Jarno Trulli’s F1 career in video (part 1)

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Jarno Trulli has driven for five different teams in his F1 career

F1 Fanatic guest writer Journeyer looks back on the F1 career of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli.

The Monaco Grand Prix has given lots of people a day in the spotlight lately – they’ve had 7 different winners in the past 8 years. One of them was Jarno Trulli. While his win here in 2004 has been his only win to date, he’s produced a lot of other great drives as well.

1996: Trulli first came onto the F1 radar by winning the German F3 championship. One of his more epic battles that year was against Pedro Couceiro for 3rd at the Norisring.

1997: Trulli’s debut in F1 came courtesy of Minardi. The young Italian had a solid debut in Australia, finishing outside of the points in 9th. He wouldn’t stay in a Minardi for too long…

This is the first of 13 parts covering the race in full.

Prost’s lead driver Olivier Panis was suddenly put out of action after breaking both his legs during the Canadian Grand Prix. Team boss Alain Prost got Trulli to substitute for Panis, and it was a great decision. He had many great drives, like leading in Austria and finishing 4th in Germany. He also had a very good race in Hungary, finishing just outside the points in 7th.

This is the first of 5 parts covering the race in full.

1998: In comparison to the previous year, 1998 was a poorer team for both team and driver. The Prost AP01 was never in contention for any of the races, and Trulli only scored a single point for 6th place in Belgium after many of the other cars dropped out.

1999: A slightly better year for the team, but still not good enough to contend regularly. However, some good luck (and good racing) from Trulli gave him his first ever podium at the European Grand Prix, holding off Rubens Barrichello to finish 2nd, behind race winner Johnny Herbert.

This is the last of 11 parts covering the race in full.

2000: By the end of 1999, Trulli felt his skills would be put to better use elsewhere, so he moved to Jordan, the team that was best of the rest behind Ferrari and McLaren in the previous season.

But as it turned out, it was more of the same story he had seen at Prost – an inconsistent and unreliable car meant that he couldn’t make full use of his speed. His best result was 4th at Brazil. This is the onboard lap of his qualifying lap there.

2001: His 2nd season with Jordan was somewhat better, scoring points on 5 different occasions and helping Jordan to 5th in the Constructors Championship. His best result was 4th in the United States, which he nearly lost due to his car’s plank being worn too thin. However, the team’s appeal was successful and he kept his 4th-placed finish.

By the end of 2001, Trulli decided to move on. His years with Renault and Toyota will be covered tomorrow.

18 comments on “Jarno Trulli’s F1 career in video (part 1)”

  1. In what year did Trulli start to become useless and just be remembered for blocking other cars with his Trulli train

    1. 2005 I think.

  2. Without a reminder such as this, I think Trulli’s career would be largely forgettable. It’s kind of sad that he will be remembered for the above moniker, but at the end of the day, there is a reason he wasn’t hired into a top 2 team, and his performances in the Renault and Toyota were not beyond that of a good test driver. Don’t have anything against the guy, just think he’s a journeyman who can qualify well.

    1. to be fair, in the first half of 2004, he frequently had the upper hand over his team-mate “Fernando Alando”.

      But i agree, Trulli’s lengthy F1 career lifespan is totally out of proportion with his talent.

    2. I coldn’t agree with your assessment Arnet. You said pretty much what would have said.
      Unfortunately there have been, and still are so many on the grid like him.
      To be honest there are drivers who get to stay in formula one way too long and don’t bring anything to the sport. And you get so many drivers not given much of a chance who may have turned out to be really good.

      I think one example of the latter is JUSTIN WILSON. unfortunately he is a very tall guy which goes against him.
      And the former just look at Fisichella.

    3. This all sounds a bit harsh, Renault not a top 2 team? They were when they won back to back championships. Trulli for me was/is a quick, dependable driver who on his day can out-qualify the best, not a number 1 but a valuable number 2 who should not be under valued.

  3. I’ve always seen Trulli as a solid, dependable development driver, as opposed to an aggressive, win-hungry champion. As above, nothing against him personally, and I like his character in interviews, but I feel he’s often just been an also-ran.

  4. I am in awe of Trulli’s ability to get a car around a timed lap, I rate him as second to noone in qualifyng trim. Remember too how fast he was off the line too in comparison even to Alonso at Renault who is no starting slouch. Race lap consistency and ability to work around handling issues has not been so strong but it doesn’t negate an awesome driving talent.

  5. Ahhh Jarno always the bridesmaid… Still nice wine though…

  6. It has been said Trulli likes his car setup to be spot-on. If he can achieve it during practice sessions, he will then outqualify almost any teammate.
    However, when the set-up is not so good, or the track is changing during the race, Trulli fades. He seems unable to adapt his driving as much as is sometimes necessary.
    And that’s it.
    Still, when the car is to his liking, he can put in some excellent performances (like during his Renault stint).

  7. On ITV last year I seem to recall Jarno plugging his wine from his wine farm in Italy. I’m curious, has anyone ever tasted his wines, and if so what are they like and is it worth buying a bottle…

    1. Not tried all of them, hic!, but yes, the ones I have are good. I don`t think Jarno can take all the credit, though. They`ve been around a bit longer than he has

      See here if you are interested.

  8. He’ll be remembered simply as a good qualifier, but poor racer.

    Off topic, but I’d love to see what a really top driver would do in the Toyota.

  9. Trulli needs good car, hopefully Toyota can give him that!!

  10. I had high hopes for Jarno this season, but in my opinion he’s underperformed. He needs to up his game.

    (and no, I couldn’t do any better)

  11. It was in 2005 he was labeled as a poor racer and to some extent he got that at Jordan in 2001, but both times he was qualifying the car too high up the grid, so of course he went backwards. He out did both teammates those years. Look what happened at the end of 2005 when Toyota completely changed the front suspension, suddenly RS was quick.

    Anyway I agree he is a solid number two and most F1 teams need that nowadays.

  12. Nice article, thanks Journeyer.
    To stay in Formula One as long as Trulli has must mean he has qualities admired by team bosses. It would be great to see Toyota get their maiden win this season and hopefully Jarno can do it.

    1. He has a lot of good qualities, Saltire. But he’s not good enough to be a champion, sadly. Still, he’s a reliable veteran a team can count on to do consistently well, if not great.

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