Sauber Petronas Drivers
By Jamie Makin January 9 2005
Sauber will have a new driver lineup for 2004. Felipe Massa returns to the team after completing a year of testing for Ferrari, while Giancarlo Fisichella joins the team for the first time.
By Jamie Makin January 9 2005
Sauber will have a new driver lineup for 2004. Felipe Massa returns to the team after completing a year of testing for Ferrari, while Giancarlo Fisichella joins the team for the first time.
Giancarlo Fisichella
Felipe Massa
Neel Jani
Giancarlo Fisichella, Car Number 11
Giancarlo Fisichella has been described by Jean Alesi as "the second best driver in Formula One at the moment, second only to Michael Schumacher." Unlike Schumacher though, Fisichella has never been in a competitive car at the right time to challenge for the championship. While Schumacher has racked up a record six world championships, Fisichella has yet to realize his dream of driving for a top team, having endured a career of highs and lows.
Like most aspiring young racers, Fisichella started racing karts at the age of eleven. The Roman's talent showed right away as he won the first four championships that he entered. It took until 1992 for him to land a drive in the Italian F3 championship, but he showed early promise there as well. In 1992, he won ten out of the twenty races, including the prestigious races at Monaco and Macau. After winning the championship in 1994, he was able to skip over the traditional F3000 step, and head straight into Formula One.
In 1995 he filled the role of test driver for Minardi, while keeping his racing skills sharp by driving an Alpha Romeo in International Touring Cars (ITC). 1996 saw him continue his testing role with Minardi, but the opportunity arose for him to partake in eight of the season's races. Although he only finished three of those races and failed to score any points, he had caught the attention of the other teams.
Jordan offered him the opportunity to race with them in 1997 where Fisichella partnered Ralf Schumacher in Ralf's debut season. The early part of the season was not encouraging, with Fisichella failing to finish two of the first three races. He gained momentum from there for a very strong mid-season. His fourth place finish in Imola earned him his first Formula One points. This result was followed by a sixth place in Monaco and a third place in Canada where he made it to the podium for the first time. He drove consistently throughout the year, always in the points or very close. Later in the year, he scored a second place in Belgium, earning him another trip to the podium. Other highlights of the season included turning the fastest lap in Spain and leading the race briefly in Hockenheim. His consistent driving earned him eight position in the championship, while his highly-rated teammate could only manage eleventh.
1998 saw Fisichella move to the Benetton team amidst controversy. His manager at the time, Flavio Briatore who was also the team boss of Benetton, took Jordan to court in order to move the Roman to his team. Like the previous year, Fisichella's season got off to a slow start before reaching another mid-year high. He scored back-to-back second place finishes in Monaco and Canada, showing again that on these two tracks he was a force to be reckoned with. The 1998 season also saw him claim his only career pole position at the Austrian grand prix. He drove steadily for the remainder of the season, landing him ninth place in the championship. His teammate Alex Wurz edged him out for eight place, but this would be the only year that Fisichella would be beaten by his teammate.
1999 was a much more difficult year and began Fisichella's bad luck of being in the wrong team at the wrong time. Benetton had started to slide down the grid, and his year was plagued by mechanical failures and DNF's. Ninth was the best he could manage in the championship again. Alex Wurz could only manage thirteenth place.
The start of the 2000 season saw a radical change in his fortunes. He began with fifth place in Australia and second in Brazil. Later he claimed third place at both Monaco and Canada, where he consistently did well each year. The first nine races saw no DNF's for him, and he scored points regularly. But then the gremlins from last year came back to haunt him. He failed to finish the next four consecutive reasons due to both mechanical failures and crashes. He managed to finish some races in the later part of the season, but was not able to score any more points. Despite the late run of bad luck, 2000 was his best championship result ever. He finished in sixth place, even beating the Williams of Jenson Button. His teammate Alex Wurz was languishing in fifteenth place with an uncompetitive car. For Fisichella to have done as well as he did in 2000 says a lot about his abilities.
