Bianchi to Replace Fisichella at Ferrari

Yesterday it was announced that 21-year old French driver Jules Bianchi will become the official test driver of Ferrari's F1 team for the 2011 season. The first member of the Ferrari Driver Academy Programme will do that in parallel to his GP2 Series commitments, as he hopes to continue his journey in Formula One's feeder series next year.

However, at the time of the announcement, and even until now, the Scuderia did not reveal the driver Bianchi will replace in the Ferrari test drivers' lineup. For the 2010 season, no less than 3 drivers took that role for the Italian squad, namely Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, along with former Force India driver Gianluca Fisichella.

According to a recent report from Italy's Autosprint, it seems the young Frenchman will replace Fisichella at Maranello – as far as the F1 operations are concerned, of course – as the Italian veteran will switch focus to other forms of motor racing. The ones of you who have followed Fisichella throughout the 2010 campaign know that he will dedicate his last years of professional career to sports car racing or touring cars.

After driving an AF Corse-prepared Ferrari F430 last year alongside Jean Alesi in the Le Mans Series, Fisichella will reportedly focus on “touring cars,” as hinted by the aforementioned report.

As for Bianchi, the Italian is currently driving for ART Grand Prix in the GP2 Series, where he sits in 3rd place with a couple of races to go. The Frenchman admitted that he wants to stay in the championship for a second consecutive season in order to complete his learning process before aiming for an F1 seat.