Giancarlo Fisichella to drive for Ferrari

[Brogan]

It has been announced that Giancarlo Fisichella will be driving for Ferrari for the rest of the season.

This is despite Force India releasing an "official statement" just a few days ago denying the fact.

Bad news for Luca Badoer but potentially good news for Vitantonio Liuzzi?

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.

Does Mallya seriously expect everyone to believe that?

Source: Force India releases Fisichella to Ferrari

 

[teabagyokel]

I'm sure Fisichella will be delighted. As for VJM, I'm sure he's a really nice guy and just released his driver for fun! There was either a financial settlement or they want a Mr. V. Liuzzi to spend time in car #21!

Anyway, I thought Fisi could have got the Ferrari gig in 2006 and he's got his chance. He's in good form as well, apparently! And he'll undoubtedly be better than Badoer because he nearly won the last race in a Force India!

 

[Speshal]

How gutted is Luca Badoer going to be when he sees the Monza time sheets

 

[sobriety]

He Looks Like one Happy Chappy (From the BBC)

 

[RickD]

Well, the caption could easily be, "What the F&^k does that button do?"

 

[GeoffP]

Do you think that's the tester model with the special wide headroom to allow senior Ferrari personnel to fit their heads in the cockpit?

 

[Muddytalker]

No thread for Liuzzi/Force India I don't think, so I'll post this here.

Bernie disappointed, now all say 'Aaaggghhh'

I've not kept up to date with GP2 the last few years, so I have no idea how good or bad Karun Chandhok is, but to me the article shows just how increasingly irrelevant Bernie is becoming.

There is the old adage 'Nothing happens in F1 without Bernie's say so' but the question has to be asked, "What the hell has it got to do with you Bernie, who Vijay wants to drive his cars"? Does Rupert Murdoch choose the Man Utd back 4? Will Barrack Obama to decide the next Tory leader?

Mind you, I suspect Bernie knows this, and is just paying his usual lip-service to the 'right people' once more.

 

[Brogan]

I was just about to post about that.

Bernie is obviously worried that India might pull out due to lack on interest and is concerned about losing revenue.

There is obviously something very wrong with the structure and set up of F1 though when the commercial owners start hinting who they would like to see on the grid.

BTW, Chandhok is currently 18th in the GP2 standings with 10 points, 12 places and 17 points behind his team mate, so hardly a worthy recipient of an F1 seat: GP2 2009 Standings

No thread for Liuzzi/Force India I don't think, so I'll post this here.

P.S. You are allowed to start new threads you know

 

[teabagyokel]

As usual, Bernie wants to see drivers in the cars based on nationality rather than merit, he uses the same criteria when deciding his calendar. Liuzzi was unlucky to be spirited out of Toro Rosso, he'd have been a better option than Bourdais and probably deserves a second chance. Nelsinho Piquet has shown how bad even GP2 frontrunners can be in F1, so to hire someone who's done nothing in the series would be ill-advised.

Do you think that's the tester model with the special wide headroom to allow senior Ferrari personnel to fit their heads in the cockpit?

No, its the 2010 car, big enough for the Alonso ego. I hope they give Alonso the official second car next year to show who the important people in the Ferrari team are!

 

[GeoffP]

Do you think that's the tester model with the special wide headroom to allow senior Ferrari personnel to fit their heads in the cockpit?

No, its the 2010 car, big enough for the Alonso ego. I hope they give Alonso the official second car next year to show who the important people in the Ferrari team are!

It seems we're getting closer to there being two opinions about Alonso - Spain's and everyone else's!