Jean Alesi

Ah, this is much more like it. What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a racing driver. A proper one. By which I mean a man who is brilliant, appalling, idiotic, unpredictable, emotional, determined and inspired by turns. In fact, quite often all of these at once. French-Sicilian Alesi was one of the last (perhaps *the*last) of the true *racers* in Formula One (Juan-Pablo Montoya notwithstanding), and as such we should feel privileged to have seen him. Jean burst upon the F1 scene way back in 1989, driving for Tyrrell (RIP), and finishing in a superb fourth place - from sixteenth on the grid. What really woke people up to his talent, though, was that ...

It is a pity that Jean Alesi has retired from Formula One racing, although I think he has probably made the right choice, at the right time. In his F1 career this Frenchman has raced for Tyrrell (1989 – 1990), Ferrari (1991 – 1995), Benetton (1996 – 1997), Sauber (1998 – 1999), Prost (2000 – 2001) and Jordan (2001). In all of his races I always felt that Jean Alesi was 100% committed to racing, although his fiery Latin temperament sometimes produced some strange results. In total Jean Alesi raced in 201 Grand Prixs and this is an enormous number considering the risks taken and the commitment that is required by an F1 ...

Jean Alesi retires aged 37 at the end of the 2001 season and will be sadly missed by f1 fans. He will be replaced by a new Japanese driver Takuma Sato. He started driving in 1989 and will have raced in 201 races. In his entire race career he has had only one win. He has had two poles and 32 podium postions. He started his f1 career with Tyrell after being the 1987 f3 champion and the 1989 international f3000 champion. He moved to Ferrari in 1991, where he stayed until 1995. It was at the 1995 Canadian grand prix where he got his one win. This wasn't enough to keep him at Ferrari and so he moved to Bennetton. After this he moved to Sauber, then signed ...