Not at all.
It’s similar to 07 in some ways. Out of contention, playing the number 2 (not so obvious) which ironically gives him time on looking at himself and what went wrong.
He cam back from a life threatning injury after eight months out with Fernando Alonso as his team mate and tyres he hates. He should be doing better of course but it’s one of those seasons and there have been flashes of the old him.
He managed top of qualifying in q1 on the hard compound he hates at Monza but then his strategy fluff in q3 sort of messed things up, in Japan that lunge showed just how desperate he was to fight at the front, he led and was quicker than Fernando at Hock in the race until the engine thing, his Spa set up route payed off and he kept his head down and got on with it, Monaco was solid, Aus a podium, out qualified Alonso at Bahrain, fought back at Canada and put on a good pass too after his first lap calamity and actually managed eigth after starting last at Singapore (Silv 07 he started 24th and finished fifth so shows he can still recover) and he made up exactly as many places as Lewis Hamilton at Malaysia just without the overtaking (except JB).
Yes, Fernando’s had the beating of him this year and I wouldn’t be surprised iof he did next year but Felipe isn’t broken at all. All this talk is making me more proud of him some ways. He’s always been strong in the head; after 07 he came back as a title contender when there were rumours surrounding his seat, he did enough so Ferrari booted out Kimi and not him, he can put in good recovery drives, at Brazil when all the pressure was on he was almost half a second quicker than everyone else at times, in 09 he put a brave face on in a rubbish car and then he came back from injury. He can recover and he’ll be much better prepared next year. This year was literally just his return year and to find his feet in again which is why to all those saying he should be fired I keep saying just give him one more season.
