With 14 years of Grand Prix racing under his belt, it's fair to say Giancarlo Fisichella's career has been nothing spectacular, with occasional flashes of brilliance overshadowed by woeful inconsistency. With 275 points to his name, Fisichella is one of the sport's top points-scorers, having made his debut with Minardi back in 1996.

At the beginning of the decade, Fisichella began his third year as a Benetton driver, and much like 1999, struggled to keep pace with his early season efforts as the year rolled into July. Having secured three podium finishes, including a fortuitous second place in Brazil, in the first eight races, he failed to score another point that year, as a mixture of bad luck, poor pace and reliability issues took their toll.

He stayed with Benetton for 2001, as Renault took control of the outfit, but again failed to perform on a consistent level. Sporadic points scores were mixed with finishes in the teens, with just one podium all season. Although the car was, for the most part, well off the pace, the Italian was able to extract the odd solid performance, while comfortably beating Jenson Button in the process. Nevertheless, he left the team at the end of the year, and returned to Jordan, having raced for the Irish team in 1997.

The switch represented an improvement in F1 machienary for Giancarlo, and was regularly a top-ten qualifier. However, even by all but once finishing inside the top ten, he scored points just four times, as reliability and poor pace pushed him outside the top six regularly. Although car performance took a dive in 2003, he was still able to secure his first victory at the rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix. A timing error by the FIA meant he wasn't declared the winner until a week later, and was presented with the trophy at the following race. He scored points just once more that year, and frequently finished outside the top ten.

Moving to Sauber in 2004, Fisichella returned to regular points-scoring finishes, but on this occasion was pushed hard by team-mate Felipe Massa. After a slow start to the year, he scored points in nine of the season's 18 races, despite qualifying relatively poorly.

His performances at Sauber prompted a promotion to Renault for 2005, to partner young Fernando Alonso, and despite winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix he was unable to keep pace with the Spaniard. While Alonso successfully challenged for the title, Fisichella was left to scoop up consistent point finishes, helping the team secure the constructors' title. He was set to take his second win of the year in Japan, before being overtaken by McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen on the final lap. He ended the year with three podium finishes, compared to Alonso's 15.

It was an all-too-familiar story in 2006, as Fisichella struggled with consistency against the reigning world champion. Although he scored points in every race, and again helped his team to the constructors' title, Giancarlo rarely matched Alonso for pace. He won the Malaysian Grand Prix only after a fuel error on Alonso's car, and was able to finish ahead of the Spaniard at Indinapolis in third, taking his third of five podium finishes. With 72 points, Fisichella took fourth in the championship, his best finish to date, narrowly missing out on third.

With Alonso having defected to McLaren for 2007, Fisichella was given the role of team-leader at Renault, alongside rookie Heikki Kovalainen. While he comfortably outpace and outscored the Finn in the early part of the year, Fisichella's experience was soon outweighed. The Italian was outperformed by Heikki at the final nine races, and ultimately slipped behind him in the championship, with 21 points to Kovalainen's 30.

Unsurprisingly, Fisichella was dropped from the Renault team in 2008, and managed to secure a drive at the new Force India team. With the VJM01 offering little in the way of pace, Giancarlo was consigned to his first non-points scoring season, with a tenth place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix the highlight of his year. Only once did he manage to progress to Q2, taking full advantage of the monsoon conditions at Monza, before retiring early in the race.

The 2009 regulations change allowed Force India to close on the front runners, but with the entire field bunching up considerably they were unable to take advantage of their improvements. A new package introduced by the team at the European Grand Prix allowed Fisichella to take a superb pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, before losing out to the KERS-powered Kimi Räikkönen during the race to finish second. Off the back of his eye-catching performance, he was recruited by Ferrari to replace Luca Badoer at the final five rounds, making his debut at Monza. Despite failing to score a point, he was nevertheless able to live his lifelong dream of racing for Ferrari.

Although the Italian is contracted to Ferrari for 2010 as their test and reserve driver, Fisichella may yet choose to race again next season. He is reportedly in discussions with Force India, and pending the agreement of Ferrari, could still race with the Silverstone-based squad.

Decade highs:
Debut win in wet Brazil 2003 with Jordan
Victories with Renault in 2005 and 2006
Pole position and second place with Force India in Belgium 2009
Racing for Ferrari at end of 2009

Decade lows:
Losing victory to Räikkönen in Japan 2005 on final lap
Poor seasons at Renault in championship-winning cars
Failing to score points for Ferrari in 2009

2010s?
Any potential return to F1 is likely to be short-lived, but may choose to continue racing by returning to DTM. Could settle down a live a quiet life away from the limelight.