Jean Alesi

One of F1's unluckiest drivers or a man who let his heart rule his head? Jean was spectacularly fast on his day, as his early performances at Tyrrell showed, but his desire to drive for Ferrari rather than Williams cost him the chance to prove he could be a World Champion.

A single win, in Canada in 1995, was poor reward for such a talented driver but he always seemed to be in the wrong car at the wrong time.

After F1 Jean raced in DTM, Speedcar and Le Man Series. It has also just been announced that Jean will compete in the Indy 500 next year at the ripe old age of 47.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/us-motor-racing-alesi-indy-idUSTRE78M45B20110923
 
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With a couple of minor exceptions I was a great fan of Jean Alesi during his F1 career, he picked the wrong turn at the Williams/Ferrari fork in the road but life's a gamble and he lost that one. The Alesi/Berger days seemed to be a very harmonious period but results are always the main story so after a short while I began to feel they were both either just picking up nice pay cheques on the way to retirement or convinced that Ferrari had a rabbit in the hat.
Benetton was no better for him, his failure to make the right career decision resulting in a damp squib.
I think Alesi faded away through a failure to get the right drive, it's a shame that talented drivers' careers can bump along just below the "Ace" threshold when some of us would really like to see them hit the top.
But we can say that about lots of potential "greats" can't we?
I hope he gets to shred some rubber at Indy.
 
Mr Alesi - where do you start with this one? I don't think there is a more confusing driver when it comes to the talent to race win ratio. 201 starts and win GP win is crazy with the amount of talent he had.

It could have been such a different story had he chose to go to Williams in 1991 but that only looks a good decision in hindsight - at the time Ferrari had just pushed Mclaren all the way for the title and look the better option how was Jean to know of the terrible 91 and 92 cars to come?

I was initally a massive fan and loved him mixing it up with the front runners in 89 and 90 in that (beautiful looking) Tyrell. Was only reminded recently about the 2 great moves he pulled on the Ferrari's at Monza that season - twice! Not to mention his Detroit duel with Senna. As his career went on and he seemed to have endless retirment after retirement everytime he had chance of getting a win I started to think it was too much of a coincidence and came to the conclusion that Alesi was a bit of a car breaker.

His moments of sheer stupidty went hand in hand with his moments of brilliance it has to be said. The one I remember is I think his first race with Benneton when he completely ignored pit boards and radio messages to come in to refuel and eventually ran out of petrol. I remember seeing footage of his mechanics and lip reading exactly what they thought of him for that.
 
Where was Jean when the good Lord was handing out brains the day babies were being born in the Avignon area?

Instead, someone up there decided to compensate and gave the little one a double helping of balls.

:D

Is it just me or was his best year early in his career at Tyrrell?

EDIT:

I was actually at that race which Jean won. There was something about seeing a Ferrari winning the Canadian Grand Prix that made Gilles Villeneuve fans smile. Jean was a Gilles fan...and they loved him for it, especially the legions of Francophone Montrealers.
 
Hopefully he won't do this when he races in the Indy 500:


Actually, Jean Alesi was my favourite driver as a small child (I called him Jean shoe-lacey.) That's him in my avatar. The only race that I remember clearly is the 1995 European Grand Prix - I was sure he couldn't fail to win that one but somehow Schumacher managed to catch him up from miles back. I vaguely recall that this was part and parcel of supporting Jean...
 
I don't think I know anyone who didn't like Jean Alesi and who wasn't chuffed to bits when he won the Canadian GP. I guess it's tinged with dissapoitment that it could have been several more wins. He was nothing short of entertaining and racing Senna at Pheonix in that Tyrell was fantastic.

The only Alesi fact I know is that he was a huge fan of Elio De Angelis, so much so that his Helmet colours were based on the design on Elio's.
 
RasputinLives said:
Mr Alesi - where do you start with this one? I don't think there is a more confusing driver when it comes to the talent to race win ratio. 201 starts and win GP win is crazy with the amount of talent he had.

It could have been such a different story had he chose to go to Williams in 1991 but that only looks a good decision in hindsight - at the time Ferrari had just pushed Mclaren all the way for the title and look the better option how was Jean to know of the terrible 91 and 92 cars to come?

