Jarno Trulli
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Jarno Trulli (born July 13, 1974 in Pescara, Italy) is an Italian formula one race car driver for the Toyota F1 formula one team. Trulli has been a fan of Formula One at a very young age and jumpstarted his career in racing when he was only seven via karting. Since then, Trulli has collected all sorts of championships there was, prompting a move to a more competitive field.
Since breaking into the Formula One scene in 1997, Trulli has yet to achieve one great season that most F1 racers strive to accomplish. Critics attribute the lack of "gold" not only to bad luck, but also to his driving style which is more accustomed to single laps. The warm, intelligent, and approachable Italian is believed to be less aggressive on the race track compared to the younger crop which is truly a disadvantage in F1 racing.
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Personal Life
Jarno was born in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy and was named after Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racing champion Jarno Saarinen who was killed in Monza in 1973. Many people confuse Jarno as a Finn because of his name. The Italian now resides in St.Moritz, Switzerland with his family, wife Barbara and two sons, Enzo and Marco. Jarno owns a flourishing vineyard in Italy while also building his own karts. Jarno also believes that he is not the "typical Italian" who is passionate about football, as unlike most of his countrymen, he has no interest in following Team Italy in the World Cup. The 5-foot-7 132 pound Jarno though likes to eat Italian food, most especially pizza and likes to listen to music, kart, get into fitness, swim go cycling, or play tennis whenever he is away from the race track. His favorite circuit is the Spa-Francorchamps, names Niki Lauda as his favorite F1 driver, and considers his victory at Monaco in 2004 as his best F1 moment.
Career
Early Career
At the age of four, Trulli was already an F1 fan and with his father's encouragement and enthusiasm for the racing sport, it makes sense that by the age of seven, he has already gotten himself into the "kindergarten" of F1---karting. He drove mini karts from 1983 to 86 then bagged his major karting title, the Gold Medal "Youth Games" 100 cadet in 1987. He made a jump to the Italian Kart Championship 100 National from 1988 through 1990 and claimed the title during his stint. He moved over to the World Karting Championship from 1991 through 1993, placing first in the 100 FK in his first year, claiming runner-up finish in the 125FC in the following year, before placing runner-up in the Class 100 SA. He also added a win at the Grand Prix of Japan Class 100 FSA for good measure in 1993. In 1994 and 1995, Trulli showed dominance in almost every karting tournament he participated in, topping the 100 FSA Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup for two consecutive seasons in addition to the European and North American Karting titles in 1994 and the Grand Prix of Australia and the Italian and World Karting championships in 1995.
His remarkable performance in karts earned him the distinction of being "the only Formula One driver to have won everything there is to win in karting."
Formula Three
Trulli made his F3 debut in the Italian series and competed in six races with MC Motorsport in 1993 before competing for a single race the following year in the British F3 for RC Motorsport. By mid-1995, Trulli made his German F3 debut with KMS Motorsport and for half a season, came up with 2 wins in 12 races for 95 points to place 4th in the final rankings. In 1996, Trulli once again represented KMS in the German F3 and although Nick Heidfeld gave him a little competition, he was still able to pile up six wins worth 206 points to earn the championship. He also placed 3rd in the Macau Grand Prix and garnered 18th place finishes in the Grand Prix de Monaco F3 and the Masters of Formula Three.
Entry to F1, Minardi/Prost (1997-99)
With his success in F3, Trulli eventually graduated to Formula One after signing with the Benetton team. His boss Flavio Briatore then landed him a stint for Minardi in 1997 to team up with veteran Ukyo Katayama and although he was not able to place no higher than 9th in his first seven races, he has proven that he got speed after outpacing his more experienced teammate. He was later on tasked to replace the injured Olivier Panis at Prost starting at the French Grand Prix and although he managed only 10th and 8th place finishes in his first two races, was able to pull off an impressive run at the German Grand Prix where he scored his first career Championship points on a 4th place finish. He ended his first full season with a terrific run at the Austrian GP where he led the race only to be retired by an engine failure. He capped the season placed 15th in the Driver's Championship with the three points he claimed in Germany.
The enthusiasm on his maiden year run was abruptly replaced by frustration the following season as the team failed to deliver with a vehicle that was "overweight and unreliable" with Trulli managing to sneak in a 6th place finish in Belgium in a year characterized by nine retirements with a solitary point to show for the Italian in the Driver's championship. By 1999, Prost drivers Trulli and Panis have strained relationships with their boss as their team's performances continue to dip, forcing the former to find racing seats somewhere else while finishing his contract with his current employer. In what was apparently his final season at Prost, Trulli logged in a sixth place finish in Spain and a then-career-best of 2nd place finish in Europe---his first career podium amidst the wet conditions---to score 7 points and place 11th in the World Championship.
Jordan (2000-01)
Trulli was paired with Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the Irish team in hopes to finally fair better with a more competitive squad. Unfortunately, his defection came at an unopportuned time when the Jordan team has slipped from the upper-echelon status that it were in the late 1990's. Trulli appeared competitive in several races, earning a 4th place finish in Brazil and 6th place finishes in the Great Britain, Canada, and France in another retirement-filled season. Trulli was 10th in the championship with a measly 6 points.
In 2001, Jordan decided to utilize Honda engines in hopes of improving on its dismal 2000 outing, but the results remained the same. Trulli still showed flashes of brilliance during the qualifying rounds only to falter in the actual races, eventually earning the distinction of a qualifying specialist rather than an out-and-out fast race driver, charges which the Italian denies. Nonetheless, he was able to score on his three 5th place and two 4th place finishes that sent him into the top 10 of the championship for the first time with a 9th place finish on 12 points.
