Jarno Trulli Focused on his F1 Future

Jarno Trulli of Team Lotus has said that he is focused on his Formula one duty and not worrying about what the future in Formula 1 stating that he is in talks with the Team Lotus for the new deal. The qualifying master of the past era has struggled with his car in the first few races of the 2011 season, mainly down to its power steering issues, although he looked happier in Hungary return and insists that he is feeling confident for the rest of the season.

The 37-year-old Italian is one of the wiser and oldest drivers on the grid, he still has his legs and the heart of a racing driver but might have got ‘age affect’ to describe his decreasing performance levels. Jarno Trulli is clearly in the latter stages of his career and I believe the end of the 2011 season will be the perfect opportunity for Trulli to leave the sport with dignity and make way for a younger driver.

“As I always say, I’m not panicking about my future because first I have to be quick and second I have to be motivated. So now it all looks very different for me, everything looks brighter. I’m not really looking at the future, now I want to build up from now, and whatever will be, will be,” said Trulli.

“Some announcement will be done probably in the next weeks, but at the moment I’m happy with the way it is and I just want to focus on my job and the team and my results. I want to enjoy what I’m doing because I wasn’t enjoying it much before.”

A F1 career of almost 15 years and 248 grand prix starts with 11 podium finishes, 4 pole positions and a single win. But the questions on F1 future were raised when it was announced that Karun Chandhok would take his place at the German Grand Prix. Team Lotus doesn’t need his experience and driver feedback because they have Kovalainen. The fact that the team replaced him for the German Grand Prix is a clear sign that the team doesn’t need him and would have no problems replacing him in the future. Team Lotus is an ambitious team who is working hard to establish themselves as a midfield team in the future. Trulli can’t do much for them in the long term, unless he vacates his seat.

Jarno Trulli’s career at a glance:

Jarno Trulli started his F1 career in 1997 with Minardi and made his mark in F1 by pairing against more experienced team-mates. But today his reputation, of being a qualifying master, no longer exists. Jarno Trulli claimed his first podium finish in 1999 when he finished second in the European grand prix. In 2002 he moved to Renault to partner Jenson Button and finished eighth in the driver’s championship. The next season his performance saw very ups and downs as he had 5 retirements in the season but managed to scores points at every other race except one, with a podium in finish in German grand prix. In 2004, Trulli had a great start to the season with two pole positions – Monaco and then Belgium – with a maiden victory in Monaco. But as with drop in performance in later races was due to part ways with Renault with three races to end the season. But then came back with Toyota for the last two.

The 2005 was marked with his qualifying performances with 1 pole position and 13th+ top five grid positions and marking Toyota’s best-ever results with second place finishes in Malaysia and Bahrain. But 2006 and 2007 were more frustrating and patchy with good qualifying but poor race pace, finished out side top 10 in standings. The 2008 season was a better than previous two with points in 10 out of 18 races for Toyota with a third place finish in French grand prix, scoring team’s first podium finish after 2006 season. In 2009 Trulli was with his best grabbing pole position in Bahrain and achieving podium finishes in Australia, Bahrain and Japan.

With Team Lotus:

Jarno Trulli was signed for the new Lotus team with start of 2010 after Toyota’s F1 withdrawal and was paired alongside Heikki Kovalainen. He had a very poor performance through-out the season, although had at-par qualifying over team-mate Kovalainen but was less convincing in races and managed best finish of 13th place in Japanese grand prix.

In 2011 F1 season the ‘qualifying master’ has been beaten 9 times out of 10 by team-mate Kovalainen.