Fisichella recalls getting dream Ferrari call – to drive one of its worst F1 cars

April 25th 2025

For an Italian F1 driver, few roles are more coveted than a Ferrari race seat, but Giancarlo Fisichella had the misfortune of joining the team during a testing 2009 season

Fisichella got his dream when driving a Ferrari, although things weren't easy

Grand Prix Photo

Three-time grand prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella has recalled the “dream” of driving for Ferrari in Formula 1, nearly 15 years after making his debut with the Scuderia.

The Italian got an unexpected call late into the 2009 season to step into Felipe Massa‘s car following the Brazilian’s injury in Hungary.

Massa had been replaced by Ferrari’s tester Luca Badoer for the two races that followed the accident, but after the Italian failed to score points in his two outings, the Maranello squad decided to call Fisichella, who was a Force India driver at the time.

Fisichella was offered a deal to finish the season in the car and stay on as a reserve driver for the 2010 season, when Massa and Fernando Alonso would be racing for the team.

Just two days after the Belgian GP – won by Kimi Räikkönen in what would be Ferrari’s only win that year – Fisichella, second in the race after having started from pole position, got a call from his manager Enrico Zanarini to announce the Ferrari offer.

Although the Scuderia’s car that year didn’t prove to be competitive on a regular basis, Fisichella admits he had little hesitation about accepting the offer despite the severity of the challenge.

Giancarlo Fisichella during the 2009 Italian GP — Fisichella had a challenging debut at Monza

Grand Prix Photo

“There had already been some rumours, a little bit of talk about me going to Ferrari, but two days after the race Enrico was on the phone asking me if I was ready to go to Maranello to talk about the possibility of doing the next five races,” the 52-year-old recalls in an interview with Motor Sport for the May issue.

“I said yes straight away; it had been my dream since I was very young to race for Ferrari.

“I knew it was going to be difficult to jump in the Ferrari and be competitive. First of all, it wasn’t the best Ferrari F1 car and secondly, it had KERS [kinetic energy recovery system] and the Force India didn’t. The way to drive the car was completely different, almost opposite to what I was used to.

“With the Ferrari, there were so many switches and dials, stuff to change over the lap. Corner after corner, I was listening to my engineer telling me what to do!”

From the archive

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Motor Sport Interview: Giancarlo Fisichella

Giancarlo Fisichella notched up more than 200 starts over a 14-season Formula 1 career that took him from Minardi to Ferrari via Jordan (twice), Benetton, Sauber, Renault and Force India.…

May 2025 Issue

By Rob Widdows

Not only Fisichella was banned from testing the car before his first race outing at Monza, but even his simulator runs did not go as planned.

“The other problem was that there was no chance to test the Ferrari before I raced it for the first time at Monza. I didn’t do one kilometre of testing,” he added.

“I went on the simulator, but only on the static sim because the dynamic one made me sick. They still do!

“For me everything was new and then I had a little accident in first free practice on Friday morning at Monza. I expected to be a little bit further forward in qualifying and to be able to fight for points. But then Kimi wasn’t really competitive in those five races when we were teammates.”

Fisichella’s Italian GP was as difficult as he might have expected, qualifying 14th and finishing in ninth, outside of the points and nearly a minute behind Räikkönen.

The remaining four races of 2009 also proved tough for the Italian, who failed to score any points and whose grand prix career ended following the Abu Dhabi GP last year.

“I would make the same decision again.”

Fisichella concedes the final part of the season would have been more successful had he stayed at Force India, and that he would have likely extended his F1 career into at least 2010 had he not picked up Ferrari’s call.

But he admits his decision came without any regrets.

He said: “I was 36 years old, I’d done nearly 230 races at that point and I knew I was coming to the end of my career in F1. Maybe I could have done another year, but it wasn’t going to be in a top car. I thought it was probably time to say goodbye to F1 and racing a Ferrari was a good way to do it.

We started talking about GT racing with Ferrari for the first time, as well as being the third driver in F1 for the following season.

“Here I am more than 15 years later still wearing a Ferrari shirt — I am an ambassador for them – and still racing their GT cars. I would make the same decision again.”