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[Hexagram]

Giancarlo Fisichella will be the second Ferrari driver from the Italian Grand Prix after he was released from his contract by his Force India team on Thursday.

Following days of speculation about who would line up alongside Kimi Raikkonen now that Felipe Massa is out for the season, Force India confirmed that Fisichella would switch teams from the Italian Grand Prix.

The team said that discussions with Ferrari began in the last 24 hours, once it became clear that Massa was out for the season. Force India owner Dr Vijay Mallya said: "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. Furthermore the agreement will secure Giancarlo's long-term future with Ferrari and it would be incorrect to jeopardise this, particularly when Giancarlo has made such a vital contribution to Force India."

Force India is understood to have outstanding debts with Ferrari left over from its customer engine supply deal that ended last year - but Mallya said that commercial factors did not have a role in the outcome.

"We would like to stress that we have not agreed any financial settlement with Ferrari," he said. "This agreement has been made in good faith and for the good of Giancarlo and the sport in general. A competitive Italian driver in a Ferrari for Monza is a positive story for Formula 1, which can only help raise the sport's profile in these difficult times.

"We would like to thank Giancarlo for all his help over the past one and a half seasons and for delivering us our first World Championship points last weekend. He has been an integral part of the team and we owe him a great deal for his input behind the scenes and performance out on track. We wish him all the best for the future.

"For Force India, this sport is a team effort and removing one part, even a major one, will not significantly affect our performance. The competitiveness of the team seen in Belgium was a result of hard work in the factory and wind tunnel and we have further developments coming for the final races, so we are confident this momentum can be sustained. We are now looking forward to a strong finish to the season."

Force India has not made a decision who will drive alongside Adrian Sutil for the rest of the season, although it is expected that Vitantonio Liuzzi will step up from his test drive role.

[vaptin]

thanks for the news - good for fisi I guess, and its a full long term deal? he must be replacing badoer as test driver then as well at the end of the season. He might struggle at the next race though,

[billindenver]

Very nice. Fisi may struggle to get used to a new car, but I would bet a beer he is not dead last by several seconds like the rolling chicane he replaced.

[vaptin]

how is badoer taking it?

[texasmr2]

Will he out qualify Kimi at Monza ?

[welshie]

I'm now stuck in a odd position. I really dislike Ferrari, but I like both the drivers!

[scotty]

Cause Fisi's been released i'm guessing he'll just retire to a testing role once Massa is back. Seems like he's grabbed to opportunity to fulfil a dream though, so i'm happy for the guy.

I'm now stuck in a odd position. I really dislike Ferrari, but I like both the drivers!

I know what you mean!

[Hexagram]

Ya its great news. I felt sorry for Fisi racing at force india for the last season and a half. Looks like he beat Alonso to the dream first of racing for Ferrari.

[amkothaw]

happy for fisi. badoer probably knew it was coming. would be interesting if he outperforms kimi. he has the will

[vaptin]

can't seem him outperforming kimi, specially not straight away.

welcome in

[McLaren Fan]

Fisichella might have damaged this longer term career prospects, but it's not like he has too many more years of racing in him, so making the switch to Ferrari, especially before Monza, was probably worth it. Hell, I'm a McLaren supporter from Ireland and I'd find driving for Ferrari at Monza an honour. If Force India's claim that there were no commercial factors involved in the decision, then it's quite noble of them to let Fisichella go to Ferrari. Enjoy yourself, Fisi.

[vaptin]

aye force india have done well by allowing him to make the decision - no petty bickering (cough williams cough)

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Fisichella: Ferrari drive a dream for me

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, September 3rd 2009, 15:11 GMT

Giancarlo Fisichella says he cannot believe how his life has been transformed in the past week after being officially confirmed as a Ferrari driver for the remainder of 2009.

The Italian will race alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the season before becoming Ferrari's official reserve driver in 2010.

Speaking at Maranello on Thursday, having met team principal Stefano Domenicali and other Ferrari personnel to discuss plans for the Italian Grand Prix, Fisichella was clearly overjoyed at the turn of events - which comes almost 14 years after he tested a Ferrari 412 T2 on September 27, 1995 at Fiorano.

