Early career

Like most current Formula One drivers, he began kart racing as a youngster in the Guidonia's Kart circuit. In 1992, he competed in the Italian Formula Three Championship, racing for the RC Motorsport team. He finished runner up in 1993, and in 1994 he won the championship, following race victories in Monaco and Macau. He left open-wheel racing briefly in 1995, driving for Alfa Romeo in the International Touring Car Championship.

Formula One

Minardi (1996)

In 1996, he made the move to Formula One, making his debut for the Minardi team, after being the official test driver the previous season. However he did not complete the full season since Minardi required a driver who could bring funding to the team, and replaced Fisichella with Giovanni Lavaggi.

Jordan (1997)

For 1997 he made the move to Eddie Jordan's eponymous team, where he drove alongside former F1 champion Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf, himself a former Formula Nippon champion. Fisichella gained his first podium finish at the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix, and went on to finish higher in the points standings than his team-mate. At Hockenheim a victory looked to be within reach for Fisichella, but a puncture and the performance of an on-form Gerhard Berger denied him the win. Fisichella was able to show his talent again at the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix in which he finished a commendable second behind Michael Schumacher. Following this race, the Benetton team signed him for 1998.

Benetton (1998-2001)

The timing of his move to Benetton move was unfortunate. Following Renault's withdrawal from Formula One, Benetton would contest the 1998 season without "works" (factory-supplied) engines, instead using rebranded development versions of 1997 Renault engines. Despite not having the latest engines, Fisichella still managed second places at Montreal and Monaco, even being in contention for a victory in Canada until gearbox problems slowed him down. In Austria, Fisichella scored his first pole position, although an on-track clash with Jean Alesi during the race cost him any chance of a good result. He was then able to add only two more points to his total in the second half of the year as Benetton lost ground on their competition.

1999 proved to be a similarly inconsistent season for Giancarlo Fisichella. He did score some points finishes, including second at Montreal, and again came close to a victory in the European Grand Prix, until he spun off whilst in the lead. This would prove to be his best chance of a victory for the next few seasons.

Fisichella's season was to follow a similar pattern in 2000. He again gained some surprise podium finishes early in the year, but Benetton's now unfortunately traditional poor second half of the season meant that he failed to score any more points. Since joining Benetton, Fisichella had comprehensively outperformed his Austrian team-mate Alexander Wurz, who would then leave the team to make way for British rookie Jenson Button in 2001. Renault had purchased the Benetton team by the start of the 2001 season, but their investment was too late to enable much progress with Benetton's uncompetitive 2001 car, and as a result, Fisichella was battling for much of the season with teams such as Minardi and Prost. However, the efforts of technical director Mike Gascoyne and his staff did result in improvements over the year, culminating in a 4-5 finish at the German Grand Prix and a third-place finish for Fisichella at the Belgian race. Despite Fisichella gaining the team's best results that season and consistently outperforming Button, he was not retained by the team, so he rejoined Jordan for 2002.

Jordan (2002-2003)

Fisichella managed to score just seven points in 2002, comfortably outpacing new teammate Takuma Sato, although the Jordan-Honda car of that year was never truly competitive. After Honda withdrew their engine supply, Jordan switched to Ford engines for the 2003 season, but the team were still unable to compete with the top teams on the grid. Despite this lack of performance, Fisichella won his first race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Battling with McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen amidst heavy rain and numerous crashes, Fisichella took the race lead on lap 54, soon before the race was red-flagged. However, he was demoted to second place on the podium, because (per regulations) Räikkönen was the race leader two laps prior to the red flag. Several days later, though, the FIA determined that Fisichella had already begun his 56th lap before the red flag, meaning that he, and not Räikkönen, had been leading the race two laps before its premature end, awarding the Italian his first F1 victory. Fisichella was the only F1 driver to have won a race without having stood atop the podium. He collected the winner's trophy at the next race at Imola. Fisichella's only other points finish of 2003 was to be a seventh place at Indianapolis.

Sauber (2004)

Unhappy at the Jordan team's performance, Fisichella moved to Sauber in 2004 in the hope of greater results, and of using the team as a way of gaining access to, and a drive for, 2003 World Champions Ferrari, who supplied re-badged engines to the Sauber team. Fisichella drove well all year, comfortably outpacing team mate Felipe Massa for much of the season (scoring 22 championship points vs Massa's 12).

