JULY 25, 2004

Trulli to leave Renault

Jarno Trulli has announced that he is leaving Renault F1 at the end of the year. This is no surprise as the team will announce the signing of Giancarlo Fisichella on Wednesday this week.

Jarno Trulli has announced that he is leaving Renault F1 at the end of the year. This is no surprise as the team will announce the signing of Giancarlo Fisichella on Wednesday this week. Our spies tell us that Trulli has been unable to secure a new contract with Renault because he has decided that after 10 years he no longer wishes his career to be managed by Flavio Briatore's British Virgin Island-based management company. For some reason this appears to have influenced Renault's view of the Italian, despite the fact that he won the team's only victory this year in Monaco. The issue of whether or not there is a clash of interest between Briatore's various roles has not been mentioned much but in the summer of 2002 the French media asked some telling questions on the subject of the relationship between Briatore-managed drivers and Renault policy, which caused Renault F1 chairman Patrick Faure to become very defensive.

Trulli is expected to sign for Toyota for next year. Jarno says his plans are clear but is not giving any details.