2001 was Fisichella's fourth and final year at Benetton. He gained a new teammate in Jenson Button, but the team continued its downward spiral. He gained only one point in the first eleven races, a sixth place finish in Brazil. The Benetton was not competitive and suffered from frequent mechanical failures. Fourth in Hockenheim and third in Belgium were the only other points he would score that year.
When his contract with Benetton was up, Fisichella returned to Jordan for 2002. Jordan had been a very competitive team for several years at this point, and looked to have far greater potential than the ailing Benetton team. But once again, Fisichella had gone to the wrong place at the wrong time, as the Jordan team began to slide as well. 2002 was plagued with crashes including two with his own teammate, Takuma Sato, at Malaysia and the Nurburgring. The Honda engines were not reliable either. Engine failures accounted for four of the six mechanical failures that put Fisichella out of races. Fisichella's bad luck was not helped by a high-speed practice crash in France, after which he was forced to sit out the race as a safety precaution. Monaco and Canada were again the only points in the season where Fisichella could shine. He finished fifth in both races. His sixth place in Austria brought him his only other points for 2002.
2003 continued the downward trend for Jordan and Fisichella's tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time continued. Renault (formerly Benetton) had become strong again and were challenging the top teams, while Jordan struggled just to stay afloat financially. Lack of development made the EJ-13 one of the worst cars Fisichella would ever drive. Jordan had switched to Ford engines, hoping to gain reliability over last year's Honda's. But Fisichella suffered seven DNF's in 2003. All were mechanical and three were caused by engine failures. Despite his withering spirits, there was one high point of the season for Fisichella and Jordan. He claimed his first ever grand prix win in a rain soaked race in Brazil. Just moments after he passed Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren for the lead, the race was red-flagged due to a horrific crash involving Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Controversy ensued as a count-back rule handed the win to Kimi Raikkonen. Jordan protested the results, claiming Fisichella had taken the lead on the lap that was counted back to. The FIA ruled in Jordan's favor and Fisichella was finally a winner. His only other points of the year came from a fifth place finish at Indianapolis in another rain-soaked race.
Before the 2003 season was over, Fisichella was shopping for a new team and Eddie Jordan was more than willing to let him out of his contract a year early. Fisichella was turned away by Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, BAR and Jaguar before landing a race seat at Sauber. Peter Sauber has been a long-time admirer of Fisichella, and has been looking to get him on the team for the past three years. Fisichella was initially hesitant because Sauber had spent most of the year behind Jordan in the points, beating only Minardi. However, Fisichella has always made it known that his true dream is to become the next Italian driver for Ferrari. Sauber have used Ferrari engines (rebadged as Petronas) since 1997 and have a close working relationship with the Italian team. Fisichella was also impressed with Sauber's new wind tunnel and the ambitions the team have to succeed. He decided a move to Sauber could either be a stepping stone to Ferrari or a chance to be with a team on the rise. Fisichella may get his chance at Ferrari sooner than planned though. In a recent announcement, Peter Sauber said that Ferrari could "borrow" Fisichella for tyre testing if necessary.
Fisichella has a reputation of beating his teammate every year (except for one), and in 2004 he will be going all out to prove to Ferrari that he is more worthy of a drive than Sauber teammate Felipe Massa. Massa tested for Ferrari in 2003, making the team quite familiar with his abilities. Fisichella will now have a chance to let Ferrari see firsthand what he can do. The competition for the Ferrari seat will be fierce, but should provide Sauber with two highly motivated drivers capable of bringing them great results in 2004.
Felipe Massa, Car Number 12
Peter Sauber has a knack for spotting young talent, having recently given Kimi Raikkonen his start in 2001. To replace Raikkonen, who had moved to McLaren in 2002, Sauber found a talented 20 year old Brazilian named Felipe Massa.
Massa's road to Formula One was similar to many of today's other successful drivers by starting in local karting events at the age of nine. He spent the next seven years karting until moving up to the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship in 1998. He only claimed fifth place in his first year, but succeeding in winning the championship in 1999. Then he made the big move to Europe. In his debut in 2000 he won both the Italian and European Formula Renault Championships. 2001 saw him move up to dominate the European Formula 3000 Championship, winning six out of the eight races.
