Alesi: ‘Need to be a billionaire’ to race in F1
Date published:
January 27 2021
Watching his son put in his first, and perhaps last, laps in a Ferrari F1 car, Jean Alesi was left to rue the state of Formula 1 and the need to be a “billionaire” to race.
Giuliano Alesi said farewell to the Ferrari Driver Academy on Monday as he took part in a test with the Scuderia, driving a three-year-old SF71H at the Fiorano circuit.
It was his Ferrari debut, and also likely be his very last laps in a Ferrari F1 car.
The 21-year-old is heading to Japan this season, walking away from Formula 2 after failing to come up with the finances needed to secure a drive.
It is time for the winter break and that means that drivers and teams can enjoy a well-deserved holiday. In the F1 Social Stint of GPblog.com you will find out what drivers and teams are doing in preparation for the Formula 1 season of 2021.
Had things panned out differently, January 18, 2021 would have marked the 71st birthday of Gilles Villeneuve. The French-Canadian driver only competed in six seasons of Formula 1, and won just six times – and yet his extrovert driving style and never-surrender attitude mean he is still sorely missed by F1 fans today.
Lap 4 of the 1981 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and Villeneuve has just clouted the fiddly chicane at Woodcote. Carnage ensues, as Villeneuve spins into the catch fencing and eventual retirement, taking Williams’ Alan Jones and Alfa Romeo’s Andrea de Cesaris – who’d both been unable to avoid the French-Canadian’s rotating Ferrari 126CK – with him. The crash was, to all intents and purposes, Villeneuve’s fault.
Schumacher turns 52 - Here s FIVE of his best races
03-01-2021 12:01
Spanish GP - 1996
Michael Schumacher took his first victory for Ferrari at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1996. In the pouring rain, the German was supreme in a race in which only six drivers managed to finish. Competitors Jean Alesi and Jacques Villeneuve were left behind and had to concede tens of seconds in a spectacle. Watch the fantastic images below with Olav Mol as commentator.
GP of Belgium - 1995
On the weekend of the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix he took his sixteenth victory in the premier class of motorsport, Schumacher managed to dominate the entire field. He had a difficult qualifying session and had to start from sixteenth on the grid when the lights went out on Sunday, but the advance started quickly after that. The changeable weather caused a lot of confusion for the drivers, but it was Schumacher with his Mild Seven Benetton Renault team that handled the conditions best. Schumacher won by almo