Feature: Alesi Clocks Up 200 Not Out

Never mind the Indy 500 or the Brickyard 400. For Jean Alesi, the key number at Indianapolis is 200. The oldest driver in Formula One reaches a new milestone on Sunday when he chalks up his double century of Grand Prix starts.

Only four men have entered more races than him over the years and if Alesi gets his wish and remains at Jordan next year, he should overtake three of them. Whatever happens, Alesi will be the French driver to have put most miles under his belt. Four-time champion Alain Prost, his former employer and friend, retired after 199 races.

"The last 12 years have gone so quickly but I feel an incredible sense of achievement to have made it to my 200th grand Prix," said Alesi before heading to the United States this week. "There are so many things that have happened over this time, making it impossible to sum up my Formula One memories in just a few words.

"I think about how many times I have lined up on the grid, how many people I have met and the amazing times I have experienced," added the 37-year-old driver. "But mostly I am so thankful that I have remained safe during my career as I have unfortunately witnessed some very sad accidents on the track."

Rocky Relationship

It seems hard to believe but Alesi started out when some of the current crop of Formula One drivers were toddlers. He was racing in Formula Renault when Minardi's Fernando Alonso was two years old and Benetton's Jenson Button just four.

Yet it has taken him 12 years to return to Jordan, arriving in August after German Heinz-Harald Frentzen was dismissed by the team. Alesi had also fallen out with Prost, with whom he had previously expected to see out his career.

The move reunited the entrepreneurial Irish team owner with his former F3000 driver and Alesi has already rewarded him with a point scored in Belgium. They have come a long way since 1989.

"The first part of our relationship was very rocky," Jordan recalled of the early days in the latest issue of his team's glossy official magazine. "I wasn't at all happy. The results weren't there, his English wasn't good enough and he was going back and forth to Avignon."

Alesi eventually moved into the Jordan family home, endearing himself to the boss's children and soon showing what he could do on the track. From F3000, he shone for Tyrrell as a one-off replacement for Michele Alboreto in France, qualifying 16th and finishing fourth.

He moved to Tyrrell full time in 1990, leading the U.S. Grand Prix at Phoenix in a memorable duel with Brazilian Ayrton Senna. The lure of Ferrari then proved more attractive to the French Sicilian than an offer from Williams and he spent the next five seasons at the Italian team.

It was a spell that produced some emotional tantrums, much pride and just one win while Williams went from strength to strength. The victory came on his 31st birthday in Montreal in 1995, where he drove car 27 - the same number used by Canada's greatest driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Same Passion

Montreal was a high but there have been a few embarrassing moments for Alesi as well, such as when he ran out of fuel after 35 laps of the 1997 Australian Grand Prix while second. The Frenchman had failed to see a pit board indicating the need to refuel.

Alesi had two seasons with Benetton and two with Sauber before moving to Prost in 2000, still temperamental but as quick as ever and one of the greatest drivers in the wet. In 2000 he failed to score a point with Prost, the worst stretch of his career. And now he is back where he started.

"Eddie launched me into Formula One by arranging my drive with Tyrrell in 1989 and since then I have driven for all the teams I wanted to drive for," said Alesi. "I still have the same passion for the sport that I had in the beginning and I believe this is one of the reasons I have survived so long in this sport.

"You have to give 100 percent otherwise you may as well give up. Being back with Jordan now, as I approach the end of my F1 career in the next few years, is almost a dream come true.

"I would like to finish my career by racing for Jordan as I feel I have come full circle."