French racing driver Jean Alesi: biography, victories, achievements and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

Jean Alesi is known for being a Formula 1 driver between 1989 and 2001. He was considered the unluckiest pilot of the series. And this is despite the fact that the French driver has been playing for the most famous teams such as Ferrari and Benetton for seven years.

What could Alesi Jean have done to be loved by the fans of the Italian team? And what are the failures of the racer on the track? About this, as well as about the personal life of the pilot, his career and love of speed these days can be found in the article.

Short biography

Jean Alesi, whose biography originates from an Italian auto mechanic who immigrated from Sicily to France, was born on 1964-11-06. His full name in Italian is Giovanni Roberto Alesi. But all over the world he became known as Jean Alesi.

The racer loves not only high-speed sports, but alsohe is fond of tennis, golf, water skiing. Living in the suburbs of Geneva, he is engaged in winemaking. He has his own vineyard in the Avignon area.

Auto racing debut

His debut in the Formula 3 series is his performance in France in 1986. This season, the young racing driver took second place. Jean Alesi missed out on the first place more experienced pilot at the time, Yannick Dalmas.

Debut in "Formula 1" occurred in 1989. At this time, he also competed in Formula 3000.

Early career

Began his career as a racer with karting series "Renault", continued in the "Formula Renault". Then there were successful performances in Formula 3 (France). In the 1987 season, Jean Alesi managed to win seven out of fifteen races, which allowed him to get the championship title.

A year later, he moved to the international "Formula 3000". A year later, he became a champion, playing for the team of Eddie Jordan. The victory was obtained in a sharp struggle with the Frenchman Eric Coma. The riders got the same number of points, but the victory was awarded to Jean, as he had three victories against the two that his opponent received.

Formula 1 career

Career racing in this famous series began with the fact that Eddie Jordan secretly agreed with Ken Tyrrell to test the young rider in the French Grand Prix. The pilot was able to qualify, and in the race itself he finished in fourth place. For Tyrrell, this performance was an unexpected surprise, because before leaving he askedpilot not to be upset if he does not qualify.

Despite the fact that the contract was temporary, Tyrrell fired his chief pilot Alboreto and hired a young rider. Alesi Jean became Tyrrell's pilot. Already in 1990, driving the car of this team, he finished second at the races in American Phoenix. In the fight, he lost only to the legendary Ayrton Senna. Alesi achieved the same result at the Monaco Grand Prix. This brought him to the attention of the leading teams. The racer was faced with a choice - to join the Ferrari or Williams team. Italian roots did their job, and the choice fell on the representatives of Maranello.

His new team performed well throughout 1990. However, from the next year, the team began to have problems with speed. The car did not allow to fight for victory because of the Italian twelve-cylinder engine, which was inferior in its efficiency to the British ten-cylinder engine of the Renault team.

Jean played for Ferrari for five seasons. During this time, he was unable to achieve high results, winning only once in 1995 at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, his energetic driving style was well received by the fans, who were very fond of him.

In 1996, Jean, together with a Ferrari partner, moved to the Benetton team, which was the current owner of the Constructors' Championship. Prior to that, two-time world champion Michael Schumacher left them. Since 1997, problems have begun at Benetton,like "Ferrari", but still managed to fight for prizes.

Career sunset

By the end of 1997, the Renault team left Formula 1, which was the beginning of the decline in Alesi's career. Jean spent the next two seasons in the Sauber team, which was in the middle of the championship. During this time, he scored only eleven points.

In 2000, he moved to the team of Alain Prost, which was a complete disaster. The team finished the championship in last place without scoring any points. The most unpleasant was participation in the Austrian Grand Prix, when both Prost drivers (including Jean) did not understand each other, collided and dropped out of the race.

After leaving Prost, Alesi went to work for Jordan, and in the off-season he began testing rubber for McLaren. That was the end of his Formula 1 career.

Further career outside of Formula 1

After finishing his career in the prestigious championship, Jean Alesi (French racing driver) moved to the DTM series. In the first race, he managed to get on the podium, and in the third he won. Despite the prize-winning places, he could not fight for victory in the championship. And in 2006, he was not provided with a new car. This upset Jean, who at the end of the season ended his performances in this series. For five years in the DTM, the rider participated in fifty-two races, scoring three victories.

After a failed return to Formula 1, the driver was able to return to racing in 2008. It was the Arab championship. The races were quite successful and the victories predicted the championship title. Butlosses in the last two races led to fourth place overall.

By the end of 2009, the rider tested Ferrari, and the following year he competed in the LMC Endurance Championship with teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. In 2011, Alesi became a representative of the British company Lotus. His participation in the Indianapolis Five Hundred Mile race was associated with the same brand of car. But he did not qualify due to a weak engine that did not allow him to maintain a good pace. As a result, the organizers removed him from the race.

Private life

The racing driver was married twice. His first wife Lauren in 1994 gave birth to his daughter Charlotte. From his second marriage to Japanese actress and TV presenter Kumiko Goto, Jean has three children:

daughter Helen was born in 1996;
son Julien was born in 1999;
son John was born in 2007.

Alesi lives with her second family in Nyon (a suburb of Geneva).

Love of speed these days

Jean Alesi (f1 driver) still prefers high-speed driving today. In 2015, he was fined for exceeding the speed limit on a German road near the Nürburgring. According to one of the German newspapers, Alesi drove at a speed of 140 kilometers per hour with an allowable 80 kilometers per hour. That is, he exceeded the speed limit by 60 km/h.

Jean confirmed this incident and said that he was on the road for several hours and was in a hurry to get to the tests"Formula Renault", in which his son Julien took part in the Nurburgrin.

The violator had to pay a fine of one thousand euros and was banned from driving in Germany for a period of two months.

Win statistics

After spending seven seasons as the head pilot in Formula 1 for such top teams as Ferrari and Benetton, Alesi won only one victory. On thirty-two occasions, he placed second and third on the podium. He is considered the most unfortunate racer of this series.

Results of the main performances in different championships: