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Will Felipe Massa finish the season with Ferrari? (81 posts)

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gareth said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Massa is a nice guy….and nice guys come second…maybe that suits Ferrari (for the moment) so they can concentrate on Alonso….Ferrari have often in the past had one champ and one chump

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kosmic164 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

If he does end mid season perhaps Perez will move up and Bianchi to take his spot if sauber of course agrees, which of course they wont without persuasion $$

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Adam Tate said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Historically, Ferrari is very conservative about such issues. They also have massive resources available to them to improve the car.

When improving a car, it’s best to keep continuity in the team. Felipe has experience, a great relationship with his engineer and despite all the doom and gloom claims of him having lost it, can still perform well when given the opportunity.

He will see out the season, but unless he puts in some remarkable performances the team will replace him for 2013.

At which point the team will sort out the horrible car, bring out a better model for the new season, bring in a hungry young driver, who will perform well and everyone will further denounce Massa for under performing.

It’s a rather sad and disgusting situation which Ferrari has not only allowed to develop but indeed have furthered with incidents such as Germany 2010.

If and when they do give Massa the boot, I hope he moves to a decent midfield team with has a great second career, much like Kovalienen has done at Caterham.

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wasiF1 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Massa is a nice guy but he is no longer the same person from his injury in Hungary 2009,& no disrespect to him but I think if he don’t show any improvement in the next 3 races of so then I guess Ferrari can take the risk of replacing him with Perez or even Kobayashi.I guess they may do something after the mid season break.

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t3x said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Firstly Massa has to stop making excuses about the car, Alonso has shown everyone that you can achieve a top 10 with it, it is the same car after all, isn’t it? The more he complains the more he looks like a looser, he has to man up and admit his weakness.

If he doesn’t give Ferrari a point in the next 7 or 8 races than what’s the point in keeping him? you might as well give someone else a go who will not do worse anyway.

I believe Massa will strugle a lot this first half of the season and therefore will get the boot so that another driver can have the second half of the season to practice and integrate himself in the team.

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Girts said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I know it’s unlikely but I hope that Massa himself admits that it’s ‘fairytale gone bad’ and leaves Ferrari to join some midfield / backmarker team. Felipe desperately needs a change, just as Kovalainen did at the end of 2009. Frustration and bemusement are written on his face, just look at the latest pictures / videos of him. I don’t think he will be kicked out before the end of 2012 although that will also depend on how effectively Ferrari manage to ‘unlock’ their new car. If the results are continuously bad, they will probably want to blow some fresh air into the organisation ASAP. As for potential Massa’s replacement, I see Perez as the most likely candidate.

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sozavele said 1 year, 2 months ago:

If Massa does leave mid-season which is likely after recent performance, 3 years which have not been great I hope Perez gets the job, then Massa could go to Sauber as he knows the team and the race to his potential.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 1 year, 2 months ago:

@formula-1 – I think it would be a mistake for Perez to join Ferrari, unless they get the car sorted out. The Sauber C31 and the Ferrari F2012 have a lot in common in that they are both appear to be very sensitive to changes, and so rather difficult to drive, but for all we know, the issues that plague the cars are totally different. If Perez joins, it could really hurt his career. He’d have to think very carefully about it, because one false step could seriously damage his career. At the same time, Ferrari would likely offer him a contract to see the 2012 season out, which means Perez could become a free agent at the end of the year, and a definate person of interest to any team looking for a new driver.

And it’s worth bearing in mind that if Perez went to Ferrari, then Esteban Gutierrez would likely replace him. Sauber is sponsored by Claro, Telmex and Telcel, all of which are controlled by Carlos Slim through the America Movil parent company. Slim also sponsors Gutierrez through Telcel, so if an opening came up at Sauber, I think Slim would try and get Gutierrez placed there.

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Shimks said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Massa is mediocre and needs replacing but the available drivers on the market don’t exactly sparkle with the potential of greatness. Not that Alonso will want another #1 at the team – and I would think that Ferrari will also be sensitive to not upsetting the driver pecking order. Alonso, like Schumi, drives best when unhindered by his teammate. Saying that, Ferrari will want someone good enough to regularly bring in points. In reality, they probably don’t have to worry too much about the driver pecking order because Alonso is that good.

