Jarno Trulli  Born: 13.07.74  Birthplace:Pescara, Italy  Team: Toyota  2006 Car Number: 8  Last Season: Seventh  GP Pedigree (After Brazilian GP)  Starts: 167  Victories: 1  Poles: 3  Fastest Laps: 0  Points: 175  GP Debut: 1997, Australian GP, Minardi, finished 9th   Five-year Stats

Jarno's background, like many of his F1 peers, is in karting, where he was regarded as one of the finest talents to grace the sport.

Many believe (or believed?) that, given the right car and the right environment, Trulli could become Italy's first champion since Ascari.

As a promising young Italian driver, Trulli started his F1 career with Minardi in 1997 before switching to the more competitive Prost team midway through the season following Olivier Panis' dreadful accident at Montreal.

On the Frenchman's return, Trulli handed back the drive, although a fourth place at Hockenheim and a scorching Austrian GP - where only a blown engine denied him an astonishing win - was enough to give him a permanent seat alongside Panis the following year.

A woefully inadequate car in 1998 meant a frustrating season, the only vague bright spot being a sixth at Spa.

1999 was much of the same, with Trulli becoming increasingly unhappy with the poor performance of the car.

For 2000 Trulli joined Jordan, lining up alongside Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Another frustrating season brought none of the rewards he had been hoping for.

However, Jarno put his faith in the Honda engine making them more competitive in 2001.

Again Trulli flattered to deceive, the Italian often putting in good qualifying performances, but failing to deliver when it came to the race.

Such a scenario has tended to blight his F1 career.

His best results in 2001 were fourth-place finishes in Indianapolis and Barcelona.

He ended the year ninth overall with 12 points.

In 2002 he swapped teams with Giancarlo Fisichella and seemed to get much the better deal.

He outgunned Jenson Button in qualifying, though by mid-season Jarno was getting the more powerful evolution of Renault engines if one were to blow up in practice.

His reputation as 'a bit of a choker' was not enhanced through the year and Button easily outraced and ultimately outscored him, though it has to be said that Trulli was badly handicapped by Renault’s unreliability.

Had his car held up slightly longer, the two drivers would probably have ended all square.

The following season was a frustrating one for Jarno. Bedeviled by misfortune and a lack of reliability, his reputation took a battering as another Flavio Briatore protégé, Fernando Alonso, took the plaudits for a series of stunning drives.

The Italian, though, more than matched F1's latest bright young thing in the first half of the 2004 season.

His run of form culminated in a faultless drive at Monaco in which Trulli held off a hard-charging Button to earn his maiden F1 win.

Yet even in the immediate aftermath of victory Flavio Briatore indicated that he wouldn't be renewing Trulli's contract at Renault.

From this point onwards Trulli's performances declined at the same rate as his relationship with the team.

After a series of lacklustre performances, and amid accusations by Jarno that Renault were providing him with an inferior product, the team dropped him with three races remaining.

It had been confirmed in the previous month that he had signed a long-term contract with Toyota and Jarno thus made an immediate switch to his new employers, making his debut at the Japanese GP.

Supplied with the disappointing TF104, his performances were steady.

He entered the 2005 season determined to fulfil Toyota’s promise of podium finishes and with the help of yet another new qualifying system, it didn’t take the Italian long.

By the end of the fifth race Trulli already had three podium finishes (including two P2s bagged in Malaysia and Bahrain) to his name.

However his performances petered out as the season progressed and, at the Chinese GP, he was eventually overhauled by team-mate Ralf Schumacher in the Drivers’ standings.

Remaining with Toyota for a second season, Jarno will be targeting the next step on the podium - the very top one - as he fights to be Toyota’s first grand prix winner in 2006.

Formula One Career:

2005:	GP with Toyota (43pts - seventh in championship).
2004:	GP with Renault - victory in Monaco (46pts - sixth in championship).
2003:	GP with Renault - (33pts - seventh in championship).
2002:	GP with Renault - (9pts - 8th in championship).
2001:	GP with Jordan - (9pts - 9th in championship).
2000:	GP with Jordan - (6pts - equal 10th in championship.
1999:	GP with Prost - (7pts - equal 11th in championship).
1998:	GP with Prost – (1pt – 16th in championship).
1997:	GP with Minardi and Prost (3pts - 15th in championship).

Background:

1996:	German F3 Champion
1995:	4th in German F3 Championship (from 6 races) Oceanian Cup winner Italian 100SA Champion
1994-5:	Twice winner Senna Memorial World Cup
1994:	World Class 125 FC Champion (1994) North American 100SA Champion European 100SA Champion
1991:	World 100SA Champion
1988-90:	Three times Italian National 100 Class Champion
1983-95:	Karting