1999 Driver Profiles by Julie Gates

Team: Benetton

by Julie Gates

The Team: Since the departure of Michael Schumacher, the Benetton Formula One team has slowly deteriorated into mid-field runners. After vowing to come back as strong as ever this season, they have performed far worse than expected. On average they qualified on the sixth row of the grid, and out of the last eight races suffered seven retirements, four from technical problems. Lacking both reliability and pace, their best performance came at Luxembourg when Fisichella was leading the race, only to go wide and spin out. Rarely have they battled for points finishes, and due to this fact, they have only managed sixth in the Constructors' Championship with sixteen points. Even though they worked hard during the year, they have very little to celebrate.

Driver - Giancarlo Fisichella: Considering the machinery he has had to work with, the little Roman has performed admirably. During the second half of the season, he out qualified Wurz five to three and was in contention for victory at Luxembourg until he spun into the gravel trap and out of the race. He also performed well in Hungary until a fuel pressure problem led to inevitable retirement. Driver errors, as well as mechanical glitches have caused retirements and he hasn't really performed to the level many expected. However, when comparing his performances to his team-mate, it is clear he took all the performance, and more, from his Benetton.

Driver - Alexander Wurz: The Austrian who delivered so much in '98 failed to show the same level of performances in '99. During the latter half of the season, he was regularly our-paced by his team-mate and only managed to score three points during the entire season. He has made driver errors, such as at Luxembourg, yet has also suffered mechanical failures, such as in Italy when his transmission failed. His qualifying performances have been far from special, averaging the seventh row of the grid, and even though he has always battled hard, his race performances have been little better. Again, nothing to be particularly proud of, but this is largely down to the car rather than himself.

Conclusion: For a team that promised much, they delivered little. Over the second half of the season alone they suffered seven retirements, four from mechanical failures. As well as being unreliable, the car has been off the pace, leading to poor performances in both qualifying and race trim. The drivers were unable to maximise on their talents thanks to the cars' lack of driveability and therefore the season has been fruitless for the team. However, they managed to score sixteen points, and this must be taken into consideration.

Grade: D-