"I'm in seventh heaven," Fisichella told the official 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.

"I'll give my best to recompense the Scuderia for this great opportunity they gave me: I know that it won't be easy, but I'll give it everything to gain the best possible results."

Domenicali said he had thought long and hard before opting for Fisichella, and were keen for the Italian to have a long-term relationship with the team.

"We chose Giancarlo, because we think that he can make a significant contribution in terms of points during the finale of this uncertain season," he explained.

"Furthermore we considered what could be his role inside the team in the near future, also taking this year's experiences into account. He will be the reserve driver in 2010.

"I want to thank Vijay Mallya and Force India F1 for giving Giancarlo the possibility to cancel his contract in such a happy moment for the team, allowing him to crown his dream as a driver.

"Now we have to concentrate on Monza, an event we really care for in a very special way: we know that it will be difficult to keep the performance level we had over the last Grands Prix, but we'll give our best to entertain our fans and I hope there will be lots of them at the track to support us."

Fisichella's appointment comes at the expense of Luca Badoer, who failed to shine during his two-race outing for the team. Although happy about his own position, Fisichella expressed some sympathy for the plight of his fellow Italian.

"I want to say that I'm very sorry for Luca," said Fisichella. "I know how much he cared to race in Monza behind the wheel of a Ferrari, because this is the best thing that can happen to an Italian driver, to drive a red car in front of our fans."


From F1 Live:

It has been confirmed this afternoon that Giancarlo Fisichella has been released from his contract with Force India to join Ferrari for the remainder of the season, starting next weekend with the Italian Grand Prix.

“I am very grateful to Vijay Mallya for allowing me this opportunity to drive for the Scuderia Ferrari,” said Fisichella. “It is true that it has always been an ambition to do this, and for Vijay [Mallya] to have allowed it to become a reality is very generous. I hope in my turn I have helped Force India grow up and be on the right path to achieve their own ambitions. They are now a very competitive team and I wish them all the very best.”

With Felipe Massa, currently recovering from injuries sustained in Hungary, out of action for the remainder of the season and test veteran Badoer failing to shine at both Valencia and Spa Francorchamps, the Italian team were left with little alternative other than to look elsewhere for the remainder of the season.

"Giancarlo and his management team approached me yesterday with the proposal from Ferrari," stated Force India team principal Vijay Mallya. "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.

"Furthermore the agreement will secure Giancarlo's long-term future with Ferrari and it would be incorrect to jeopardise this, particularly when Giancarlo has made such a vital contribution to Force India."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali was keen to praise the outgoing Badoer as well as welcoming Fisichella to the Italian team.

“We have chosen Fisichella because we can expect him to make a valuable contribution in this final part of the season,” said Domenicali. “Giancarlo has shown, throughout his long career that he is fast and competitive and we are therefore proud to be able to run an Italian driver in our home race.”

For Badoer, his final two Grand Prix were something of a ‘thank you’ from Ferrari for his long standing service to the team as test driver. "We wish to thank Luca Badoer for the team spirit he demonstrated in these circumstances," said Domenicali. "It is a shame he was unable to show his true worth in these last two races, tackled under conditions which anyone would have found difficult.”

Ferrari is third in the constructors’ championship and heading to its home race at Monza and will be looking to extend their 12 points cushion over the recovering McLaren Mercedes team.

Force India is expected to promote test driver Tonio Liuzzi to the race team in place of Fisichella with an announcement “in the coming days”.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

[cap-dude]

Hmm, I always thought Fisi would prefer to be actually racing next year. But this pretty much confirms that Fisi will become ferrari's new test driver.

So Alonso and Fisi will re-unite next year

Also, seeing as Luzzi will drive for Force India now. I think Luzzi was actually promised a drive at some point, so that works out quite nicely for Force India. But lets see how it all go next weekend, before judging drivers.

[Brandz]

good luck to him