Renault (2005-2007)

2005

His strong performances prompted former Benetton-Renault team boss Flavio Briatore to re-sign him for the 2005 season as partner to the young Spanish driver Fernando Alonso. A win at the season opening race at Melbourne signalled the Formula One breakthrough that commentators had been predicting, but it proved to be something of a false dawn. A run of poor luck saw Fisichella fall behind his team mate in the championship standings, and at times the pair were achieving noticeably different lap times with the same equipment. It appeared that Fisichella simply did not have the pace to match Alonso.

The difference in pace between Fisichella and Alonso was noticeable, and while Alonso's metronomic consistency helped him win the 2005 championship, Fisichella's general bad luck was to cost him points finishes. He was overtaken and lost the lead on the final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix by McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, despite his race engineer urging him to avoid letting Räikkönen past. Nevertheless, his performances alongside Alonso throughout the season enabled Renault to win the World Constructors' Championship ahead of McLaren and Ferrari, the team that had won that title the previous six seasons.

2006

2006 proved to be a similar season for Fisichella. Having won in Malaysia, putting in a strong performance to win from the pole position, he failed to maintain that pace for the upcoming races, and even failed to reach the top ten in qualifying for two races. This form, in addition to a penalty in Monaco for allegedly impeding David Coulthard, meant Fisichella was again unable to challenge his team mate Alonso for the drivers' Championship. Some strong results in the second half of the 2006 season, including finishing ahead of Alonso at the US Grand Prix, enabled Fisichella to obtain his best ever results: Fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 72 points, one win, and five podium finishes. After finishing third in the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, Fisichella dedicated the result to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died of a heart attack on the Thursday before the race.

2007

In 2007 Giancarlo Fisichella became Renault's lead driver after the departure of Fernando Alonso. His team mate was the team's former test driver, the young Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who was replaced as test driver by Nelson Piquet, Jr.

Renault did not demonstrate the same level of pace as in previous seasons, which had seen them win successive World Championships. It remains unclear whether the difference was due to the change of tyre supplier from Michelin to Bridgestone, the driving abilities of Fernando Alonso, or simply being outpaced in off-season development by the other top teams. Another possibility is that the team's wind tunnel was giving inaccurate data in late 2006 which affected the development of the 2007 car. This was cited by Pat Symonds in an issue of F1 Racing Magazine. In the early races, Fisichella obtained better results than rookie team mate Kovalainen, but in Canada and the USA it was the Finn who claimed the higher finishes. Fisichella was disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix, along with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, for exiting the pit lane while the traffic light was showing red, the purpose of which is to prevent cars rejoining the race ahead of the safety car. He later stated that he had been busy avoiding other cars in the pit lane and had simply not noticed the red light. The Renault team seemed to have made significant progress in terms of pace by the Spanish Grand Prix, but a series of fuel rig problems meant that neither driver was able to capitalise on this apparent increase in performance. Fisichella crashed into the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix which broke his rear suspension and forced him to retire.

Force India (2008-2009)

2008

With Renault signing Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet, Jr. Fisichella was announced as the number one driver alongside Adrian Sutil for the Force India F1 team for the 2008 season (This is the third stint for Fisichella at the former Jordan team) on 10 January 2008. In the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix, he became the 9th driver to join the '200' club for drivers to have competed in at least 200 Grands Prix.

Fisichella finished the season pointless, as did the Force India team. However, there were a few moments when he found himself in a points position, such as the Brazilian Grand Prix, where an early change to soft compound tyres and his wet-weather ability saw him climb as high as 3rd. On 17 October, Force India announced they would keep Fisichella for the 2009 season.

2009

With the new Force India VJM02 powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine, Fisichella qualified 18th (promoted to 15th after both Toyotas and Lewis Hamilton were demoted) on the grid for the 2009 curtain-opener at Australia. He finished 11th in the race itself. In Malaysia, he qualified 18th, and was classified in the same position, having spun off in the torrential rain that stopped the race on lap 33.

On 29 August 2009, making the most of some very effective technical upgrades from Force India, Fisichella recorded the team's first pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix. He went on to score Force India's first points in Formula One with a strong second-place finish behind Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.

During that weekend, there were rumours that Fisichella might replace fellow Italian Luca Badoer (who was himself replacing the injured Felipe Massa) and become a Ferrari driver, something that he admitted he always wanted to do. On 3 September 2009, an official press statement confirmed Fisichella would be released from Force India to drive for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix, his home race.

Ferrari (2009)

Fisichella signed a contract as Ferrari's driver for the remainder of the 2009 season and reserve driver for 2010 on 3 September 2009. However, he had not ruled out continuing to race for another team in 2010, saying "if there is a good option to find another seat in another team it would be good". Beginning with the 2009 Italian Grand Prix, he replaced the injured Felipe Massa for the remainder of the 2009 season.

Fisichella remained Ferrari's reserve driver for 2010 but had been keen to keep racing for a different team. He admitted that Sauber was a strong option and was strongly linked to the team, however his hopes of driving for Sauber in 2010 were ended when Pedro de la Rosa was confirmed as the team's second driver. He was also linked to a possible return to Force India but the team confirmed former team mate Adrian Sutil and fellow Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi. As a result, he remained one of Ferrari's test drivers for 2010 along with fellow Italian Luca Badoer, Spaniard Marc Gené, Frenchman Jules Bianchi and Italian MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi.

At the end of 2010, Fisichella along with Luca Badoer and Marc Gené was replaced by Jules Bianchi as Ferrari test driver ahead of the 2011 season. However he remains a part of the Italian team and attended their annual 'Wroom' media event at Madonna di Campiglio in January 2011.

Helmet

Fisichella's helmet was white with two yellow and green lines with a blue diamond on the center of the lines running on each half of the helmet (forming a X in the sides) and around the visor; on the top there was a blue drop. In 2004, silver and chrome flames were incorporated in the design by Fisichella's then painter, Carsten Meurer of MRC Design. In 2007, Barney Stinton, part of Fisichella's management team incorporated the Italian colours into the design and the helmet was realised by Jens Munser of JMD, a design he uses to this day. Whilst at Renault it featured a light blue ring. Once at Ferrari, his helmet turned black and grey.

In 2004, whilst racing for Sauber, Fisichella became the first driver in Formula 1 to have his HANS device painted in his colours, Massa followed soon after and then the rest of the grid had theirs painted.

Sports cars

Fisichella made his sports car racing debut in 2010 by driving a Ferrari in the Le Mans Series as well as briefly in the American Le Mans Series.

In 2011, Fisichella, co-driver Gianmaria Bruni, and team AF Corse won both the driver's and team's championships in the LM GTE Pro class of the Le Mans Series, finished 2nd at the Le Mans 24hrs and won the 1000 miles of Petit Le Mans and helped AF Corse win the team's championship in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

In 2012 Fisichella was again with AF Corse and took part in the 2012 World Endurance Championship He won the season opener and came 2nd in the 6hrs of Spa and currently leads the Championship with team mate Gianmaria Bruni.

In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Fisichella and the AF Corse Team scored first place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni; their Ferrari 458 Italia covered a total of 335 laps (2,845.53 miles), of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Fisichella had the honor of driving the last stage of the competition. After a difficult 2013 Fisichella moved to the TUSCC Series in America to race for Risi Competizione but returned to AF Corse and team mates Bruni and Vilander for the 2014 edition the Le Mans 24hrs. After a hard fought race, they emerged victorious covering 339 laps, 4 more than their 2012 win tally. Fisichella then returned to America and won at Road America and Virginia International Raceway, he currently lies 8th in the GT Le Mans standings.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
1992	Italian Formula Three	Jolly Club	8	0	1	11	8th
1993	Italian Formula Three	Jolly Club	12	0	2	36	3rd
	Macau Grand Prix	RC Motorsport	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3	Jolly Club	1	1	0	N/A	2nd
1994	Italian Formula Three	RC Motorsport	20	11	11	309	1st
	British Formula 3		1	0	0	10	16th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	1	0	N/A	NC
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3		1	1	1	N/A	1st
	Masters of Formula Three		1	0	0	N/A	9th
1995	Formula One	Minardi	Test driver
	International Touring Car Championship	Alfa Corse 2	10	0	0	37	10th
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft		12	0	0	30	15th
1996	Formula One	Team Minardi	8	0	0	0	NC
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft	Alfa Corse	24	0	0	139	6th
1997	Formula One	Benson & Hedges Jordan Peugeot	17	0	0	20	8th
1998	Formula One	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	16	1	0	16	9th
1999	Formula One	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	16	0	0	13	9th
2000	Formula One	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	17	0	0	18	6th
2001	Formula One	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	17	0	0	8	11th
2002	Formula One	DHL Jordan Honda	17	0	0	7	11th
2003	Formula One	B&H Jordan Ford	16	0	1	12	12th
2004	Formula One	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	18	0	0	22	11th
2005	Formula One	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	19	1	1	58	5th
2006	Formula One	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	18	1	1	72	4th
2007	Formula One	ING Renault F1 Team	17	0	0	21	8th
2008	Formula One	Force India F1 Team	18	0	0	0	19th
2009	Formula One	Force India F1 Team	12	1	0	8	15th
		Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	5	0	0	0
2010	Formula One	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Test driver
	Le Mans Series	AF Corse (GT2)	5	1	0	62	2nd
	24 Hours of Le Mans						4th
2011	Formula One	Scuderia Ferrari	Test driver
	Le Mans Series	AF Corse (GTE Pro)	5	1	2	60	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans						2nd
2012	Formula One	Scuderia Ferrari	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	AF Corse (GTE Pro)	8	1	4	161	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans						1st
	International Superstars Series	Swiss Team	2	0	0	5	35th
2013	World Endurance Championship	AF Corse (GTE Pro)	8	0	2	135	2nd
	24 Hours of Le Mans						6th

