Feature: One Win is Not Enough for Fisichella

Italy's Giancarlo Fisichella is on course to join a select group of drivers in the Formula One record books this season but it is not a club he wants to be a member of.

Just one point from Monza, his home Grand Prix this weekend, or from the last two races of the year would ensure that the Jordan driver escapes the ignominious fate.

Since the first Formula One race was held at Silverstone in 1950, the number of drivers to have won a Grand Prix and then fail to score any other Championship points in the same season can be counted on the fingers of two hands.

Fisichella, with a win against all the odds in a rain-shortened Brazil Grand Prix, has so far drawn a blank in all the other 12 races of 2003.

The last such unfortunate was Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jabouille with the troublesome Renault turbo in 1980. His lone moment of glory came in his home race at Dijon.

Others include Ludovico Scarfiotti, whose 1966 triumph at Monza also makes him the last Italian to win his home Grand Prix. But he started only two races that year. Fisichella is fed up with the situation but there is hope on the horizon.

He has signed for Sauber for next year, opening up the prospect of closer ties with the team he really wants to drive for - Ferrari, who provide the Swiss-based team with engines.

Tough Season

"The season has been very tough," Fisichella said on Thursday when asked why he was so unhappy at Jordan. "I am struggling to be in the top six or seven rows in qualifying and it is nearly impossible to score points during the race.

"I would like a much better package and to be fighting for the win. But it's impossible."

The irony is that Fisichella's most frustrating time in Formula One has also coincided with his sweetest moment, even if he was denied a true podium celebration.

The Italian was told he had finished second at Interlagos in April and was reinstated as the winner only a week later, receiving the winner's trophy from McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen at Imola.

Apart from that, he has retired from seven races - at least four times due to engine failure - and finished no higher than 10th in the rest.

Some might have given up the struggle but Fisichella has not lost heart.

"It's been very, very bad but in this case it's important that you do your best, give 100 percent," he told Autosport magazine recently. "I think I did a very good job in qualifying in Hungary and in Hockenheim. I was 12th or 13th on the grid and more than this is difficult."

Trading Places

To add to his frustration, Fisichella has had to watch his former team Renault go from strength to strength with Spaniard Fernando Alonso winning in Hungary. Compatriot Jarno Trulli, who left Jordan to trade places with Fisichella at the end of 2001, is now sitting in a race-winning car.

Monza could be an opportunity for both men, although it would need a heavy dose of luck to see Fisichella to the flag on current form. Under the new scoring system, he would have taken a point for his eighth place last year.

"I won my first race this year with Jordan Grand Prix but its been a very tough season," he said on Thursday. "Unfortunately the package is not good enough and we are struggling to be competitive.

"I've got three more races to do with Jordan Grand Prix. I will do my best but it's going to be difficult to score some points. And then next year I will move to Sauber and I'm quite confident for that."

Any Italian racing in Formula One is always going to be overshadowed by Ferrari, unless he actually drives for the Maranello stable.

Fisichella's career has coincided with the most successful period in Ferrari's history, the Italian starting out with Minardi in 1996 just as Michael Schumacher began his association with the future champions.

"It is not frustrating," insisted the 30-year-old Fisichella. "It is more frustrating to be uncompetitive here. I have got a lot of fans who come here and I am happy for that."