Fisichella 'dreaming' of Ferrari drive

With fellow Italian Luca Badoer having struggled for competitiveness while standing in for the injured Felipe Massa on his F1 return at Valencia last weekend, speculation persists that he could be replaced for the Italian Grand Prix on September 13.

Fisichella has been linked to a switch from Force India, but the 36-year-old veteran claims he has not had any contact with Ferrari so far.

"I think there is a lot of rumour and I have seen my name on the top of the list everywhere," Fisichella said on Thursday in Belgium.

"But Ferrari didn't call me so for me it's nothing.

"If they had called me I could say something more, but I have not contacted them. I'm a Force India driver, it's as simple as that."

Fisichella did admit, though, that he relished the idea of switching to Ferrari in a final flourish to his 13-year F1 career.

"For sure, it's a dream for all the drivers," he said. "Especially for me, as an Italian driver, let's say at the end of my career, so it's a very good opportunity. It would be nice.

"I have 220 grands prix so far, it would be very good pressure for me. It's not a big problem, it would be a very good opportunity but so far I can't say anymore."

Fisichella added that he had expected Badoer to perform better and that his compatriot would have to step up his game if he was to keep his Ferrari race seat until Massa returns.

"I thought Luca was able to do much better than that, even though he didn't drive in the last few months, and he didn't race since 1997," he said. "But he was struggling quite a lot.

"Obviously there was a lot of pressure for him with the new circuit and everything. Probably here is going to be better, but he needs to do a big improvement compared to the last race."