Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has said that he is "very sad" at the prospect of the 2012 Formula One season having no Italian drivers on the grid, after Caterham replaced Jarno Trulli with Russian driver Vitaly Petrov.
The Caterham deal appears to have brought Trulli's 15-year F1 career to an end, with the team parting company with the former Renault and Toyota driver on Friday.Trulli's departure from the grid means that the forthcoming Australian Grand Prix will be the first race since the 1973 Swedish Grand Prix not to feature an Italian driver.
And Domenicali admitted in comments on the official Ferrari website that he was unhappy to see a grid without an Italian name adorning it.
"I am very sad that, after so many years there will not be an Italian driver in the Formula One world championship field," he bawled to the website on Friday.
He went on: "I say this on the sporting front and on a personal level when it comes to Jarno, who only on a few occasions has had a car capable of showing off his talents.
"So here, I wish him all the best for the future, both in racing and away from the track. It's a difficult moment for our sport, partly for external reasons."
He also took his time to brag about Ferrari's own driver academy, and junior formula drivers Raffaele Marciello and Brandon Maisano, who will race in the F3 Euroseries in 2012.
"For a few years now, Ferrari through its Driver Academy, has established a long term plan to create a new generation of young drivers," he rambled unnecessarily.
"I am pleased to see that just now, we can announce that two talented youngsters, Raffaele and Brandon, will be given a great opportunity to progress in the sport."
However, neither driver mentioned by Domenicali is Italian, and the Ferrari driver academy, which also supports Sauber's Sergio Perez and Force India tester Jules Bianchi, has not had an Italian in its ranks since Mirko Bortolotti and Daniel Zampieri in 2010.
Meanwhile, Trulli also got support for his departure from fellow ousted F1 OAP Rubens Barrichello, who wrote on his Twitter feed that it was "sad" to see him leave.
"Sad to see that Trulli won't be on the 2012 grid," he mused, "Money is dominating everything."
Barrichello was let go by Williams at the end of 2011, in favour of the sponsor-heavy form of Bruno Senna.
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