Fisi to Ferrari

It now seems an eternity ago that Felipe Massa paraded the F60 Ferrari F1 car with such optimism. But, with the injured Massa now ruled out for the rest of 2009, it only seems a few moments ago that Force India boss Dr Vijay Mallya denied F1’s worst kept secret. That is, Giancarlo Fisichella will take Massa’s seat at Ferrari for the rest of the season.

Mallya confirmed on the Force India website, “Giancarlo and his management team approached me yesterday with the proposal from Ferrari. For any Italian driver, a Ferrari race seat is a long-held dream and for Giancarlo it was no exception. No one should stand in the way of this.”

Fisi replied with gratitude, “I am very grateful to Vijay Mallya for allowing me this opportunity to drive for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team. It is true that it has always been an ambition to do this, and for Vijay to have allowed it to become a reality is very generous.”

Fisichella showed strong form at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, claiming pole position and finishing the race in second, behind his new teammate Kimi Raikonnen. It was the first ever podium finish for Force India F1.

Fisi’s first race for Ferrari will be just under two weeks away at the Italian Grand Prix. Nice timing! Naturally, Giancarlo is quite excited about this.

“I’m in seventh heaven,” Fisichella told the Ferrari website. “I still can’t believe it that the dream of my life comes true and I want to thank Ferrari and Chairman Luca di Montezemolo. Over the last week some really incredible things happened to me: the pole position and then second place at Spa and now I’m called by Ferrari to race the last five races of the season for them.”

It is understood that Fisichella will remain with Ferrari in a test driver role next year. But with the rumour mill suggesting Raikonnen could be returning to McLaren in 2010, is Fisichella about to give his 14 year career the most amazing of second winds?

[Source: Force India F1]