Giancarlo Fisichella

[woody2goody]

Ok guys, how do you think Fisico is going to do this year, what do you think of him as a driver and in general? Also, how long do you think he has left in F1?

Please be nice, as he's one of my favourite drivers :)

But be honest. Let's have a good clean argument :D

[Garry Walker]

He needs to really beat Sutil clearly to stand a chance at having a drive next year. I hope he does it too as I am not too big a fan of Sutil, but realistically, his career will end after this season.

He needs to really beat Sutil clearly to stand a chance at having a drive next year. I hope he does it too as I am not too big a fan of Sutil, but realistically, his career will end after this season.

Realisitically, his career ended when he was hammered by Alonso.....he just happens to have continued to be paid to sit in a race car since then.

[Garry Walker]

Realisitically, his career ended when he was hammered by Alonso.....he just happens to have continued to be paid to sit in a race car since then.

Being in the top racing league in the world is quite a good career, even if you are in the worst car and have been destroyed by a double-WDC, in a team which operated around 1 driver only.

[Sonic]

Fissi on his day is ballistically quick. Sadly on those very same days he falls asleep for half the race.

Out of him and his old Benetton team mate Wurz I'm surprised that its Fissi who is still on the grid.

[keysersoze]

I am a Fisichella fan, but I think there is a real possibility he will lose his ride at the end of the year. He must beat Sutil soundly to have any chance of hanging around, and I don't think he'll do it--Adrian has learned a lot from him.
Giancarlo outqualified him in Melbourne, but Adrian was quicker in each practice session. Likewise, Fisi led Adrian for most of the race but, ultimately, Sutil crossed the finish line first.

I'd say the current odds are:

GF to last the year only: 60%
GF to lose his ride during the year: 20%
GF to continue next year: 20%

[woody2goody]

I've finished sitting on the fence I think lol.

As one of my favourite drivers, I have to believe he will do well, and you know what? I do. Why? Because I believe he is better than Sutil. My hopes were crushed when he was paired with Alonso.

Still to this day I'm not sure how much that contest was distorted. I'm not sure whether that was Fernando vs Giancarlo, the true reflection of their ability. I refuse to believe that huge gulf, as I've seen Fisi drive to great podiums in multiple years at three of the best tracks in F1, Montreal, Spa and Monaco. He must be better than what his tenure at Renault showed.

By the way I doubt Sutil would have beaten him if Fisi had not botched his pit stop in Oz. He would almost certainly have been in the points.

I have nothing against Sutil but I'd rather see Liuzzi in the car. Now Fisi and Liuzzi would be a very good team.

I reckon there are at least two more years left in Fisi. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's going to score at least 10 points this year. No podiums unless something freaky happens, but he will get some good results.

[jens]

I remember about exactly a year ago a similar thread about Giancarlo was created. Was it you again, woody2goody? :)

I think Fisi needs to do something quite special this year to extend his F1 career for one more year. But I guess Sutil would be a stronger man to beat than in 2008, when during the first half of the year the German was struggling to heat up the tyres properly. If Sutil at least matches Fisi, then the Italian's F1 days are probably over. Mallya already hinted something like that he is 'interested in Bruno Senna'.

While watching Fisi's drives especially from his first full season in 1997, it is hard to believe that his Renault stint in 05-06 ended like it ended. I mean he was more competitive and faster in that Jordan than he often was in Renault, and we know the latter one was one of the top cars and that '97 Jordan wasn't rated as anything close to a championship-winning car (most likely as 5th best car over a full year). Yet in that Renault Fisi often trundled around P6, while he was fighting for podiums in that Jordan. Just an incredible change... in negative direction.

[woody2goody]

It might have been me Jens though I'm not sure lol. I thought I did one a couple of years ago but there you go :D

I still have the feeling that he has a couple of really special drives left, and I'm sure the return to slick tyres has already helped him. Judging by his lovely drive in Melbourne it's helping a lot.

PS no wonder Sutil was crashing a lot if he didn't get his tyres warm enough.

[woody2goody]

Actually, it was me lol, just searched for it :p

It's strange to see how his career has gone, when you consider that over his stint in F1, he has beaten the following teammates:

Pedro Lamy
Giovanni Lavaggi (ok mayb£ h£ do£$n't count :D )
Ralf Schumacher
Alex Wurz (3 times)
Jenson Button
Takuma Sato
Ralph Firman
Felipe Massa
Adrian Sutil

[Sonic]

I still have the feeling that he has a couple of really special drives left, and I'm sure the return to slick tyres has already helped him. Judging by his lovely drive in Melbourne it's helping a lot.


And judging by his shunt in practise....... :p :

[Hondo]

Just another journeyman driver. Average enough to get you some points, with the right breaks during a race, but nothing special.

[F1boat]

Just another journeyman driver. Average enough to get you some points, with the right breaks during a race, but nothing special.

I agree.

[wedge]

I think he should retire/go back to DTM. He's got nothing left to prove in F1 anymore.

[Ranger]

Don't know why he has a ride still. Mentally the weakest driver on the grid.

Fortunately for him, Sutil is rubbish.

[ShiftingGears]

They both need to beat each other substantially. Sutil needs to beat the driver that was smashed by Alonso in order for teams to take interest in him, and Fisichella needs to smash Sutil in order to prove he's not past it. Since neither of them can do that, I can't see either of their careers lasting much longer.

[V12]

Fissi on his day is ballistically quick. Sadly on those very same days he falls asleep for half the race.

Out of him and his old Benetton team mate Wurz I'm surprised that its Fissi who is still on the grid.

To be fair apart from the first half of 1998, Fisi was always quicker...


Actually, it was me lol, just searched for it :p

It's strange to see how his career has gone, when you consider that over his stint in F1, he has beaten the following teammates:

Pedro Lamy
Giovanni Lavaggi (ok mayb£ h£ do£$n't count :D )
Ralf Schumacher
Alex Wurz (3 times)
Jenson Button
Takuma Sato
Ralph Firman
Felipe Massa
Adrian Sutil

Indeed, although he was never pair£d with Lavaggi anyway, Lavaggi actually r£placed Fisi for the last half of 1996. I genuinely thought in the late 90s and early 00s that once he got in a good car he'd carry all before him, but it just never happened. Whether he got a fair crack of the whip vs. Alonso or not who knows, but the very best drivers always seem to have a knack of engineering themselves into a position where they are able to make the most of these opportunities.

Great natural talent, but that only takes you so far. I think looking back on his career, it would be an assessment of "good (sometimes extremely good) but not THAT good"

[UltimateDanGTR]

Actually, it was me lol, just searched for it :p

It's strange to see how his career has gone, when you consider that over his stint in F1, he has beaten the following teammates:

Pedro Lamy
Giovanni Lavaggi (ok mayb£ h£ do£$n't count :D )
Ralf Schumacher
Alex Wurz (3 times)
Jenson Button
Takuma Sato
Ralph Firman
Felipe Massa
Adrian Sutil

beating Massa and Button in the same car is not bad going, as is beating Ralf Schumacher. Should've made more out of his career at Renault, but maybe he was restricted by his team as they seemed to prefer an arrogant spaniard, but Fisichella has lasted and although never been chllenging for anything special, Hes stood the test of time, so he cant be half bad for that.

[SGWilko]

Being in the top racing league in the world is quite a good career, even if you are in the worst car and have been destroyed by a double-WDC, in a team which operated around 1 driver only.

Can't polish a turd! Don't make excuses for the guy. He's just not got it any more.

Actually, it's debateable as to wether he had it in the first place.....

[SGWilko]

Fissi on his day is ballistically quick. .

Those days just never coincide with a GP these days.....

