page_title: Jean Alesi
section_title: Sauber
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Alesi / Formula One career / Sauber
caption_attribution_description: Jean Alesi driving for Sauber at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Jean Alesi is a French racing driver of Italian origin. His father, Franco, was a mechanic from Alcamo, Sicily, and his mother was from Riesi.
  After successes in the minor categories, notably winning the 1989 Formula 3000 Championship, his Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan and Ferrari, where he proved very popular among the tifosi. During his spell at Ferrari from 1991 to 1995, his aggressive driving style, combined with the use of the number 27 on his car, led some journalists, and the tifosi, to compare him to Gilles Villeneuve and he won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, but this proved to be the only win of his Formula One career. During his time in Formula One, Alesi was particularly good in the wet, and was a mercurial and passionate racer, whose emotions sometimes got the better of him.
  After leaving Formula One, from 2002 to 2006 Alesi raced in the DTM championship, winning some races, and his best result was a fifth place in the drivers' championship. He raced in the Speedcar Series in 2008 and 2009, and raced at Le Mans in 2010.
context_section_description: 1998
  Alesi moved on to the Swiss team Sauber, and was paired with Johnny Herbert and they went on to form the most experienced driver line-up for the 1998 season. The car was equipped with Ferrari engines from 1997, which were evolved from Petronas. Although Alesi's results declined relative to previous years, his reputation improved again, for he put in many strong performances that masked the deficiencies of his Sauber. He had a poor first race of the season in Melbourne, which ended in an engine failure, and a ninth place in Brazil, but he showed good form in the 1998 Grand Prix of Argentina, finishing fifth despite a pit stop problem early in the race. He finished sixth at Imola, but then was plagued by unreliability during the middle part of the season, despite often running in points-scoring positions, including a retirement from fourth place near the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, and being hit by Heinz-Harald Frentzen while running in sixth during the French Grand Prix, and a hydraulic failure forced him to retire after running fourth during the British Grand Prix. He qualified on the front row at the Austrian Grand Prix, but a collision with Giancarlo Fisichella forced him to retire. He achieved the last podium of his career at the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix, behind the Jordans of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher. He also scored points at the Italian Grand Prix, and finished in eleventh place in the drivers' championship with nine points, comprehensively beating team-mate Johnny Herbert.
  1999
  The 1999 Sauber was slower and less reliable than the previous year's, and he had to retire immediately in the first Grand Prix of the season, and also retired in the Brazilian Grand Prix, albeit after having worked his way up to 5th position from 21st on the grid. His first points came in the third race of the season, with a sixth-place finish. At the Canadian Grand Prix he was angered by an incident with Jarno Trulli and, despite the good relationship between the two drivers, accused Trulli of not behaving as a professional driver.  He had several other retirements following some good qualifying performances including a front row position at the French Grand Prix, thanks to a wet qualifying session. During the summer, he was named as a possible replacement for Eddie Irvine as the number two Ferrari driver alongside Michael Schumacher, and Schumacher said that he would be happy to have Alesi in the team However, he signed for Prost Grand Prix and accused the engineers of Sauber of not developing the car or following the advice of the drivers.  Shortly before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alesi had an accident that caused bruises to his right leg and almost caused him to miss the race, but he did take part.  He had another sixth place at the last race of the season, leaving him sixteenth in the championship with two points.
caption: Alesi driving for Sauber at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix.
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