JANUARY 9, 2012

Toro Rosso trainer dies

Formula 1 is reeling from the news that Toro Rosso trainer Raniero Gianotti has succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 46.

Formula 1 is reeling from the news that Toro Rosso trainer Raniero Gianotti has succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 46.

Gianotti has been around motor sport for more than 20 years, working with Marco Apicella in F3000, where he made contact with the Stewart family and then started work with Rubens Barrichello at Stewart GP.

He followed Barrichello to Ferrari and then worked with Jarno Trulli at Toyota and, latterly, with Toro Rosso, where he enjoyed a particularly strong relationship with Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi.

Gianotti was apparently with a Sunday cycling group in the Urbino area of Italy when he suffered the attack. He leaves a wife and young son.