Giancarlo Fisichella  Born: 14.01.73  Birthplace:Rome, Italy  Team: Renault  2006 Car Number: 2  Last Season: Fifth  GP Pedigree (After Brazilian GP)  Starts: 172  Victories: 3  Poles: 3  Fastest Laps: 2  Points: 244  GP Debut: 1996, Australian GP, Minardi, retired   Five-year Stats

If 2005 was a big year in Giancarlo Fisichella's F1 career, then it's safe to say 2006 is colossal, though for an entirely different reason.

While last year he was racing for a shot at the Drivers' title, this year he's racing for a premier place on the 2007 grid.

Giancarlo broke into F1 with Minardi in 1996 after being their test driver, he then moved to the Jordan team in '97 and showed glimpses of excellence in a fractious season with team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

His off-season move to Benetton for '98 team was a controversial one with Benetton chief Flavio Briatore taking the Jordan team to court to secure his services.

In his first season with the Italian outfit he got off to a shaky start but slowly found his feet towards the end of the season including a pole position at the A1-Ring in Austria.

Much vaunted as a young pretender to the F1 crown a couple of seasons back, Giancarlo had (thus far) failed to show the sort of pace needed to reach the highest level.

However, a lot of this is down to the poor equipment at his disposal. 1999 brought a couple of promising performances - most notably Canada.

2000 started off well, with five points finishes in the first eight races, but some high profile collisions coupled with mechanical failures meant that the Italian's season took a serious nose dive from then onwards.

Benetton's last season before changing into Renault was not a good one.

A flexing chassis hindered the power output from the radical new Renault engine making the car dreadfully slow. Fisi and new boy Jenson Button struggled.

Gradually Mike Gascoyne's technical team got a grip on things and Giancarlo managed third at Spa and 11th in the Championship, before leaving for Jordan-Honda.

2002 was a similar case of 'career on hold' as his natural talent languished in a car that was under-developed due to Jordan's lack of resources.

Coupled with the fact that the Honda engine needed little encouragement to grenade itself and an inexperienced team-mate (Sato) who wrecked a lot of the available chassis, it was another year with little to show - apart from a spectacular accident in practice for the French GP which sidelined him from the race.

Fisi will always remember 2003 as the year in which he won his first grand prix.

It occurred in the third race of the season, the Brazilian GP. Using all his race craft and skills in treacherous conditions, Fisi was able to take victory just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in a topsy-turvy race.

Yet the season ended up being another huge disappointment, and the Italian struggled to score more points in the wretched Jordan.

At the end of the campaign, he moved on to Sauber, clearly with designs of using the Swiss outfit as a stepping stone towards earning a seat with one of F1's big guns.

For his part, Fisi kept up his end of the bargain with the understanding Sauber team, thoroughly eclipsing team-mate Felipe Massa and guiding Sauber towards mid-table respectability. His reward in August was a choice between Renault and Williams.

Eventually, he opted for a return to Renault. And so, after years and years of waiting for his opportunity, one of F1's most gifted drivers was able to show what he is capable of from the front end of the grid and show it he did, at least in Australia.

Fisi began the 2005 Championship with a pole position and a victory at the season-opening Australian GP. However, that proved to be the highlight in what was to become a problematic season for the Roman.

While team-mate Fernando Alonso went from strength to strength, Fisi's performances went into a sharp decline as driver errors and reliability issues dogged him, leading to some speculation that all was not fair at Renault. The team, naturally, denied the rumours.

True or not, though, Fisi would add only another two podium finishes to his tally before the season concluded in China, while Alonso would rack up 15 in total as well as the Drivers' Championship title.

And his team-mate's success hasn't exactly done Fisi's image the world of good, so while Alonso will be racing to retain his title, Fisichella will be racing to retain his place at the sharp end of the F1 grid.

Formula One Career:

2006:	GP with Renault.
2005:	GP with Renault (victory in Australia - 58pts fifth in championship).
2004:	GP with Sauber - (22pts - 11th in championship).
2003:	GP with Jordan - (12pts - 12th in championship).
2002:	GP with Jordan - (7pts, equal 10th in championship).
2001:	GP with Benetton - (8pts - 11th in championship).
2000:	GP with Benetton - (18pts - sixth in championship).
1999:	GP with Benetton - (16pts - 9th in championship).
1998:	GP with Benetton - (16pts - 9th in championship).
1997:	GP with Jordan - (20pts - 8th in championship).
1996:	GP with Minardi - (0pts).

Background:

1995:	International Touring Car Championship action.
1994:	Italian F3 Champion.
1993:	3rd overall in Italian F3 with two victories
1992:	Italian F3
1982-91:	Karting - winner of the Hong Kong GP in 1990. 2nd in 1989 and 1991 in European Championship and 1990 in World Championship