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
1995	Alfa Corse 2	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti	HOC 1	HOC 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	ALE 1	ALE 2	HOC 1	HOC 1	15th	30

Complete International Touring Car Championship

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	Pos.	Pts
1995	Alfa Corse 2	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti	MUG 1	MUG 2	HEL 1	HEL 2	DON 1	DON 2	EST 1	EST 2	MAG 1	MAG 2																	10th	37
1996	TV Spielfilm Alfa Corse	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1	EST 2	HEL 1	HEL 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	MUG 1	MUG 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	INT 1	INT 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	6th	139

† Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
1996	Team Minardi	Minardi M195B	Ford EDM2 3.0 V8 Ford EDM3 3.0 V8	AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN				NC	0
1997	Benson & Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 197	Peugeot A14 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR			8th	20
1998	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B198	Playlife GC37-01 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	LUX	JPN				9th	16
1999	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B199	Playlife FB01 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	EUR	MAL	JPN				9th	13
2000	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton B200	Playlife FB02 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	SMR	GBR	ESP	EUR	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	MAL			6th	18
2001	Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton B201	Renault RS21 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			11th	8
2002	DHL Jordan Honda	Jordan EJ12	Honda RA002E 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	FRA	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			11th	7
2003	B&H Jordan Ford	Jordan EJ13	Ford RS1 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	ITA	USA	JPN				12th	12
2004	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C23	Petronas 04A 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA		11th	22
2005	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R25	Renault RS25 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	BRA	JPN	CHN	5th	58
2006	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R26	Renault RS26 2.4 V8	BHR	MAL	AUS	SMR	EUR	ESP	MON	GBR	CAN	USA	FRA	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA		4th	72
2007	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault R27	Renault RS27 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			8th	21
2008	Force India F1 Team	Force India VJM01	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	TUR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	CHN	BRA		19th	0
2009	Force India F1 Team	Force India VJM02	Mercedes FO108W 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL								15th	8
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F60	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8													ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2010	AF Corse	Jean Alesi Toni Vilander	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	323	16th	4th
2011	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	314	13th	2nd
2012	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	335	17th	1st
2013	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Matteo Malucelli	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	311	22nd	6th
2014	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	339	13th	1st
2015	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	330	25th	3rd

24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Result	Team	Car	Class
2014	DNF	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	GTLM

12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Result	Team	Car	Class
2011	5	AF Corse	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT / GTE-PRO
2012	DSQ	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	GT / GTE-PRO
2014	DNF	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	GTLM

10 Hours / 1000 miles of Petit Le Mans results

Year	Result	Team	Car	Class
2010	7	Risi Competizione	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2
2011	1	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	GT / GTE-PRO
2014	DNF	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	GTLM

Complete International Superstars Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2012	Swiss Team	Maserati Quattroporte	MNZ R1	MNZ R2	IMO R1	IMO R2	DON R1	DON R2	MUG R1	MUG R2	HUN R1	HUN R2	SPA R1	SPA R2	VAL R1	VAL R2	PER R1	PER R2	34th	5

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2012	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari F142 4.5L V8	SEB	SPA	LMS	SIL	SÃO	BHR	FUJ	SHA	1st †	161
2013	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari F142 4.5L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	SÃO	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	2nd	135
2014	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	SÃO	14th	51
2015	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	NÜR	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	20th	24

† There was no drivers championship that year, the result indicates rank in the LMGTE Pro Trophy.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]