco Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Australian Grand Prix
2006 Championship position	13th (12 pts)

Jarno Trulli (born 13 July 1974) is an Italian Formula One auto racing driver currently in the employ of the Toyota team.

1 Career
2 Results
3 Complete Formula One results
- 3.1 Pre-F1 career
4 Personal Life
5 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early days

Trulli was born in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. His parents were motorsport fans, and named their son after Jarno Saarinen, the Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racing champion who had been killed at Monza in 1973. This Finnish forename caused a certain amount of confusion when he first entered Formula One, with many not initially realising that he was Italian. His father's enthusiasm also meant that, like many successful racers, he was involved in karting from an early age.

[edit] Formula 3 and early Formula One career

After winning the Italian and then European kart championships he won the German Formula Three championship in 1996, and in 1997 made his debut in F1 with Minardi. After 7 races he replaced the injured Olivier Panis at Prost and impressed immediately, finishing fourth in Germany and even leading in Austria, looking set to finish second until his engine blew. He stayed at the Prost team for the next two seasons and eventually scored his first podium at the 1999 European Grand Prix.

[edit] Prost to Jordan

However, this was a rare highlight in a race few of the main front-runners finished, and the poor performance of the Prost team convinced him that a switch to Jordan would bring improved results. In 2000 he moved to the Irish squad, but the team was no longer the force it had been in the late 1990s. In his two years with Jordan, Trulli failed to score a podium, but did impress with a series of brilliant qualifying displays. During this period suggestions were made that Trulli was more of a qualifying specialist than an out-and-out fast race driver, a charge he frequently denied. Under long-term contract to personal manager (and Renault manager) Flavio Briatore, Trulli secured a contract with the Anglo-French squad for 2002. Alongside Jenson Button, he often outqualified his British teammate, but was generally shaded in races. Regardless of Button's improved pace that season, it was Trulli who stayed at Renault for 2003 to partner promoted test-driver Fernando Alonso.

Jarno Trulli driving for Renault at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis in 2003.

[edit] Jordan to Renault

The 2003 Renault was a strong car and in Alonso's hands won in Hungary. Trulli struggled to attain similar results, but did achieve a podium in Germany, his first since leaving Prost. Mindful of how much Alonso had outperformed him in 2003, Trulli improved markedly the next year. For the first half of the season he was the better of the two Renault drivers, racking up regular points and podiums. At Monaco he finally took his first victory after a brilliant display from pole position. Having performed so well, the Italian was eager to stick with the team for 2005, but his relationship with team-boss Briatore soured. A last corner error which allowed Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello onto the podium in France enraged the team, and from that point onwards his days with the French manufacturer were numbered. He received more criticism for losing one point for the team than Fernando did when he crashed out of second in Italy later that year. For the second half of 2004, Trulli failed to gain any points and was consistently off the pace during races. He later accused the team of favouring Alonso, but the reasons why his 2004 season deteriorated have never been properly identified. He was sacked three races before the end of the season and replaced by 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. Trulli had already agreed to drive for Toyota in 2005, and his early exit from Renault allowed him to take up his new seat for the last two races of the 2004 season, replacing Ricardo Zonta.

[edit] Renault to Toyota

Trulli driving the Toyota TF105 in 2005.

His 2005 season was good. Early season podiums demonstrated that he was back on the pace and at Indianapolis he took Toyota's first F1 pole (albeit with very low fuel). For the vast majority of the year he outclassed highly paid team-mate Ralf Schumacher, but a late season dip in form saw him slip to seventh in the championship, two points behind the German.

Trulli testing for Toyota in early 2006.

Trulli is undoubtedly very fast. Over one lap, few drivers can match his accuracy, speed, and precision. Yet the doubts over his racecraft refuse to go away. In the past two years he has improved noticeably, but poor showings can still occur. His apparent lack of pace in some races in 2005 was, on several occasions, observed to lead to a significant portion of the field bunching up behind the Toyota. This phenomenon was dubbed 'the Trulli train' by journalists and commentators. Whether this effect was due to an actual lack of race pace on Trulli's part, a disparity between performance over one-lap and race distance from the Toyota TF105, or simply Trulli's sensational ability to extract more pace from the car in qualifying than, on paper, it seemed likely to give, was the subject of some debate, though the quality of Trulli's performances and pure single-lap pace have led the final to become the prevailing view. He has suffered some very poor luck throughout his career, but there are times when he has simply failed to capitalise on his chances. Regardless, he still remains one of the sport's leading drivers, although question marks remain. ITV's expert Martin Brundle has in the past expressed his own doubts about Trulli's race pace.

