He’s caught his comeback sort of at the right time though as the F60 is getting up to speed, he’s got that in his favour, but its still not a winning car yet. It will be interesting to see what he can do with a front running car after driving for mediocre teams in the past. Can he finally score a point in F1?

Ferrari have already stated that they will stop development on this year’s car. The car also isn’t particularly fast, Mclaren, Red Bull and properly William are faster, Renault’s updates also seem to be faster although the opportunity haven’t really presented itself to show their pace. One thing is certain, it will be a very demanding job to be a Ferrari driver for the rest of the season, it will properly also be difficult to score points.

I don’t doubt his pace would’ve been thoroughly competitive. Perhaps he’d have had a bit of a struggle with fitness over a race distance though.

But I doubt he played some kind of a game, and I 100% believe that he seriously considered to race. Anyway, he might decide to come back in the near future so I would not dismiss it.In fact now I EXPECT that more so than before..

Then again, I have great sympathy with the idea that this was a publicity stunt to sell more seats at Valencia after the ban on Alonso and Renault. Here are verbatim transcripts of conversations that Bernie *might* have had

Bernie: “He’s banned who? For a Spanish race? For crying out loud! Does Max know who their main driver is?”
Bernie phones Valencia ticket office.
Bernie: “Hi, how’s it going? How many tickets have you sold so far? Oh. And for the main stand? And are they both sitting together, or are the separate fans? Oh. Oh dear. Okay. Yes I know who Alonso drives for. Well, that’s Max for you!”
“S**t.”
Now he calls Ferrari.
Bernie: “Luca! How’s the diminutive Brazilian? Ok. Ok, so he’s taller than me! How is he? Oh, okay. How long will Big Tall Felipe be out for? That long? Well I think Badoer, don’t you? But wait, I’ve got an idea to get Ferrari worldwide headlines for a month! Yes, of course you need them! Listen . . . . . . and then you get Michael to withdraw and get Badoer into the car instead! Because once the dim public have bought the seats, they can’t ‘un-buy’ them can they? And everyone will be watching Valencia to see Badoer fail. Yes, I know Luca, but he hasn’t raced for ten years. Ok. All right, whatever you say so he’ll come second after Kimi. And beat both Williams. Okay Luca. They won’t finish – I’ll take care of Ross’s boys, don’t worry. Yes okay, and the Red Bulls. Bye Luca!”

This has been a work of pure fiction. any resembelance of any character or event to any living person or event is purely coincidental. Objects may be closer than they appear in the mirror. Warning, coffee may be hot. May contain nuts.