Now one of Formula 1’s elder statesmen, Giancarlo Fisichella still hopes to get back amongst the front-runners, even though his Force India team failed to even score a point in 2008.
The amiable Italian is used to such challenges, however, having spent much of his long F1 career as an underdog.
His critics suggest that he squandered his opportunities in top cars – and he certainly achieved little during his first Benetton period, and was comprehensively overshadowed by Fernando Alonso when driving for Renault in its title-winning years.
With Force India commencing a new technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes, Fisichella is optimistic that the team can start punching above its weight – as it did in its Jordan days, when Fisi himself took a famous victory at Interlagos.
He may have missed out on a world championship, and it’s unlikely he’ll ever win another grand prix, but don’t rule out a few more surprises from Fisichella before he calls it a day.
Career log
Fisichella made a low-key debut for Minardi in 1996, but was usurped by a pay driver after eight races.
His breakthrough came when Jordan signed him for 1997 – the Italian fighting for victory on occasion and earning a transfer to manager Flavio Briatore’s Benetton squad at the end of the year.
Some perky early races suggested that Fisichella and fellow young gun Alex Wurz might reinvigorate Benetton.
Instead they slumped towards the midfield as the team’s performances became ever more mediocre in subsequent years.
The radical 2001 Benetton initially struggled to even break into the top 20.
But Fisichella excelled, dragging the team forward largely single-handedly and leaving new partner Jenson Button standing.
Yet the Italian was swapped for fellow Briatore protégé Jarno Trulli after 2001, and ended up back at Jordan.
Fisichella continued to enhance his reputation in adversity, keeping his chin up as the cash-strapped team struggled.
He even scored an overdue first win in the wet and wild 2003 Brazilian GP, although confusion among the timekeepers meant that he was only awarded the victory five days later.
A season with Sauber in 2004 brought more giant-killing heroics and more tenaciously snatched points – and this time Fisichella got his reward.
Benetton had morphed into Renault, and it recalled Fisichella just as it hit championship-challenging form.
Unfortunately for Fisichella, it was Alonso who did the title winning while the Italian fell in the number two position and won just two grands prix in 2005-06.
The team hoped he would thrive once Alonso departed in 2007, but despite a promising start by Fisichella, it was his new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who emerged as Renault’s lead driver.
Dropped by Renault, he returned to long-time home Jordan – now known as Force India – with hopes of becoming a midfield hero again, only to spend most of the year at the back and fail to score.
The early years
Fisichella was Italy’s top young prospect in the mid-1990s, starring in karting before winning the national Formula 3 title in 1994.
Minardi then recruited him for testing duties alongside a season with Alfa Romeo in the International Touring Car Championship.
After an erratic but promising first year in saloons, he stayed on in the ITC alongside his F1 commitments in 1996 and continued to impress, only missing out on victories due to team orders.