Formula 1

Trulli denies he's not a racer

Jarno Trulli has hit back at claims that he's a great qualifier but cannot keep it up through a race distance. With Renault next year Trulli aims to win a race and to put to rest rumors that he's not a racer, saying that in his kart days the ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Jarno Trulli has hit back at claims that he's a great qualifier but cannot keep it up through a race distance. With Renault next year Trulli aims to win a race and to put to rest rumors that he's not a racer, saying that in his kart days the opposite was said of him.

With Jordan in 2001, Trulli qualified in the top eight in fifteen races but he only finished three races in a higher position than he had started. He failed to finish nine races, although to be fair it was mostly the car that let him down rather than driver error. In his career of 79 races he has scored only 29 points. Experts believe his style of driving is wrong, that it's ragged and on the edge and that he could benefit from lessons with driver coach John Stevens. Stevens is a little known coach who is called in to correct technique, although of course the drivers that have used him in the past are not keen to advertise the fact.

Many think that Trulli's problems lie in his long karting history but he says the problem was the other way round back then: "It's ridiculous! Throughout my karting and Formula 3 career it was the opposite– people used to say that I was a racer and that my whole day was based around making a great start. But the truth is that I love racing. You have to concentrate at your maximum for over one hour and 40 minutes, and this is what being a Formula One driver is all about. I always try to get the maximum from the car during qualifying but it's only the circumstances, and the cars I've been driving, that have given everyone the impression that I qualify better than I race.”

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