Jarno Trulli

Fourteen years on the Formula 1 circuit make Jarno Trulli eligible to be regarded as one of the sport's veterans. But with just one race win to his credit, it's a career that's yet to deliver. There have been many drivers who have had moderate or no success. Yet, they continue to feature on the driver's championships year after year. Trulli would qualify as one of these drivers, but there is still hope. The new contract with Lotus-Cosworth is an indication that Jarno can still go fast and continuously keep evolving, albeit at a slow-steady pace. With a brand new team backing him up, and the technical expertise of Mike Gascoyne fueling the project, 2010 was looking bright for Jarno. Unfortunately the rocket never took off and he finished the season pointless.

For someone whose family was motorsports-crazy, becoming a Formula 1 driver would seem the logical destination. But for Trulli, it needs to go one step further. "He has that sleepy Ayrton Senna look... he's going places," said an experienced F1 driver about him recently.

That he's going places was something which his parents established long ago. Their enthusiasm for motorsports made them name their son after Jarno Saarinen, the Finnish GP motorcycle champion who had been killed at Monza in 1973. The Finnish name did cause some confusion initially when Trulli entered F1, though!

Having being involved in karting from an early age, Trulli won Italian and European Championships before moving to the German Formula 3 Championship. After just one year in this championship, Trulli joined Minardi and joined Formula 1.

He made an immediate impression at Minardi. He was called on to replace the injured Olivier Panis and in his debut race, he finished fourth. In fact, he was in a position to finish second in his next race in Austria until his engine blew. Who knows what that second place finish could have done for his career?

Unfortunately, that was the closest he would get to a podium finish for nearly two years. Trulli moved on and joined Prost Racing and would be with the Prost team for two seasons registering his first podium finish, a second place in the European Grand Prix. His first three seasons saw him score only 11 points and a best year-end finish of 11th place in 1999.

A move to Jordan at the start of the 2000 season has seen things improve for Trulli. The team was not as strong as it was in the late 1990s and Trulli knew this. He managed only 6 points in the season and was placed 10th in the Driver's Championship, but there was hope. Things improved in 2001 and although he finished lesser races than 2000, he had some better results that saw him score 12 points and finish a spot higher in 9th place.

Moving to a strong Renault team in 2002, Trulli was partnered with Alonso. Although he could not match Alonso's results, he did improve marginally from the previous year and finished the year in 8th place. But the pressure was starting to tell and Trulli pulled up his socks for 2003.

His first podium finish in nearly four years saw Trulli outperform himself! With 33 points, he retained his 8th spot, but this was by far his most successful year to date. Eight races in which he scored points was the best he had ever done. And this confidence would pay off in the next season too. But there was some drama before this. After an error late in the race that allowed Rubens Barrichello on to the podium was what set the stage. This was at the French GP, home of Renault. From there, things went downhill and he did not win a single point in the second half of the season. He even accused the team of favouring Alonso, but by then, he had already signed up with Toyota. In fact, he left Renault with three races still to go and raced in a Toyota for the last two races of the season.

Trulli has been acknowledged to be a very fast and accurate driver over the course of one lap. But when he is in race conditions, the doubts creep back in. in 2005, he was having a scorcher of a season and outperforming his more illustrious team-mate, Ralf Schumacher. But an inexplicable dip in form in the second half of the season saw him fall to 7th in the Driver's Championship. He ended the year two points behind Ralf Schumacher.

In 2006, a poor start to the season saw him get riddled with more self-doubt and he never managed to get out of that. His best result was 4th at the US Grand Prix. With just 15 points, he finished 12th and detractors had their knives out. But his team, Toyota has faith in him and he, in the team. There is still optimism around what he can deliver and this is what will define 2007 for Trulli.

"I strongly believe that I can win races with Toyota. It's not something that's going to happen easily but I believe Toyota has the potential to do great things and eventually win the championship," Trulli said when asked about what he thinks of his association with Toyota.

Trulli has perhaps never been as clear of his goal before in his career. "My target is to get the first victory, and if I can, the first championship! I really feel part of the company and family. It's an important target this year, and I hope we can mark this target with some good showings and good performances," he said. Wise and strong words, indeed! Can he and his car deliver?

The answer to that was a resounding no for 2008. The Toyota twosome managed ninth and 10th places in the Driver's Championship with little to brag about. Trulli had a podium finish (third) in France and that was the highlight of the season. For 2009, either, it didn't look too different. The Toyota remained an average car and despite the efforts of the team, pre-season testing hadn't shown anything dramatic for the drivers. Jarno Trulli was in danger of finishing F1 as one of the most underachieving drivers ever. Despite his efforts, he just disn't seem to get the car that will see him through a race.

The 2009 season with Toyota began on a great note as Jarno followed the Brawn GP duo through the race to end up on the podium. The speculations rose and the very evident upsetting of the usual hierarchy had the pundits eating their hats. Starting from eight, Trulli slowly made it up to the third place on the podium, followed by teammate Timo Glock in fourth. Toyota could finally boast of a competitive car, good drivers and race readiness.

The season then settled into the pace that Trulli is well accustomed to. After picking up a fourth position and points in Malaysia, he retired in China following a crash with Robert Kubica. In Bahrain he took the pole but only finished third after a well fought race. After collecting points in three out of the first four races, including two podiums, the season was finally something that Jarno could count on. The Spanish GP was again a disappointment, collecting the second retirement. In Turkey, Jarno Trulli again sped to forth place. In Europe, Trulli could not perform as well as he would've liked, collecting points in Silverstone and a single point in Hungary. Back to the Suzuka, Japan, Trulli enjoyed the highlight of the season, bagging the second place on the podium. After a season long tug-of-war with Nico Rosberg for the seventh position in the Drivers Championship, Trulli lost out in the final legs of the season, posting a DNF in Brazil and only a 7th position in the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP at the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit.

When Toyota backed out from the Formula 1 circuit at the end of 2009, Trulli was given a seat at the new team, Lotus F1 Racing. The first season in the new team proved to be considerably good with the team finishing as the best among the three new teams. But as a driver, the 2010 season was rather disappointing with him not scoring a single point.

With Jarno still with Lotus, will 2011 be another pointless season or will he be able to outgrow his lacklustre past?