Toyota driver Jarno Trulli's efforts in setting up a earthquake relief fund is perhaps one of the few shining lights in Formula 1.

By Eugene YS Han

Having just touched down in Singapore on Tuesday, the Toyota-Panasonic F1 Team driver appeared as the guest judge at Panasonic's 'Get Me to the Race' Car Design Contest on Wednesday. The Italian then faced the media in a Q&A session.

Trulli was visibly fighting jet-lag as well as questions about his early retirement during last year's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.

The recent scandal involving Renault also meant Trulli was asked about his past relationships with his old team Renault, Flavio Briatore and Fernando Alonso.

But the experienced driver, who made his F1 debut in 1997, manoeuvred skilfully past all the tricky questions about the controversy like he was taking on a corner at the Singapore GP.

The Italian's eyes lit up however, when he was asked about the Abruzzo nel Cuore appeal.

"It's basically to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake victims from Abruzzo which is my region," Trulli told espnstar.com.

On 6 April 2009, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit the central Italian region of Abruzzo. 90% of the buildings were destroyed and it left more then 65,000 homeless and injured with a death toll of 307 people. It was the deadliest quake to hit Italy since 1980. Moved by the tragedy, Trulli quickly came up with a relief fund to help those in need.

"We are doing very well. Tonight we will have another auction hosted by Audemars Piguet who has been helping me.

"So far we have raised nearly 500,000 euros which is quite a lot. The money will be used to build anything that is needed in the areas which has been destroyed," Trulli added.

In the previous auction held in Monza last week, Trulli managed to collect 300,000 euros from auctioning F1 memorabilia donated from fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, racing teams Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault and Williams.

When asked why he personally wanted to spearhead this project, Trulli was equally forthcoming in his reply.

"Because I come from this region and I know the people very well. They are very nice and strong people. So I thought I can do something important for them. And so I really want to use my name to help those people as much as possible."

For a motorsport that has frequently been accused of being overrun by cheating scandals and greed, Trulli's altruistic ways is truly one of the few bright spots in Formula 1.

* For those who would like to help, please visit http://www.abruzzonelcuore.org/