Fisichella Yearns to be Italian Winner for Ferrari

Giancarlo Fisichella says Italy is crying out for Ferrari to win with an Italian Formula One driver and he could be just the man to replace Michael Schumacher.

"Now I think is the right moment (for Ferrari) to bring in Italian drivers," the Jordan driver said at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Thursday. "They have the best car, they won three Championships with Michael Schumacher who is a fantastic driver but I think the Italian people want to win now with an Italian driver.

"Now, because the car is the best, they want an Italian driver in an Italian car."

The only problem is that the World Champions, with five times champion Schumacher and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the driving seats with 15 wins in 17 races last year, have no declared vacancy until at least 2005.

Schumacher is 34 and his contract formally runs to the end of 2004, as does 30-year-old Barrichello's. Ferrari also have young Brazilian Felipe Massa waiting in the wings as a test driver.

Fisichella, now 30 and embarking on a potentially difficult season with struggling Jordan, said he would keep on pressing his case all the same. Briton Eddie Irvine made the leap from Jordan to Ferrari in 1996 and Fisichella has recruited the departed Northern Irishman's Italian manager Enrico Zanarini to guide his career into more promising waters.

"I wasn't very happy and I decided to change manager," he said. "I think he's a very good manager and it was very important to give a different image to my name. My career was not slowing down but unfortunately it is a bit flat because I haven't got a good car at the moment. So that's not good for me."

Better Package

Rated one of the fastest and most talented current drivers by his peers, Fisichella has yet to win a race after 107 starts and that first victory does not seem to be looming on the horizon. Jordan, race winners in 1999, have lost key sponsorship and are struggling to keep up in a sport now dominated by wealthy manufacturers.

"This year the package is better, the car and engine are better than last year," said Fisichella. "We did a good jump but I don't know if it is enough compared to other people. The problem is that we don't have enough money to develop the car. Maybe it will be difficult to improve it."

Although he said he had not given up hope that the Jordan might prove competitive and the team attract new funding, he conceded that even then it was unlikely to become a sudden world-beater.

"I think it will be maybe another difficult year but I am looking forward to the future. My target is to be with one of the best three teams," he said. "At the moment most of (the drivers at top teams) have contracts until 2004, apart from maybe David Coulthard (at McLaren). But you never know, it's Formula One and anything could happen."

Fisichella said he felt stronger than last season, when he finished 11th overall with seven points, and was expecting to be in Formula One for five or six more years. That would give him time to become Ferrari's first Italian driver since stand-in Nicola Larini in 1994.

"Three or four years at Ferrari would be fantastic," said the Roman.