So after all the on-again, off-again it’s finally official: Fisi will move to Ferrari.
Not just for the final 5 races of this season but as test/reserve driver for 2010.
I’m happy for Fisi – he’s always come across as a great guy.
But I feel for Badoer. He should never have been put in this situation. He’s been with Ferrari for a long time – they knew his capabilities – so to put him and, therefore the team, into this embarassing situation was unnecessary.
When Schumacher was touted as the replacement for Massa I though it was wrong. That’s the role of the test drivers.
But I also thought that when Ferrari did use one of their test drivers it should have been Marc Gene, who’s been racing in the Le Mans series and, therefore, has current racing experience.
The ban on in-season testing this year has meant that no test (reserve) drivers have been able to practice since March, when the season started. Therefore, if they had to step in they’d be doing so cold.
Pedro de la Rosa (McClaren’s test driver) made this point at the start of the season and remarked how dangerous that could be.
The same situation arose when Alguesari joined Torro Rosso and Grosjean joined Renault – neither was able to practice in an F1 car until the Friday of their first race weekend. Not smart.
Luckily neither of those two have caused any serious incidents, although it was Grosjean who hit Button last weekend which evenutally resulted in 4 cars dropping out.
Anyway – congratulations Fisi – and enjoy your last 5 races as a full-time F1 race driver!
