Fisichella Signed as Massa's Replacement

Domenicali announces Fisi
By Ernesto Nigro
September 3 2009

Maranello, September 3rd: Ferrari announces that they have signed Giancarlo Fisichella to replace injured driver Felipe Massa's replacement Luca Badoer. And with this, Giancarlo realizes a life long dream to drive for the storied scuderia.

Giancarlo Fisichella formerly of Force India reigns from from Rome Italy.  It has been a life long ambition to be a Formula One driver for the famous prancing horse.

Fischella arrived in Maranello to meet Stefano Domenicali and start immediately on his preparations with the Scuderia for the race in Monza.

"I’m in seventh heaven," he told www.ferrari.com. "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.

I want to say that I’m very sorry for Luca: 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."

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