F1: Fisi Is A Spent Force India

[Rory Phoulorie]

Sunday 13th January 2008

This week it was announced that Giancarlo Fisichella would partner Adrian Sutil at the Force India Team for 2008. It was the confirmation of all the rumours that had suggested he would be staying in F1 despite the logic that it might be time to move on.

"It's not the money (We knew that). Here I get less money than at Renault, but I still want to be an F1 driver, so I didn't even consider the possibility of switching series or retire," the 35-year-old told Gazzetta dello Sport.

And there lies the rub. Having had a fairly decent career in the sport Fisichella can't let go of the status of being an F1 driver despite the dramatic drop in circumstances. In 2006 he had a car capable of winning grands prix and the World Championship, in 2008 he's in potentially the slowest car on the grid and will be lucky to score a point all season. He's gone from the front of the grid to the back of the grid in less than 18 months.

It's not as though Fisichella proved to be the quickest in the Force India test - as Christian Klien noted with an underlying sense of irony in his press release this week: "I would like to thank Force India F1 for providing me with the testing opportunities in Barcelona and Jerez. It was a very satisfying experience and the team did a really good job. I was happy to be fastest in Jerez and feel I worked very well with the team."

Fisichella's move has shades of Italian driver Michele Alboreto who went from podiums with Ferrari in 1988 to not even pre-qualifying (in the days when there were more than 24 cars trying to get onto a grid) for Larrousse the following season. He dragged his career out ignominiously at Footwork and finished it off with Minardi.

Now, like Alboreto, Fisichella is content just to make up the numbers. The membership of that exclusive club of F1 drivers being more important than his reputation. Though it is good to see that his sense of absurd comedy is still intact. Talking of his time with Renault he was asked if he was sad to leave the team. "Yes, very much, especially because of the many years together. The winning car they promised never came."

It's hard to know what Giancarlo was expecting from his team: a Renault with a special livery that said "Winning Car" on it. As Fernando Alonso was World Champion in 2005 and 2006 in the same car, we can safely confine this one to the file of nominations for 'Most Stupid Comment of 2008'

Another small gem of self-delusion. "At the test in Barcelona and Jerez we were six or seven candidates for a drive. I went quick and they chose me. I've signed for two years."

He went quicker than a couple of GP2 drivers. The only driver of any substance Fisichella beat was ex-Toyota tester Franck Montagny. At Jerez head to head with Christian Klien , Klien managed a 1:20.187 over 86 laps while Fisichella could only manage a 1:20.470 over 102 laps.

Most impressive of all was that at the Barcelona test Klien had beaten the man who'd been driving the car all season and who the team deemed essential to retain - Adrian Sutil. Klien edged out Sutil by a few hundredths, Liuzzi by 0.2 of a second and Fisichella - at Jerez - by 0.3.

Despite this Giancarlo hasn't lost any confidence in his abilities. Fisichella announced "I'm the reference point, the number one driver, thanks to my experience. Sutil comes after that."

Perhaps he's mindful of this comment from Adrian Sutil (though said before Fisi lost his Renault seat)."In my personal opinion I think it will be decided between Klien and Liuzzi. Both did an excellent job recently in testing in Barcelona. Both deserve to be in F1 whereas others who are just having money should not race there."

The likelihood that Fisichella is going to spend the season making up excuses and being shown a rear wing by his team-mate - just as rookie Kovalainen did in 2007 - is very great. The only times he'll get to see his old F1 mates are when they take the group photo at the beginning and end of the year, plus a few friendly waves when they're lapping him. But apparently Giancarlo thinks it's all worth it.

Andrew Davies

Planet F1

[Rory Phoulorie]

Ouch

That hurt.