His entry into Formula One in 2002 was not as successful as his past three years. He had several testing shunts before the season even started, leading many to doubt his skills from the start. In his first grand prix in Australia, he was taken out in the big first turn accident. He redeemed himself in Malaysia though, taking sixth place and his first championship point. The rest of the season was a mix of highs and lows for Massa. He had eight DNF's total, half of which involved crashes and spins. But when he finished, he finished strong. Of his eight finishes, he was never lower than ninth place. He claimed three additional points with a fifth place finish in Spain and sixth at the Nurburgring. What he lacked in consistency he made up for in raw speed.
Towards the end of the season, things were looking grim for the Brazilian rookie. Massa became very outspoken against the team after the German grand prix when they ordered him to pull over to let Heidfeld pass for the final points paying position. Sauber also was quick to sign veteran Heinz-Harald Frentzen to replace Massa for 2003. At the Italian grand prix, the stewards declared it was Massa who caused an avoidable accident with Pedro De La Rosa's Jaguar and Massa became the first driver to be penalized by losing ten grid positions at the next race, the US grand prix. Sauber sidestepped the penalty by allowing Frentzen to race instead, while Massa could only watch it on television from his home in Brazil. Massa ended his difficult year in Japan by crashing out on his own early in the race.
At the end of the season, Peter Sauber offered Massa the role of test driver with the team which Massa quickly refused. When talks with other teams about a race seat yielded no results, Massa moved to Ferrari to become their second test driver. A year with the Italian team has proven very valuable to Massa. He has honed his skills by learning with the best drivers today, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. He also holds the current lap record at Ferrari's private test track, Fiorano. Sauber monitored his progress throughout the 2003 season, and decided that his driving and his attitude had matured well enough to earn him back his race seat.
Felipe Massa returns to Sauber a changed man. If his consistency has improved, he should bring Sauber some excellent results in 2004. He tested the Sauber in Jerez in December and was quickly at home again with the team. He will also continue to test for Ferrari part time in 2004, which will bring Sauber a lot more insight into the workings of the reigning champions. While his contract with Sauber is for two years, it is believed that he will be able to move up to a race seat at Ferrari, should an opportunity open there.
Neel Jani, Test Driver
At the age of 19, Neel Jani is the youngest member of Sauber's driver lineup. Peter Sauber has been following the career of the young Swiss driver for several years and in April 2003 he gave him the opportunity to become Sauber's test driver.
Jani's climb up the motorsports ladder has been more rapid than his teammates Fisichella and Massa. Jani began karting in 1996 at the age of 13 and won his first karting championship in 1999. He moved into the Swiss Formula A Lista Junior championship in 2002 where he became the Swiss Champion in his debut season. 2002 saw him move to the Formula Renault 2000 championship where he placed second in the championship. Jani moved up to Formula Renault V6 for 2003 and had an impressive season landing him another second place in the championship. Throughout the year, he scored many pole positions, yielding him four wins and twelve podiums.
Jani only had a few opportunities in 2003 to test for Sauber but he has already made a strong impression on the team. He began with straight-line aerodynamic tests early in the season, then graduated to on-track testing with 2003 drivers Heidfeld and Frentzen. He was several seconds off the pace of his more experienced teammates in these early tests, but in a test session in December, he was running at the same pace as his new teamates Fisichella and Massa. His fitness has improved over the year, and he has developed a good working relationship with the team.
2004 will present Jani more opportunities to show his skills behind the wheel of the Sauber. A new rule will allow teams below fourth place in the championship to run third cars during Friday practices session of grand prix weekends. Although Sauber has declared they will not run a third car at every race, Jani will have a chance to drive at the ones they do participate in. This will allow him to learn the tracks and gain experience working with the team during race weekends. It will be interesting to see how he grows and develops with the Sauber team.
