In what was pretty much the worst kept secret since the early portions of the season where Nelsinho was a dead man walking at Renault in favor of Romain Grosjean, Luca Badoer has gotten the chop at Ferrari after two unfathomably poor race weekends at Valencia and Spa.  With rumors on his replacement ranging from the intriguing (Alonso) to the odd (Kubica) to the laughable (Bourdais, Davidson), longtime Ferrari fanboy Giancarlo Fisichella picked a hell of a time to deliver the ride of his and Force India’s life.  Today, word dropped that Fisichella will be taking the newly vacant seat effective at Monza and will drop down to test driver for Scuderia beginning with next season.  Not a bad golden parachute for a chronic underachiever.

Taking his place at Force India will (probably) be Vitantonio Liuzzi, he of very limited success with Toro Rosso a few years ago.  What is it with guys getting a second chance in F1 these days?