Italians-F1, difficult relationship
Italy recently returned to triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans thanks to the Ferrari 499P and a crew made up of two out of three Italian drivers: Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi who, together with James Calado, brought the Prancing Horse back to the top of the world of endurance. But if the Italian tricolor is back in vogue in the WEC, the situation for our country is decidedly more complicated in Formula 1. Giovinazzi himself remains our last bishop to have raced in the Circus but his adventure – which lasted from 2019 to 2021 – was stingy with satisfaction. Even to find the last season in which Italian riders got on the podium must go back to 2009when Jarno Trulli finished second in the GP of Japan and before him Giancarlo Fisichella occupied the place of honor in the GP of Belgium.
The memory of Fisichella
Precisely that race, held on the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, probably remains one of the best performances in the Roman driver’s career, which a year and a half earlier had accepted the court of the newborn Force India team. It also dates back to that weekend 14 years ago the last Italian pole position in F1which Fisichella grabbed in general dismay, at the wheel of a car that had only started once in the top 10 until then.
Experience in Force India
“Going to Racing Point I actually returned to the same factory for the third time, because that team was first Jordan – recalled Fisichella, retracing those seasons in a long interview given to the F1 podcast, Beyond The Grid – and there had been so many changes, probably too many. It was a new team and in Italy we would call it a ‘serie B’ team. It was certainly not a top team. In 2008 it was very difficult to drive the car and it was almost impossible to get points. We were always at the bottom of the grid. But In 2009 the car was better. At the beginning of the year we had struggled, but there had been an improvement”.
The turning point of Spa
Then came the turning point: “At Spa they brought a new pack of upgrades and the car was completely different. It looked like another. On Saturday morning we were fast and I told the team that we could think about the points, that maybe we would be in the top 10 in qualifying. Nobody expected to take pole. At the time, Q3 had to be filled with petrol for the first part of the race and many thought we would do a few laps and then go to the pits. But it wasn’t like that, I did the same laps as the others. We were very fast, I could really win. Unfortunately there was a Safety Car and Kimi [Raikkonen] with Ferrari he overtook me thanks to KERS, which we didn’t have“. That result then led to Fisichella’s transfer to Ferrari, right alongside Raikkonen, for the last five GPs. A marriage that had no luck in F1 but which still continues today, precisely in endurance races, with GT cars.
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