Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella has been released from his contract in order to take over the second Ferrari seat from Luca Badoer for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Right, I'm off!

“We have chosen Fisichella because we can expect him to make a valuable contribution in this final part of the season,” said Ferrari’s Stefano 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. We wish to thank Luca Badoer for the team spirit he demonstrated in these circumstances: 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.”
Fisichella’s management team approached Force India owner, Dr Vijay Mallya asking that the Italian be released in order to drive for Ferrari as soon as the offer came from the Scuderia.

“For any Italian driver, a Ferrari race seat is a long-held dream and for Giancarlo it was no exception,” explained Mallya. “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.”

Monza is the home of Ferrari

It is interesting that Mallya refers to Fisichella’s long term future at Ferrari, since with Fernado Alonso rumoured to be joining Felipe Massa next year to replace Kimi Raikonnen, it is hard to see where the Italian would fit in in 2010, unless Massa is not expected to return to full fitness of course.

There were rumours that Force India had come to a financial arrangement with Ferrari over releasing Fisichella from his contract, as the team is said to have outstanding debts from its use of customer Ferrari engines last season. Mallya, however, denied that this was the case.

“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 One, which can only help raise the sport’s profile in these difficult times.

Is this a positive move for the sport?

“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.”

Go on - naff off then!

Fisichella himself thanked Mallya for giving him the opportunity to drive for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix. “It is true that it has always been an ambition to do this,” he said, “and for Vijay 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.”
It is rumoured that former Torro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi will take Fisichella’s place at Force India.