I think Perez is the only option for replacing Massa – currently – because he looks very good and also has he already has a link to Ferrari through their Driver Academy. I would have thought this means they can grab Perez when they want to? And if not, haven’t they got the money to get anything they want, regardless of Mexican sponsors at Sauber?

My hope is that Alonso’s friend, Kubica, has recovered so well that Ferrari are simply waiting until he’s ready to jump into Massa’s seat. And Keith predicted that Robert will be ready to race in F1 sometime this year. It would be simply amazing if Robert could make it back to F1 after those terrible injuries. But if he did, and he did get back to 100% fitness, I wonder how longer he and Alonso would remain friends… because Kubica, in terms of potential – no points, is (or at least was) also up with the F1 all-time greats, just like Alonso.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 1 year, 2 months ago:

@Shimks – I honestly don’t think Alonso would mind a competitive team-mate that much. He’s matured a lot since 2007, and I think a lot of the problem back then is that Alonso joined McLaren assuming that he was going to lead the team, and it was never fully explained to him that he was not going to be lead driver from the start. If Ferrari took a competitive driver to replace Massa, then I think Alonso would be fine with it so long as it was made very clear from the start as to what would happen; for example, Domenicali telling both drivers “We will let you race until the Italian Grand Prix (since it’s the final event before the second flyaway leg). Whoever is in front in the points will then receive the most support from the team until the end of the season”. If that was made explicit from the start, then I don’t think Alonso would mind. He’s confident enough and quick enough to be able to beat his team-mates without needing the team to intervene on his behalf. Except for when he is upset.

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Shimks said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I’m not so sure. Alonso is outstanding, no doubt, but he is a bit of a cry baby when he doesn’t get his own way. I don’t think he’s comfortable unless he’s the star of the team and he feels that unbalanced support. As soon as he loses that, he seems to lose a lot of his sparkle. The way he deteriorated at McLaren was incredible.

And I don’t see signs of him maturing. Look at the way he waved Petrov out of the way in Singapore in 2010. Look at the way he swiped his steering wheel away from the track officials on Saturday after banking his red Lego in the sand.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of his. He was magnificent at Benetton. And he does wonders with the Lego. He’s a true great. But he needs full, unequivocal support as a number one driver to perform at his peak. I really haven’t seen signs of that changing other than him making it clear that he’d be very happy to have Kubica as a teammate. Which is very interesting, all things considered. I think he just wants to help a good friend out after a bad, potentially career-ruining accident. So extra kudos to him, if that is the case.

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George said 1 year, 2 months ago:

They should have taken Barrichello back, he can develop and set up a car. He has proven pace, look at Brawn when he was with Button

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Tayyib said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I definitely think massa has to go. But it is tough to let him go, he is a good guy and ferrari do like him and they dont have a history of sacking drivers in season, it is also tough to find a gap there is time in the summer break. There is also time after Bahrain and Before Barcelona which could b elongated if we dont go to bahrain (i dont think we should) in addition is the in season before barcelona at mugello so there is time and space to get someone in. I think it would be harsh to let Felipe go so early let the car improve and if he can get closer to alonso. The last 3rd of the season would be a better time possibly if he doesn’t improve, but im not sure who would replace him. It could Sergio Perez, a great drive by Checco but I would not want him to be Fernando’s lackey for 4 years by that time his career could be ruined, personally i think Fernando’s contract is too long no one will want to go into the lions den and get eaten alive so im not sure anyone will want that 2nd seat, i wouldn’t. Ferrari are in a pickle with their car and their driver Felipe Massa.

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dpod said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I think that he needs to go regardless if the Ferrari F2012 is going to improve or not. Although Massa is not interfering with Alonso’s race or qualifying I do feel like he is a burden to him. If you have Massa constantly crying about the car he will no doubt want to influence the development of the Ferrari and all that will do is upset Alonso.

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Deleted User said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Ferrari will slip into oblivion unless they hire two of the best drivers they can get.

If i was LDM i’d keep Alonso, and offer Vettel and Adrian Newey and the Red Bull legal team as much as neccesary to join Ferrari with immediate effect. Failing this, i would secretly buy shares in Red Bull under a different name until i was a major shareholder on the RBR board, fire Newey, Vettel and everyone else decent on the technical team and then mysteriously Ferrari would offer them whatever price neccessary to join the team. Underhand but effective ;)

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