Jarno Trulli

Italian Jarno Trulli, named after Finnish motorcycle champion Jarno Saarinen, started his open wheel career in German F3, after a very successful period in karting, taking the title in 1996. A year later, Trulli joined Minardi, lining up for the 1997 season next to Japanese veteran Ukyo Katayama. Impressively outqualifying Katayama in six out of seven races, Trulli was snapped up by the Prost team when Olivier Panis broke both of his legs at the Canadian GP. Trulli took his first points by coming in fourth at Hockenheim later that year. He raised eyebrows across the paddock when he lead the 1997 Austrian GP, before an engine failure forced him to retire.

After the strong 1997 season, results went downhill for Prost with only one point for the Italian in 1998, though he did take a second spot and his first podium at the chaotic Nurburgring race of 1999. What followed were seasons with Jordan and Renault which saw Trulli as a regular in the points but never quite at the top. In 2004, this changed when Trulli took his first ever victory at Monaco and another podium in Spain. The season took a turn for the worse, however, when Trulli made a huge mistake and allowed Barrichello to snatch a podium from him in the final corner of the French GP.

This soured his relationship with Renault and team boss Flavio Briatore, and Trulli moved to Toyota for 2005. He stayed with the Japanese team until 2009, scoring a few podium finishes but no more victories. At the end of his career, Trulli raced for Lotus for two seasons, without scoring any points. In 14 years in Formula 1, Trulli participated in 256 races, putting him firmly in the top 10 of drivers with the longest careers in Formula 1. He went on to found the Trulli GP team in all-electric racing series Formula E.