[52Paddy]

Up to his Renault drive in 2005, Fisi never really had a car competitive enough of producing a consistent array of top results. When he got that Renault opportunity, it started like a dream, but fizzled out thereafter. Maybe their was a favoritism towards Alonso, maybe Fisi was burned out from years of driving cars that would never give him the break he wanted. Now in Force India, I don't realistically see his career blossoming from there. But I do think he still has a lot to offer at that level. I think his experience is a worthy source for a new team like Force India, and that he will be the man to score the teams better finishes.

[woody2goody]

Can't polish a turd! Don't make excuses for the guy. He's just not got it any more.

Actually, it's debateable as to wether he had it in the first place.....

Well it's not debateable at all to me.

Fisi was considered, up til he faced Alonso I might add, as the best driver in F1 not named M. Schumacher. I agree he was disappointing for Renault, but can you seriously tell me of any other time when he underperformed?

Like I said before, he used to regularly get podiums for Benetton, he won for Jordan in the worst car they had made to date, he scored points nine times in 04 for Sauber.

I think at Force India he's been very good, and to be honest, Monaco last year was the only reason Sutil still has a drive to be fair. If not for that it would be Fisi and Liuzzi now.

I just hope Force India can give him a consistently points scoring car to work with before he retires (I think at the end of 2010, 2011)

[Ranger]

I just hope Force India can give him a consistently points scoring car to work with before he retires (I think at the end of 2010, 2011)

Why does he deserve to be around in 2010?

Neither he nor Adrian deserved to drive this year even.

He may have been a good driver but it is what you can do now that counts. And not much is being counted, I have to say.


Up to his Renault drive in 2005, Fisi never really had a car competitive enough of producing a consistent array of top results. When he got that Renault opportunity, it started like a dream, but fizzled out thereafter. Maybe their was a favoritism towards Alonso, maybe Fisi was burned out from years of driving cars that would never give him the break he wanted.
Too bad. In 2005 he had a championship winning car and all he managed was 3 podiums along with 3 race-ending crashes entirely of his own doing.

That's not to mention he scored 58 points compared to Alonso's 133.

[stevie_gerrard]

I think Sutil is a great prospect for the sport, you only have to look at Monaco last year to see how well he can perform in the wet for example. He does tend to lose control a bit too often though. As for fisichella, if he could finish ahead of sutil this season, it would be a major acheivement. I think scoring points would aid his progress too, but you get the feeling his career is petering out a little bit, which is a shame considering how well he drove for Renault.

[jens]

It seems there is high possibility that 2009 will remain as Fisi's last year in F1. Not long ago Mallya hinted that "he might be interested in Bruno Senna".

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21355.html
Now there are whispers that Liuzzi already has a contract for 2010 race seat at FI and A1GP is simply needed for getting "race-ready" before returning to F1.

[52Paddy]

So, hypothetically, where next for Fisi if this is his last year?

I'd imagine that usual role of sportscars or touring cars.

[woody2goody]

It seems there is high possibility that 2009 will remain as Fisi's last year in F1. Not long ago Mallya hinted that "he might be interested in Bruno Senna".

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21355.html
Now there are whispers that Liuzzi already has a contract for 2010 race seat at FI and A1GP is simply needed for getting "race-ready" before returning to F1.

Fisi and Liuzzi next year I hope. Although Giancarlo didn't look 'very 'appy' at the end of the race in Sepang. Maybe he knows something we don't...

[jens]

Fisi and Liuzzi next year I hope. Although Giancarlo didn't look 'very 'appy' at the end of the race in Sepang. Maybe he knows something we don't...

I really can't believe Force India would race with two Italians simultaneously...

[Garry Walker]

I think Sutil is a great prospect for the sport, you only have to look at Monaco last year to see how well he can perform in the wet for example.

Monaco was a lucky break for him, otherwise this "great prospect" is getting beaten by old fisichella far too often.


Fisi and Liuzzi next year I hope. Although Giancarlo didn't look 'very 'appy' at the end of the race in Sepang. Maybe he knows something we don't...
Considering he spun out, of course he wasnt too happy. To draw other conclusions from that is quite idiotic, and that is said too nicely.