I was initally a massive fan and loved him mixing it up with the front runners in 89 and 90 in that (beautiful looking) Tyrell. Was only reminded recently about the 2 great moves he pulled on the Ferrari's at Monza that season - twice! Not to mention his Detroit duel with Senna. As his career went on and he seemed to have endless retirment after retirement everytime he had chance of getting a win I started to think it was too much of a coincidence and came to the conclusion that Alesi was a bit of a car breaker.

His moments of sheer stupidty went hand in hand with his moments of brilliance it has to be said. The one I remember is I think his first race with Benneton when he completely ignored pit boards and radio messages to come in to refuel and eventually ran out of petrol. I remember seeing footage of his mechanics and lip reading exactly what they thought of him for that.
Click to expand
http://cliptheapex.com/threads/signature-race.4223/#post-96072

Melbourne 1997

James Allen " What is this man thinking ?"
Murray Walker " In , In , in " the pitcrew hanging out the pitboard

Jean ALesi " I could not hear anything "
Flavio " NExt time I see Jean I will shoot him with fake bullets then real ones"
 
"The great thing with Kimi is he extracts the maximum from a quick car."

Which he will have at Lotus, of course. Their history in the past five seasons demonstrates that this is unlikely. There may be flashes in a minority of races, but how will Raikkonen react to a car in which he has no chance in the WDC?
 
Il_leone said:
Interesting why Alesi decides now to do it when he is nearly 50!!!

He should just stick to DTM and Sportscar racing . I 'll have to look at the last winner of Indy 500 that was over 45 years old !
Click to expand

I guess you get old and start to think "What haven't I done?" - has he raced in the Le Mans 24 Hour yet?
 
Go for it Jean!!!
I couldn't care less why he's doing it, I always rated him as an F1 driver, I hope he gets a grip with the Indy oval and puts in a good performance.
 
RasputinLives said:
I guess you get old and start to think "What haven't I done?" - has he raced in the Le Mans 24 Hour yet?
Click to expand

In 1989 Alesi drove Porche 962C in the Le Mans 24 hours, C1 class with Will Hoy and Dominic Dobson but but DNF’d. In 2010, he was teamed up with Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella for the Le Mans Series, driving a Ferrari for AF Corse. In the Le Mans 24c hours they finished 16th overall. They finished 2nd in the championship with three podiums and a couple of 4th places (including the 4th in class finish at Le Mans).

He's 47 and according to the current entry list he will be the oldest entrant by 8 years. Don't forget Rubens who is 39, as is Alex Tagliani. There are a couple of 37 year olds amongst a bunch of 30-somethings and the rest are in their twenties. it's probably quite a young grid these days compared to past eras but I can't be arsed to check.:)
 
I was always a fan of Alesi, but I doubt the wisdom of attempting the Indy 500 at this point. Nelson Piquet found that Indy is a demanding, dangerous place, and driving there, let alone racing, takes a skill set not really found in other disciplines. I would truly hate to see him get injured.
 
Fenderman said:
In 1989 Alesi drove Porche 962C in the Le Mans 24 hours, C1 class with Will Hoy and Dominic Dobson but but DNF’d. In 2010, he was teamed up with Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella for the Le Mans Series, driving a Ferrari for AF Corse. In the Le Mans 24c hours they finished 16th overall. They finished 2nd in the championship with three podiums and a couple of 4th places (including the 4th in class finish at Le Mans).

He's 47 and according to the current entry list he will be the oldest entrant by 8 years. Don't forget Rubens who is 39, as is Alex Tagliani. There are a couple of 37 year olds amongst a bunch of 30-somethings and the rest are in their twenties. it's probably quite a young grid these days compared to past eras but I can't be arsed to check.:)
Click to expand


I remember the days of Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Rick Mears all doing it in their 50's

Oval racing is demanding because the tunnel vision is even greater and requires more concentration. A small mistake will be a huge one in Oval racing
 
One of the things drivers who made their name in F1 find difficult to do when begin racing on ovals, is learning how to get rid of the opposite lock reflex.
In F1 when the rear starts losing grip the normal thing to do it to steer the opposite way to maintain control.
On an oval track bend you're supposed to do the opposite and accompany the spin, because there is no question of regaining grip once you've los itt at those sort of speeds. If you try the rear will suddenly regain grip when facing the other way, towards the wall, in an even more uncontrollable way.
It was precisely that sort of reflex that killed Gordon Smiley in that dreadful crash all those years ago.
That instinctive reflex also caused Nigel Mansell to have one or two big frights against the banking wall in 93.
 

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