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#‎TrulliWonderful: 10 reasons Trulli Formula E will be truly missed

18/12/2015 , ,
#‎TrulliWonderful: 10 reasons Trulli Formula E will be truly missed

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Tuesday brought the exciting news that Jaguar was to enter Formula E in season 3. However, it also brought the sad – even if not totally unexpected – news that Trulli Formula E had withdrawn from the championship.

Although they were only in the series for one season, and finished bottom of the teams’ championship in that campaign, the Swiss-Italian squad brought far more to the grid than their results and points total would suggest. Here, we list ten reasons why we will miss Jarno’s team.

1 – From creation to race track in just two months

Drafted into the series when Drayson Racing gave up their entry only two months before testing began, Jarno Trulli and his team had to rush to get everything ready for the start of the inaugural season. Experienced single-seater outfit Super Nova were brought in to run the technical side of the squad, while Trulli also employed female racer Michela Cerruti to drive alongside the team boss in an all-Italian line-up. They managed to not only compete in pre-season testing, but also make it to the first ePrix in Beijing, with such a short lead time – an impressive achievement.


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2 – Everyone loves an underdog

The late start to life meant that Trulli seemed to spend all season fighting against technical gremlins. Not a race weekend went by when they were not affected by one issue or another. Rarely was the team able to show the true pace of their cars and get in clean running, and thus every strong performance by the team was greeted with not only happiness, but also relief that they had stayed away from trouble in that particular session. Even in testing ahead of the second season that the team would ultimately not participate in, their relief just to get their troubled powertrain up and running was clear to see.


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3 – Jarno’s dogged drive in Punta del Este

The first two rounds went by without any points on the board, but Punta del Este in Uruguay seemed to be the turning point. After qualifying an impressive seventh, and following an unpredictable race in which many leading runners suffered issues, Jarno stayed out of trouble and scored an excellent fourth position – not only the team’s first points, but also just one position outside the podium places.


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4 – THAT pole in Berlin

After Punta del Este, however, things did not get better for the team. More technical issues and more retirements followed, and the team had to draft in Vitantonio Liuzzi at very short notice in Miami after Michela Cerruti left the team. The FE circus arrived in Berlin in May and could not have expected what was to follow. Jarno rolled back the years to take pole with a stunning lap, while Liuzzi qualified P11, just 0.4 off pole. The race, unfortunately, saw the usual bad luck strike. A battery issue caused Jarno to tumble down the order, while Tonio ran as high as 5th until a pit issue led to him finishing in P9. Nonetheless, Berlin saw the team score their first points since Punta del Este five months previously. They would also ultimately be the team’s last points

 


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5 – Popular and imaginative driver choices

While Trulli’s on-track success was limited, their off-track popularity was high. This was partly due to the drivers they chose. Jarno Trulli himself is extremely well known, with many people remembering the Italian fondly from his time in F1, and the Italian’s choice to drive for his own team was a masterstroke. Cerruti was one of two female racers to start the season and one of three to drive in FE to date, and she backed up the team’s faith in her with her performances on track where she came close to points on a few occasions. Liuzzi – who came straight from a beach holiday into the FE car for Miami, and had to borrow Jarno’s spare helmet – is also popular from his time in F1, while Alex Fontana is friendly with his fan base on social media, and it was nice to see the team give a chance to a talented young driver.


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6 – The Trulli Train

Jarno Trulli was well known in F1 for often qualifying cars well above their rightful place on the grid – and racing doggedly to keep his position ahead of quicker cars behind. Thankfully for his fans, the sight of Jarno’s blue and green machine being followed by several frustrated rivals was seen several times during the past Formula E season. The Trulli Train lived on in Formula E, and the fans loved it.

 


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7 – Social media genius

One place where Trulli were ahead of most of their rivals was on social media. Their usage of Twitter was brilliant, regularly replying to fans and giving them a behind-the-scenes look into the team. They also brought great amounts of humour and fun to Twitter both during and between race weekends, never letting their on-track issues get them down and always looking on the bright side of life.

 


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8 – The #Trulli puns

Linked to the previous point but deserving of their own mention, the numerous plays on the word #Trulli became legendary in Twitter during the last season. Both the team and their many fans regularly tried to out-do each other and make up an even funnier pun than those that had gone before. These exchanges brightened up many slow news days and gave everyone something to laugh about. It was fitting, and also quite sad, that the tweet in which Trulli announced their Formula E departure featured two of these puns.


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9 – Their livery was on point

It may not have been the quickest car on track but the Trulli car always looked absolutely brilliant. The mix of blue and green gave it a really unique vibe not seen on any other cars on track, and while the livery looked amazing on TV it looked even better in person, with the blue and green looking stunning as they glinted in the sun. The Trulli merchandise in London also seemed to sell well, with fans lapping up t-shirts in this same distinctive colour scheme.


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10 – Formula E family

A big part of what makes Formula E different from other series is the closeness of the teams on social media, and the fact that they can joke around and have fun with each other even if tensions are high on track. Trulli was one of the teams that got most involved in the frivolity, and regularly used the #FEFamily hashtag, bringing teams and fans together and making the series something fun to be a part of.

 


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The endearing Trulli squad will be missed in Formula E. It is a great shame that we will no longer see that blue and green colour scheme, won’t be able to get involved in any #Trulli puns, and that we have lost a truly valued member of the Formula E family. We can only hope Jaguar can encompass the same spirit when they join the grid next season.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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