Renault (2002-04)
Although the results of 2001 was quite promising, Trulli's manager Flavio Briatore was able to secure him a spot at a better renowned and a higher-ranked constructor Renault squad for 2002 to team up with Jenson Button. Trulli managed to outqualify his British teammate in several occassions but Button proved to be a potential force in the races. Trulli managed to score in four occassions, his best being his 4th place finishes in Monaco and Italy before scoring 9 in the championship behind Button with 14 points. Like his previous stints, the Italian was still at his best in qualifying, outperforming Button 12-5.
In 2003, Trulli was paired with new teammate and promoted test driver Fernando Alonso. That year, Trulli was clearly overshadowed by the Spaniard as the newcomer was able to score a victory in Hungary, while the more experienced driver settled for his first podium in four years. But the improvement was evident as Trulli was able to rack up 33 points in ten races to improve one-place better from the previous year in the championship. Alonso for his part was 22 points better with 55 in the WDC.
2004 offered a brighter outcome from the Italian as he answered the challenge from his teammate with successive point-scoring races in the early stages of the season, highlighted by a podium in Spain and eventually his first career win from pole position at Monaco. With success on the horizon, Trulli was almost certain to stick it out with Renault for another year until his relationship with team boss Briatore soured with several disappointing performances as the season wore on. Although the Italian blamed his team for the downfall, accusing them of favoring Alonso, the dip in performance was never properly justified. In the end, Trulli parted ways with Renault even before the season ended and was eventually replaced by 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.
Toyota F1 (2004-Present)
For his part, Trulli has found a new home with Toyota and even raced in the last two events of the 2003 season at Japan and Brazil, finishing both Grands Prix just outside of the top 10. He ended the season with his best finish in the championship to date, 6th place with 46 points. 2005 marked the first full year Trulli competes for Toyota with teammate Ralf Schumacher. He started the year strongly once more, securing Toyota's first podium of the season with a second place at Malaysia and at Bahrain, in two successive races. He added another podium at Spain, even managing to score in several more occassions before another slump ended his first full season at Toyota. He ended the season 7th place with 43 points, two points behind his German teammate.
Doubts have been raced on the capabilities of Trulli, most especially on his ability to excel in the qualifyers only to waver in the actual races, and do exceptionally well on the early stages of the season only to falter on the waning races of the year. A phenomenon dubbed as the 'the Trulli train' by journalists and commentators has also emanated in the way Trulli drives, apparently lacking the pace in some races which results in a significant portion of the field bunching up behind the Toyota in some occassions.
In 2006, Trulli began on a slow note as he struggled to even put himself within the top 10 during the first half of the season mainly because of bad luck if anything else. He was able to regain his form again at the Canadian Grand Prix where he ended 6th, then scored some more points with his 4th place finish in the USA, two more 7th place finishes in Germany and Italy, and a 6th place finish in Japan. He could've finished the season on a strong note but a suspension failure in Interlagos cost him and teammate Schumacher a fine placing. He ended the season with only 15 points and a 12th place finish.
Trulli remained with Toyota for 2007 and opened the season with a mere 9th place finish in Australia before bouncing back with his first points in Malaysia with a 7th place finish from an 8th place qualifying. After adding some more points in Bahrain, he was retired in Spain because of mechanical failure. Bad luck struck once more in Monaco as he qualified in a season worst 14th place before ending the race 15th. He managed to score in Indianapolis but sustained a major slump in between the United States Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix with non-scoring runs to punctuate another "unlucky" season. He ended the year #13 in the championship with only 8 points to show.
Although Trulli signed with Toyota up until 2009, reports have made rounds that the Italian's days with Toyota may have come to an end with Heikki Kovalainen replacing him beginning 2008. The reports were however found to be false as Kovalainen has already signed with McLaren.
Results and Records
Career Summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Italian Formula Three | MC Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1994 | British Formula Three | RC Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | German Formula Three | KMS | 12 | 1 | 2 | 95 | 4th |
| Macau Grand Prix | KMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2nd | |
| 1996 | German Formula Three | KMS | 15 | 7 | 6 | 206 | 1st |
| Macau Grand Prix | KMS | 1 | 1 | 0 | N/A | 3rd | |
| Grand Prix de Monaco F3 | KMS | 1 | 1 | 0 | N/A | 18th | |
| Masters of Formula Three | ? | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 18th | |
| 1997 | Formula One | Minardi | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15th |
| Prost | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 1998 | Formula One | Prost | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15th |
| 1999 | Formula One | Prost | 16 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11th |
| 2000 | Formula One | Jordan | 17 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10th |
| 2001 | Formula One | Jordan | 17 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9th |
| 2002 | Formula One | Renault | 17 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8th |
| 2003 | Formula One | Renault | 16 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 8th |
| 2004 | Formula One | Renault | 15 | 2 | 1 | 46 | 6th |
| Toyota | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2005 | Formula One | Toyota | 19 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 7th |
| 2006 | Formula One | Toyota | 18 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 12th |
| 2007 | Formula One | Toyota | 17 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 13th |
| 2008 | Formula One | Toyota F1 |
Complete Formula One Results
References
- Jarno Trulli Crash.net Profile
- Jarno Trulli Toyota-F1.com Profile
- Jarno Trulli Wikipedia
- Jarno Trulli: The Fast, Restless Italian at Toyota