Statistics are current as of the end of the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa
Neel Jani
Giancarlo Fisichella, Car Number 11
|
Birthplace: | Rome, Italy |
| Date of Birth: | 14 January 1973 | |
| Current Residence: | Monte Carlo | |
| Entered F1: | 1995 | |
| Number of F1 Races: | 141 | |
| Career F1 Points: | 116 | |
| Number of F1 Wins: | 1 | |
| Number of F1 Poles: | 1 | |
| Number of F1 Podiums | 10 |
Like most aspiring young racers, Fisichella started racing karts at the age of eleven. The Roman's talent showed right away as he won the first four championships that he entered. It took until 1992 for him to land a drive in the Italian F3 championship, but he showed early promise there as well. In 1992, he won ten out of the twenty races, including the prestigious races at Monaco and Macau. After winning the championship in 1994, he was able to skip over the traditional F3000 step, and head straight into Formula One.
In 1995 he filled the role of test driver for Minardi, while keeping his racing skills sharp by driving an Alpha Romeo in International Touring Cars (ITC). 1996 saw him continue his testing role with Minardi, but the opportunity arose for him to partake in eight of the season's races. Although he only finished three of those races and failed to score any points, he had caught the attention of the other teams.
Jordan offered him the opportunity to race with them in 1997 where Fisichella partnered Ralf Schumacher in Ralf's debut season. The early part of the season was not encouraging, with Fisichella failing to finish two of the first three races. He gained momentum from there for a very strong mid-season. His fourth place finish in Imola earned him his first Formula One points. This result was followed by a sixth place in Monaco and a third place in Canada where he made it to the podium for the first time. He drove consistently throughout the year, always in the points or very close. Later in the year, he scored a second place in Belgium, earning him another trip to the podium. Other highlights of the season included turning the fastest lap in Spain and leading the race briefly in Hockenheim. His consistent driving earned him eight position in the championship, while his highly-rated teammate could only manage eleventh.
1998 saw Fisichella move to the Benetton team amidst controversy. His manager at the time, Flavio Briatore who was also the team boss of Benetton, took Jordan to court in order to move the Roman to his team. Like the previous year, Fisichella's season got off to a slow start before reaching another mid-year high. He scored back-to-back second place finishes in Monaco and Canada, showing again that on these two tracks he was a force to be reckoned with. The 1998 season also saw him claim his only career pole position at the Austrian grand prix. He drove steadily for the remainder of the season, landing him ninth place in the championship. His teammate Alex Wurz edged him out for eight place, but this would be the only year that Fisichella would be beaten by his teammate.
1999 was a much more difficult year and began Fisichella's bad luck of being in the wrong team at the wrong time. Benetton had started to slide down the grid, and his year was plagued by mechanical failures and DNF's. Ninth was the best he could manage in the championship again. Alex Wurz could only manage thirteenth place.
The start of the 2000 season saw a radical change in his fortunes. He began with fifth place in Australia and second in Brazil. Later he claimed third place at both Monaco and Canada, where he consistently did well each year. The first nine races saw no DNF's for him, and he scored points regularly. But then the gremlins from last year came back to haunt him. He failed to finish the next four consecutive reasons due to both mechanical failures and crashes. He managed to finish some races in the later part of the season, but was not able to score any more points. Despite the late run of bad luck, 2000 was his best championship result ever. He finished in sixth place, even beating the Williams of Jenson Button. His teammate Alex Wurz was languishing in fifteenth place with an uncompetitive car. For Fisichella to have done as well as he did in 2000 says a lot about his abilities.
2001 was Fisichella's fourth and final year at Benetton. He gained a new teammate in Jenson Button, but the team continued its downward spiral. He gained only one point in the first eleven races, a sixth place finish in Brazil. The Benetton was not competitive and suffered from frequent mechanical failures. Fourth in Hockenheim and third in Belgium were the only other points he would score that year.
