Jean Alesi had arrived

Jean Alesi, born 11 June 1964 in Avignon, France, became Ken Tyrrell’s lead driver in 1990 for what would be his first full year in Grand Prix racing – prior to the start of the season, Alesi only had 8 race starts in F1, all with Team Tyrrell and was still considered as a rookie.

At the first event, the US Grand Prix at Phoenix, he sensationally led for 25 laps in front of Ayrton Senna with a car powered by a customer Ford V8, considered vastly inferior to the powerful  V10 Honda in Senna’s McLaren, and also re-passing Senna after the Brazilian had first overtaken for the lead.

Second place in the Monaco Grand Prix followed (picture below, on the podium with Senna and Berger), and by mid-season top teams were clamouring for his services in 1991. A confused situation followed, with Tyrrell, Williams and Ferrari all claiming to have signed the French driver.

Alesi initially signed a contract with Williams for the 1991 season. However, due to Williams delaying the announcement of his signature, Jean grew tired of the situation and opted to sign for Ferrari. The Scuderia was later forced to pay 4 million dollars compensation to the British team.