On Saturday, September 8, 2012 12:05:58 AM UTC+10, pltrgyst wrote:
> Italian Grand Prix: Where Are the Italian Drivers?
> By JONATHAN CLEGG
> Soccer is Italy's national sport, the Italian basketball league is one
> of the strongest in Europe and the country's rugby team is a rising
> world power.
> Italy hasn't produced a Grand Prix winner since Giancarlo Fisichella won
> in Malaysia in 2006.
> But no sport captures the quintessential Italian virtues of glamour,
> sophistication and the tendency to drive like a lunatic quite like
> Formula 1.
> Despite its glorious history on the race track, this weekend's Italian
> Grand Prix at Monza will highlight a trend: Italy no longer produces
> good drivers.
> This season, for the first time since 1969, there is no Italian driver
> in Formula 1, a shocking decline for a country that has produced 15
> different Grand Prix winners, second only to Britain in the all-time
> standings.
> Italy hasn't produced a Grand Prix winner since Giancarlo Fisichella won
> in Malaysia in 2006 and it's been nearly two years since an Italian
> scored a point, when Tonio Liuzzi finished sixth at the Korean Grand Prix.
> Those mediocre results come at a time when the lineup of drivers in
> Formula 1 may be the strongest in history. This season, a record six
> former world champions are competing on the circuit, while the
> increasingly global nature of Formula 1 has made the talent pool deeper
> than in past years.
> Five years ago, the Formula 1 grid was composed of drivers from just
> nine different countries. Today, some 14 nationalities are represented
> on the circuit, an increase of more than one third, including drivers
> from Russia, India and Venezuela.
> "There are a few more [drivers] from other countries," said Daniel
> Ricciardo, an Australian driver for Scuderia Torro Rosso. "That's the
> way I see it it's not like the Italians are doing anything wrong."
> This is a far cry from the days when Italy stood proudly atop the podium
> in Formula 1. Giuseppe Farina, an Italian, won the inaugural Formula 1
> world championship in 1950. Alberto Ascari became the first double world
> champion three years later. As recently as 1990, Italians accounted for
> nine of the 26 drivers on the starting grid for the season-opening Grand
> Prix.
> Some say the drop in Italian drivers is linked to broader changes to the
> nature of Grand Prix racing, which is now less about blinding speed and
> breakneck passing and more about managing downforce levels and tire
> degradation following a series of rules changes during the past decade.
> Italian drivers, who have long had a reputation for great pace but
> questionable precision, have struggled to adapt.
> Jarno Trulli, who raced for Renault, Toyota and Lotus during a 14-year
> Formula 1 career, was consistently one of the fastest drivers on the
> circuit in qualifying and regularly outperformed more heralded
> teammates, including Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. But he couldn't
> translate that speed into results and he achieved just one win in 251
> Formula 1 races.
> "Honestly, I think it would be better if the cars were more simple,"
> said Trulli, who raced for Caterham last season. "I'm a driver, not an
> engineer."
> It's also true that the success of legendary motorcycle racer Valentino
> Rossi has convinced some promising Italian racers to make the switch
> from cars to bikes. This season, six Italians have raced on the MotoGP
> circuit.
> But there are those who believe the biggest obstacle for Italian drivers
> in Formula 1 may be the nation's most iconic automotive brand: Ferrari.
> In Italy, Ferrari is Formula 1 in the eyes of many people. But the
> team's preeminence on the track means individual Italian drivers
> invariably get overshadowed, making it tougher for them to attract the
> sponsors they need to progress through the karting championships and
> junior racing series.
> Even Formula 1 teams are now increasingly reliant on drivers to help pay
> the bills through sponsorship dollars. (Trulli said his release by
> Caterham in February was because he was unable to offer the team funding.)
> "You don't see any Italian company or group of sponsors backing an
> Italian driver," said Enrico Zanarini, a driver manager whose clients
> have included former F1 drivers Fisichella and Liuzzi. "Ferrari takes
> everything."
> While the Scuderia Ferrari team is the most successful in Formula 1
> history, with the most constructors' and drivers' championships, it is
> clearly in the business of producing Italian cars, not Italian drivers.
> No Italian has won a Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Ferrari since 1985
> and only one of the team's nine world champions was an Italian Ascari in
> 1953.
> "Ferrari is not seen as a possibility for Italian drivers because
> Italians haven't even been taken into consideration by Ferrari in recent
> years," said Zanarini, adding that it could be five years before an
> Italian reaches F1.
> Still, there are signs that Ferrari may play a driving role in
> developing Italy's next Formula 1 star. The team launched the Ferrari
> Driver Academy in 2009 to promote young talent and has since signed
> three Italian drivers, including Raffaele Marciello, a 17-year-old seen
> as a future F1 champion.
> ==========================
