Giancarlo Fisichella may not have been to happy as getting the push from
Renault at the end of an unsuccessful 2007 campaign, but admits to allowing himself a wry smile as he surveys the team's fortunes over the first three races of 2008.
The Italian had hoped to be retained by the Enstone operation, even though team boss Flavio Briatore was committed to finding a berth for
Nelson Piquet Jr, but the emergence of
Fernando Alonso on the driver market after an acrimonious year with
McLaren meant that there was no room for the veteran. However, Fisichella, now at
Force India, admits that he is happy with the way the year has turned out so far, with Renault not that far ahead of his new team.
"I am very happy to be fighting with them as it shows that Force India's project is a very promising one - and that I made a good decision to join the team," he told the official
Formula One website, "Everyone thought that Fernando was going to save the team, and Renault spent a lot of time and money to give him a good car [but], in fact, in the first three races of 2007, I performed better with them than he has done so far this year."
Despite an hint of satisfaction about how his end of the deal worked out, Fisichella is well aware of the I>regie's ability to turn things around, and only hopes that Force India can match the opposition for every stride that it takes.
"I'm a little surprised [at the performance] because Renault is a good team with very good people and good resources," he confessed, "I expect them to come back - but I hope not by too much..."
Having landed the Force India ride in the face of much - and much younger - competition, Fisichella has been delighted with the results Vijay Mallya's squad has been able to achieve with what is largely an evolution of last season's Spyker. With further developments in the aerodynamic and transmission departments to come in the next few months, the Italian is confident things will continue to look rosy.
