Perhaps only 1 win had made Alesi appriciate things more. Here he celebrates a points finish in Canada '01.
The mere fact that Jean Alesi has maintained his motivation with just one GP win is indicative of the fact that there is more to the man than just Jean Alesi, Racing Driver.
Jean is a emotional charachter, not suprising considering his roots in Sicily. He finds it hard to drive at the 'edge' for a team that doesn't appriciate his efforts. This was his main problem at Benetton. This is why the 'old' Alesi resurfaced at Sauber & Prost. A team that is behind him emotionally will extract the best from Alesi. If the team supports him, and show him they are working as hard as he is, Alesi will, and has, gone to Hell and back to do well for them.
Jean enjoyed his time in F1, and loved the thrill of DRIVING rather than just wanting to be champion.
Then there is the issue of his 'explosions'. These outbursts of temper are always big news but Jean is usually well justified.
"With Jean, you have 2 or 3 nuclear explosions a year. The rest of the time he'll do a great job" - Gerhard Berger
Jean does not just fly off the handle. He only goes mad or gets the "red mist" when he sees something is wrong which he really beleives in. At Sauber these would have been in '98 when Johnny Herbert held him up at Silverstone, and this year at Hockenheim after qualifying 21st. The problem is he is passionate about F1, and because of this he sometimes pushes too hard. He realises this was what ruined his relationship with Jean Todt when he was at Ferrari.
"It's true that the way Jean describes things can be...brusque!! But what he says is right." - Alain Prost
He may be volitile, but you don't last for over 200 GPs in F1 without being a consummate professional.
It is true that his temprement means that he is either 'up' or 'down' but he generally seems to enjoy his life in F1. He is one of the few drivers who admits he couldn't walk away from the motorsport completley, and would like to find a job in it somewhere. He is a valuable commodity to F1, he has much experience, he is multilingual and has good friends within the sport. McLaren have acknowledged that with the testing work they gave jean in early 2002.
Jean is a man of ethics. On the track, despite his reputation, I have never seen an incident where he has deliberatley driven into another rival. He has incidents, of course, but this is more to do with fighting hard to defent a position. When he does hit someone - he doesn't lie, he calls it as he sees it. He is the same off the track and it says much that hes respects, is respected and is great friends with Alain Prost. When a 4-times world champion, with 51 wins to his name, hires Jean Alesi, why people still question his ability is beyond me. Jean repays this commitment by signalling to work with Alain for the rest of his career, despite the performance of the team. Only when Alain Prost tried to fine Jean for making his feelings known did Jean lose resepct for Alain. Remember, respect is an important concept to Scissillians...
Jean & Kumiko.
His family is very important to him. He dislikes it when distant relations are uneasy with him because of his fame. He is very sensitive in this way. He was known as 'Giovanni' when young but was teased and changed it to 'Jean'. He found it hard to integrate into French society and always felt as an outsider. Perhaps this is why he needs such emotional support.
Jean Alesi has a young family with his wife Kumiko. He has houses in Nyon, Switzerland and his hometown of Avignon, France which is in sight of his parent's garage. He has a vineyard and his car collection contains such diversity as a Porsche Boxster, Fiat 500, a vintage Rolls-Royce and a Ferrari F40!
Hmmmm, nice! Jean is still a Ferrati man
at heart....
Of course Jean has his cars, but he has other major passtime....his vineyard. And its a business he takes very seriously. It all goes to show how balanced Jean is as a person. Living in Monaco with a £10,000,000 yacht is of no impottance. He prefers his family close by and his vineyard, F40 and FIAT 500!
So, how many other Racing Drivers have a Vineyard???
"Everybody thinks i'm not normal. - I'm very normal" - Jean Alesi
The majority of images on these pages are borrowed from http://www.itv-f1.com