Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella will celebrate his 200th Grand Prix start in Monaco, becoming only the ninth driver in history to reach that milestone. By the end of this season he will have moved up to fifth overall in the rankings of all-time starts.As is often the case, there are different interpretations of what counts as a start. His total does not include the 2005 US GP, when in common with the other Michelin runners he withdrew on the formation lap, and nor does it include France 2002, when he had a major crash in practice and did not take part in qualifying.To mark the event, Giancarlo will start the Monaco race in a new set of Alpinestars overalls and a helmet commissioned from Arai bearing a '200' logo.
It was 1996; Fisichella’s first Formula One start came with Minardi in Australia. Fisichella's first Formula One start came with Minardi in Australia back in March 1996. The start was, to a certain extent, unexpected: shortly before the race he was a test driver and the then 23-year-old had not expected to make the trip down under to Melbourne.
About Giancarlo Fisichella
* The 2008 Monaco GP will be Giancarlo Fisichella's 200th Grand Prix start. That total does not include France 2002, where he did not take part in qualifying after a heavy practice crash, or USA 2005, where in common with the other Michelin runners he withdrew at the end of the formation lap.
* Giancarlo is only the ninth driver in history to achieve the 200 mark. In the course of this season he will overtake Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet Sr, Andrea de Cesaris and Gerhard Berger to become the fifth most experienced driver of all time.
* Giancarlo made his Grand Prix debut with Minardi in the Australian GP on March 10 1996, at the age of 23. It was also the first start for Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher's maiden outing for Ferrari, and the first race in Melbourne.
* Giancarlo's 50th race was Austria 1999, and his 100th was Europe 2002. His 150th should have been USA 2005, but was in fact France a fortnight later.
* When Giancarlo signed for Force India it was the sixth time he had changed teams. However, in effect he has only driven for four teams, as he had twice previously driven for the team under its Jordan name, and also has two spells with Benetton/Renault. His other teams were Minardi and Sauber.
* Adrian Sutil is the 11th team mate Giancarlo has had during his F1 career. The others were Pedro Lamy, Ralf Schumacher, Alex Wurz, Jenson Button, Takuma Sato, Ralph Firman, Felipe Massa, Zsolt Baumgartner, Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen.
* Until he was partnered with Alonso at Renault in 2005 Giancarlo had finished ahead of his team mate in the World Championship in every full season he had completed, except his first season at Benetton in 1998, when he was one point behind Wurz. In 2001 he beat Button by 8/2, and in 2004 he beat Massa by 22/12.
* Giancarlo has won three Grands Prix. The first victory was with Jordan in a wet Brazilian race in 2003. Unfortunately due to an error by the timekeepers he was only awarded second place on the day. After the mistake was acknowledged he was given his trophy at the next race at Imola. It remains the only official prizegiving ceremony that did not take place on the day of the race.
* His two other wins came with Renault in Australia in 2005, and Malaysia in 2006. Both were achieved from pole position. The first race he led was Germany 1997, when he was in front for seven laps before experiencing a tyre problem. He has led 14 different races at some point, most recently Japan 2007, for a total of 210 racing laps. He retired while leading in Europe 1999 (spin) and Canada 2005 (hydraulics).
* He has scored a total of 18 podium finishes, including six second places and nine thirds. Three of his second places came behind Michael Schumacher (Belgium 1997, Canada 1998, Brazil 2000), two behind Mika Hakkinen (Monaco 1998, Canada 1999), and one behind Kimi Raikkonen (Japan 2005).
* Giancarlo has been on pole three times. Prior to Australia 2005 and Malaysia 2006 he had achieved his first in damp conditions with Benetton in Austria in 1998. In total he has started from the front row on 10 occasions.
* Giancarlo has twice set the fastest lap, in Spain in both 1997 and 2005.
* Giancarlo's best World Championship finish was fourth with Renault in 2006, when he also scored a career best 72 points. He was fifth in 2006, and sixth in 2000. He has never finished lower than 12th.
* Giancarlo scored his first points when he finished fourth in Imola in 1997. He has finished in the points 72 times, and has scored a career total of 267 points.
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