Before his graduation to F1, Bernoldi raced in Formula 3000, a category whose races are held on Saturday afternoons at Grands Prix.

As a result, ambitious young drivers can make quite an impression on F1 teams. It is unfortunate for Bernoldi, then, that he seemed to spend a fair portion of 1999 and 2000 colliding with his team-mate.

Fortunately for Bernoldi, he is a favourite of Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of soft-drinks company Red Bull.

Mateschitz tried to get him into the team he sponsors - Sauber. This failed, so Mateschitz found somewhere else for his protégé.

It was not really clear why Mateschitz held Bernoldi in such high regard. He could be quick sometimes. But he could also be very wild.

Somehow, though, Bernoldi has held on to the first aspect of his character in F1, and jettisoned the second.

He has impressed far more than expected as team-mate to Jos Verstappen at Arrows, matching him blow-for-blow in qualifying.

His race performances are perhaps a little below par in comparison, but that could be a function of a lack of fitness.

Bernoldi also bore up well under the abuse directed at him by McLaren boss Ron Dennis at the Monaco Grand Prix, after Bernoldi had done his job and held up David Coulthard for the best part of 40 laps.