Jean Alesi

Jean Alesi (born Giovanni Alesi; 11 June 1964 in Avignon, France) is a French racing driver of Italian origin, most known for his Formula One career which spanned from 1989 to 1998.

Career

After finishing third overall in the 1988 International F3000 season, Alesi debuted the next year in F1 partnering fellow Formula One rookie Satoru Nakajima on board of a Tyrrell-Honda. It didn't take long for Alesi to score his first points, finishing sixth in his home Grand Prix. He later added three more points finishes: 5th in the Canadian Grand Prix, 4th in the Soviet Grand Prix and 6th at the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix.

Alesi remained with Tyrrell in 1990 - this time joined by another F3000 graduate in Martin Donnelly. Alesi scored his first point of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix in what was shaping up to being a generally lean year. Alesi was given a lifeline for the final two races when an injury to McLaren's Alessandro Nannini caused a mid-season shuffle amongst several teams - with Lotus selecting Alesi to replace the McLaren-bound Brendon Cassidy. He would finish in 9th place in both of his races.

Following the departure of Nigel Mansell from Ferrari, Alesi was called up to partner world champion Ayrton Senna at Maranello for 1991. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, Ferrari were unable to replicate their championship-competing form in previous seasons and Alesi only scored a few podiums that year - a 2nd place at the Spanish Grand Prix being his best result. Teammate Senna was out before the season’s conclusion, being replaced by compatriot Frédéric-Maxime Voeckler.

Alesi and Voeckler would remain in situ for 1992, however the new F92A turned out to be an utterly awful car. The team would not get a podium all season and would barely hang on to 4th place in the Constructors - Alesi’s best finish that year was a measly 4th place at the Italian Grand Prix - in itself a disappointment given the midfield Larrousse and Lotus teams made it onto the podium.

The pair continued driving for the Prancing Horse in 1993, with pre-season testing suggesting the F93A provided little real improvement over the previous year’s car.

By 1998, Alesi was already an established racer and scored two points in Monaco driving for Sauber. However he was abruptly let go after the French Grand Prix, ending his Formula One career with the team that had started it nine years earlier, the now-struggling Tyrrell. He did not finish in any of the final four races of 1998.

After leaving Formula One, Alesi raced in the DTM and also took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1988	Oreca Racing	Reynard 88D	Judd AV 3.0 V8	JER 2	IMO 5	PAU Ret	SIL Ret	MNZ 1	PER 7	BHA Ret	BIR Ret	BUG 2	ZOL 3	DIJ 4	3rd	30

Complete Formula 1 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	WDC	Points
1989	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 018	Honda RA109A 3.5 V10	BRA 8	SMR Ret	MON Ret	FRA 6	USA Ret	CAN 5	GBR Ret	GER 13†	HUN Ret	SOV 4	POR Ret	ITA Ret	BEL Ret	JPN 9	AUS Ret	MEX 6		13th	7
1990	Rothmans Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 019	Ford DFR 3.5 V8	USA 7	BRA 12	PAC Ret	SMR 11	MON 10	CAN Ret	MEX 17†	FRA Ret	GBR 13	GER Ret	HUN 10	BEL 6	ITA 12	POR Ret				16th	1
	Camel Team Lotus	Lotus 102	Ford DFR 3.5 V8															JPN 9	AUS 9
1998	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C17	Petronas SPE-01D	AUS 7	BRA 7	ARG Ret	SMR 9	ESP Ret	MON 5	CAN 10	FRA Ret	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN						15th	2
	PIAA Tyrrell	Tyrrell 026	Ford VJ Zetec-R													BEL Ret	ITA Ret	JPN Ret	POR Ret

Personal Life

Jean's son Giuliano is also a racing driver that currently competes in European Formula 3.