Rober🌺t Kubica has signed an 🌠'option' to compete for Ferrari in the 2011 F1 World Championship, reports coming out of Italy claim.

Kubica has been linked to the illustrious Prancing Horse for some time, and ♚the Pole would be a good fit given both his reputation as one of the grand prix paddock's fastest drivers, hardest workers and fiercest chargers - and the fact that he spent much of his junior career racing in Italy.

According to Turin-based sports daily Tuttosport, an 'option' has been agreed between the two parties that expires on 15 July - and should that option be taken up, Kubica would likely partner double F1 World Champion, friend and fellow poker player Fernando Alonso at the Scuderia next season, in-place of presen🦩t incumbe🌱nt Felipe Massa.

The story has arguably gained credibility in the wake of the Chinese Grand Prix last time out, when Alonso aggressively and single-mindedly barged his way past the sister scarlet machine on the entry to the Shanghai pit-lane, unceremoniously elbowing his team-mate aside and onto the grass and thereby making sure that his Ferrari was the one to be serviced first during the flurry of pit-stops following the emergence of the safety car - leaving Massa to sit in-line and wait. The pair finished the race respectively fourth (Alonso) and ninth - the difference ꩲbetween twelve points and just two.

However, approaching this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona - the beginning of the European leg of the 2010 season - Kubicaಌ was insisting that his focus is fully on the task in-hand, and on his fear that Ren༒ault has not made a substantial enough improvement to its R30 in comparison with its closest adversaries.

"Most of the teams normally target a big upgrade for Barcelona, a🌞nd I just hope they don't bring three, four [tenths], half a second," the Pole mused, confessing that he had hoped for 'a bigger upgrade' from the Enstone-based outfit around the Circuit de Catalunya. "If they do, we might be a bit more in trouble."