When his contract with Benetton was up, Fisichella returned to Jordan for 2002. Jordan had been a very competitive team for several years at this point, and looked to have far greater potential than the ailing Benetton team. But once again, Fisichella had gone to the wrong place at the wrong time, as the Jordan team began to slide as well. 2002 was plagued with crashes including two with his own teammate, Takuma Sato, at Malaysia and the Nurburgring. The Honda engines were not reliable either. Engine failures accounted for four of the six mechanical failures that put Fisichella out of races. Fisichella's bad luck was not helped by a high-speed practice crash in France, after which he was forced to sit out the race as a safety precaution. Monaco and Canada were again the only points in the season where Fisichella could shine. He finished fifth in both races. His sixth place in Austria brought him his only other points for 2002.
2003 continued the downward trend for Jordan and Fisichella's tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time continued. Renault (formerly Benetton) had become strong again and were challenging the top teams, while Jordan struggled just to stay afloat financially. Lack of development made the EJ-13 one of the worst cars Fisichella would ever drive. Jordan had switched to Ford engines, hoping to gain reliability over last year's Honda's. But Fisichella suffered seven DNF's in 2003. All were mechanical and three were caused by engine failures. Despite his withering spirits, there was one high point of the season for Fisichella and Jordan. He claimed his first ever grand prix win in a rain soaked race in Brazil. Just moments after he passed Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren for the lead, the race was red-flagged due to a horrific crash involving Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Controversy ensued as a count-back rule handed the win to Kimi Raikkonen. Jordan protested the results, claiming Fisichella had taken the lead on the lap that was counted back to. The FIA ruled in Jordan's favor and Fisichella was finally a winner. His only other points of the year came from a fifth place finish at Indianapolis in another rain-soaked race.
Before the 2003 season was over, Fisichella was shopping for a new team and Eddie Jordan was more than willing to let him out of his contract a year early. Fisichella was turned away by Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, BAR and Jaguar before landing a race seat at Sauber. Peter Sauber has been a long-time admirer of Fisichella, and has been looking to get him on the team for the past three years. Fisichella was initially hesitant because Sauber had spent most of the year behind Jordan in the points, beating only Minardi. However, Fisichella has always made it known that his true dream is to become the next Italian driver for Ferrari. Sauber have used Ferrari engines (rebadged as Petronas) since 1997 and have a close working relationship with the Italian team. Fisichella was also impressed with Sauber's new wind tunnel and the ambitions the team have to succeed. He decided a move to Sauber could either be a stepping stone to Ferrari or a chance to be with a team on the rise. Fisichella may get his chance at Ferrari sooner than planned though. In a recent announcement, Peter Sauber said that Ferrari could "borrow" Fisichella for tyre testing if necessary.
Fisichella has a reputation of beating his teammate every year (except for one), and in 2004 he will be going all out to prove to Ferrari that he is more worthy of a drive than Sauber teammate Felipe Massa. Massa tested for Ferrari in 2003, making the team quite familiar with his abilities. Fisichella will now have a chance to let Ferrari see firsthand what he can do. The competition for the Ferrari seat will be fierce, but should provide Sauber with two highly motivated drivers capable of bringing them great results in 2004.
Felipe Massa, Car Number 12
|
Birthplace: | Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Date of Birth: | 25 April 1981 | |
| Current Residence: | Sao Paulo, Brazil | |
| Entered F1: | 2002 | |
| Number of F1 Races: | 34 | |
| Career F1 Points: | 16 | |
| Number of F1 Wins: | 0 | |
| Number of F1 Poles: | 0 | |
| Number of F1 Podiums | 0 |
Massa's road to Formula One was similar to many of today's other successful drivers by starting in local karting events at the age of nine. He spent the next seven years karting until moving up to the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship in 1998. He only claimed fifth place in his first year, but succeeding in winning the championship in 1999. Then he made the big move to Europe. In his debut in 2000 he won both the Italian and European Formula Renault Championships. 2001 saw him move up to dominate the European Formula 3000 Championship, winning six out of the eight races.