In 2006, Trulli suffered a very poor start to the season, although this was generally due to excessive amounts of bad luck, for example, he was taken out by David Coulthard on the first lap of the 2006 Australian Grand Prix. He seemed to be outpaced by team-mate Ralf Schumacher more often than not, but his reputation was restored when he raced to 6th from 4th on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix. Following this was a 4th place in the United States Grand Prix. From then on, he would only score 3 more times, with a couple on 7th place finishes in the German Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix and also a 6th place in the Japanese Grand Prix. There was even bad luck here, as his car became troublesome to drive mid-race, and Ralf Schumacher was delayed in the process. Jarno Trulli was racing very well in the season finale at Interlagos, but bad luck robbed him again, as his car suffered suspension failure in only the first 10 laps, a fate which befell his team-mate at the same time. He finished 12th overall.

[edit] Results

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team	WDC	Points
1997	Minardi	AUS 9	BRA 12	ARG 9	SMR DNS	MON Ret	ESP 15	CAN Ret	FRA 10	GBR 8	GER 4	HUN 7	BEL 15	ITA 10	AUT Ret	LUX	JPN	EUR			Prost	15th	3
1998	Prost	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 11	SMR Ret	ESP 9	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	AUT 10	GER 12	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA 13	LUX Ret	JPN 12				Prost	16th	1
1999	Prost	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 7	ESP 6	CAN Ret	FRA 7	GBR 9	AUT 7	GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL 12	ITA Ret	EUR 2	MAL DNS	JPN Ret				Prost	11th	7
2000	Jordan	AUS Ret	BRA 4	SMR 15	GBR 6	ESP 12	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 6	FRA 6	AUT Ret	GER 9	HUN 7	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret	JPN 13	MAL 12			Jordan	10th	6
2001	Jordan	AUS Ret	MAL 8	BRA 5	SMR 5	ESP 4	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 11	EUR Ret	FRA 5	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	USA 5	JPN 8			Jordan	9th	12
2002	Renault	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 9	ESP 10	AUT Ret	MON 4	CAN 6	EUR 6	GBR Ret	FRA Ret	GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL Ret	ITA 4	USA 5	JPN Ret			Renault	8th	9
2003	Renault	AUS 5	MAL 5	BRA 8	SMR 13	ESP Ret	AUT 8	MON 6	CAN Ret	EUR Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 6	GER 3	HUN 7	ITA Ret	USA 4	JPN 5				Renault	8th	33
2004	Renault	AUS 7	MAL 5	BHR 4	SMR 5	ESP 3	MON 1	EUR 4	CAN Ret	USA 4	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 11	HUN Ret	BEL 9	ITA 10	CHN	JPN 11	BRA 12		Toyota	6th	46
2005	Toyota	AUS 9	MAL 2	BHR 2	SMR 5	ESP 3	MON 10	EUR 8	CAN Ret	USA DNS	FRA 5	GBR 9	GER 14	HUN 4	TUR 6	ITA 5	BEL Ret	BRA 13	JPN Ret	CHN 15	Toyota	7th	43
2006	Toyota	BHR 16	MAL 9	AUS Ret	SMR Ret	EUR 9	ESP 10	MON 17	GBR 11	CAN 6	USA 4	FRA Ret	GER 7	HUN 12	TUR 9	ITA 7	CHN Ret	JPN 6	BRA Ret		Toyota	12th	15
2007	Toyota	AUS 9	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			Toyota	9th	0

[edit] Pre-F1 career

1997: Jarno Berens beats Jarno Trulli for the Dutch karting title.
1996: 1st German Formula 3 (KMS Dallara-Opel)
1995: 4th in German Formula 3 (KMS Dallara-Opel), 1st in Italian Go-kart class 100 FA, 1st in World Go-kart class 125FC, Senna Memorial World Cup winner
1994: Senna Memorial World Cup winner, 1st in North American class 100SA, 1st in European class 100SA
1993: 2nd in World Go-kart Champion class 100 SA, 1st in Grand prix of Japan Class 100 FSA
1992: 2nd in World Go-kart class 125 FC
1991: 1st in World Go-kart class 100 FK
1990: 1st in Grand Prix of Hong Kong Class 100 FA
1988-1990: Three times 1st in Italian National 100 Class
1983-1995: Karting

[edit] Personal Life

Trulli is married to Barbara and they have two sons, Enzo (b. 2005), named after Jarno's father, and Marco (b. 2006). He is the co-owner of a vineyard in Italy and produces his own wine. [1]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jarno Trulli

Constructors and drivers competing in the 2007 Formula One championship
McLaren	Renault	Ferrari	Honda	BMW	Toyota	Red Bull	Williams	Toro Rosso	Spyker	Super Aguri
1 Alonso 2 Hamilton	3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen	5 Massa 6 Räikkönen	7 Button 8 Barrichello	9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica	11 Schumacher 12 Trulli	14 Coulthard 15 Webber	16 Rosberg 17 Wurz	18 Liuzzi 19 Speed	20 Sutil 21 Albers	22 Sato 23 Davidson