Jarno Trulli: The Unsung Hero Of Formula One?

The Formula One season is well on its way. Ferrari are looking like the dominant runners. Mclaren look as though they've recovered from Spygate and BMW are challenging as hard as ever to break their first-win duck. But let's take a special time out for, I think, Formula 1's unsung hero, Jarno Trulli.

I remember Jarno when he first came into Formula One, at the struggling Prost team, where he produced a fine performance in the wet at Nurburgring to take 2nd position in the dramatic 1999 European Grand Prix. A switch to Jordan promised success but achieved little, and Trulli was often on the end of engine failures and disappointing results, although his qualifying pace raised a number of eyebrows.

He joined Renault in 2002, but this bore little better results than he had with Jordan, as the Trulli and his team-mate Jenson Button struggled with a very uncompetitive car. In 2003, Trulli was put in the shade by is new young team-mate, Fernando Alonso, who scored the team's only victory of the season at Hungary whilst Trulli again struggled, but a podium at the German Grand Prix as a sign of things to come, and sure enough, at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2004, he broke his duck and grabbed his one and only Formula 1 win to date. However, his relations with team boss Flavio Briatore soured, and he hopped ship to Toyota for 2005.

Since 2005 up to the present day, Trulli has had a mixed bag with Toyota, often getting the most out of the car when most expect him not to. His qualifying pace is still so blisteringly hot that I would say he is the best 1-lap specialist of my generation. His race pace has often been questioned as he fails to translate qualifying form into race form, But a gritty drive to 4th place at Malaysia in 2008, and holding off Briton Lewis Hamilton's quicker Mclaren, could be a sign of changing fortunes.

Jarno is now one of the most veteran drivers in the whole pack, with a total of 184 Grand Prix starts, but he's far from finished. He can still put together a blistering qualifying lap,often upsetting the balance at the top of the grid, and his race performances are nothing short of exemplary from the car he has under him, with team-mate Timo Glock appearing to struggle more with the car. I am sure, if Toyota give him the right package and the right car, and if he runs the right races, we can see Jarno Trulli standing on the Formua 1 podiums again.