His entry into Formula One in 2002 was not as successful as his past three years. He had several testing shunts before the season even started, leading many to doubt his skills from the start. In his first grand prix in Australia, he was taken out in the big first turn accident. He redeemed himself in Malaysia though, taking sixth place and his first championship point. The rest of the season was a mix of highs and lows for Massa. He had eight DNF's total, half of which involved crashes and spins. But when he finished, he finished strong. Of his eight finishes, he was never lower than ninth place. He claimed three additional points with a fifth place finish in Spain and sixth at the Nurburgring. What he lacked in consistency he made up for in raw speed.
Towards the end of the season, things were looking grim for the Brazilian rookie. Massa became very outspoken against the team after the German grand prix when they ordered him to pull over to let Heidfeld pass for the final points paying position. Sauber also was quick to sign veteran Heinz-Harald Frentzen to replace Massa for 2003. At the Italian grand prix, the stewards declared it was Massa who caused an avoidable accident with Pedro De La Rosa's Jaguar and Massa became the first driver to be penalized by losing ten grid positions at the next race, the US grand prix. Sauber sidestepped the penalty by allowing Frentzen to race instead, while Massa could only watch it on television from his home in Brazil. Massa ended his difficult year in Japan by crashing out on his own early in the race.
At the end of the season, Peter Sauber offered Massa the role of test driver with the team which Massa quickly refused. When talks with other teams about a race seat yielded no results, Massa moved to Ferrari to become their second test driver. A year with the Italian team has proven very valuable to Massa. He has honed his skills by learning with the best drivers today, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. He also holds the current lap record at Ferrari's private test track, Fiorano. Sauber monitored his progress throughout the 2003 season, and decided that his driving and his attitude had matured well enough to earn him back his race seat.
Felipe Massa returns to Sauber a changed man. If his consistency has improved, he should bring Sauber some excellent results in 2004. He tested the Sauber in Jerez in December and was quickly at home again with the team. He will also continue to test for Ferrari part time in 2004, which will bring Sauber a lot more insight into the workings of the reigning champions. While his contract with Sauber is for two years, it is believed that he will be able to move up to a race seat at Ferrari, should an opportunity open there.
Neel Jani, Test Driver
|
Birthplace: | Switzerland |
| Date of Birth: | 8 December 1983 | |
| Current Residence: | Jens, Switzerland | |
| Entered F1: | 2003 | |
| Number of F1 Races: | 0 | |
| Career F1 Points: | 0 | |
| Number of F1 Wins: | 0 | |
| Number of F1 Poles: | 0 | |
| Number of F1 Podiums | 0 |
Jani's climb up the motorsports ladder has been more rapid than his teammates Fisichella and Massa. Jani began karting in 1996 at the age of 13 and won his first karting championship in 1999. He moved into the Swiss Formula A Lista Junior championship in 2002 where he became the Swiss Champion in his debut season. 2002 saw him move to the Formula Renault 2000 championship where he placed second in the championship. Jani moved up to Formula Renault V6 for 2003 and had an impressive season landing him another second place in the championship. Throughout the year, he scored many pole positions, yielding him four wins and twelve podiums.
Jani only had a few opportunities in 2003 to test for Sauber but he has already made a strong impression on the team. He began with straight-line aerodynamic tests early in the season, then graduated to on-track testing with 2003 drivers Heidfeld and Frentzen. He was several seconds off the pace of his more experienced teammates in these early tests, but in a test session in December, he was running at the same pace as his new teamates Fisichella and Massa. His fitness has improved over the year, and he has developed a good working relationship with the team.
2004 will present Jani more opportunities to show his skills behind the wheel of the Sauber. A new rule will allow teams below fourth place in the championship to run third cars during Friday practices session of grand prix weekends. Although Sauber has declared they will not run a third car at every race, Jani will have a chance to drive at the ones they do participate in. This will allow him to learn the tracks and gain experience working with the team during race weekends. It will be interesting to see how he grows and develops with the Sauber team.
Statistics are current as of the end of the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.
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