Hey, The little guy has been under some pressure this season, and herein has been called; - S-l-o-o-w - A hack - A disgrace to the team - Blah. Blah. Howls for his replacement have ranged from Seb (!) thru Heiki. Pretty much any rookie got a vote or two; - The Scotalian should replace him. Seems he's been dusted by Sooty recently. [Not many votes for Sooty though.] - Kobycrashy & Perez; Does anyone honestly believe either could out do Phil? - Heiki - Someone made some good arguments for him, but as subsequently noted, he was rather blown away in his previous stint. - Webber? An improvement? Not IMO. - JB? I could go with him. - Lewis? Do we want another train wreck at the Scuderia? - Nico? What's he really done so far? [Even the Old Man is getting close ] My 02c; As of right now, only Fred, Seb and JB are faster! Lewis can't make this list because he's a #2 right now, and this is for #1's only..... [Sorry Steve ] Neither JB nor Seb are going anywhere soon (understandably). Phil remains *loved* by the team. He's done a fabulous job over the years and I hope gets his mojo back next year. Cheers, Ian
Looks pretty unlikely to me. The other top teams have 2 drivers who score points. FM is 100 points behind FA and of no support in the race. If Ferrari keep FM they are conceding constructor's even if FA wins the driver's. That is madness
Am saying nothing Ian, not the best time to ask me to rate Massa, only why would Ferrari want to replace a train wreck with another...
If it wasn't for Timo Glock pulling over in the rain on the last lap of the last race of the season, we know who would have been World Champ in 2008 instead of Crash Hamilton.
I support him cause he missed death by milimeteres and came back to keep racing. Pretty safe to say FM is one of the fastest and most accomplished drivers in F1 by the stats, when you look at all drivers from 1991 to 2011 ... and not just compare him with the talent heavy last 30 races. He's also in a very small pool of drivers to have been made into LEGO, which I strongly believe means a lot of people that are 8yrs-12yrs now, will know who Massa was long into the distant future where people like 'Williams Driver 2' (JV reference) will be long forgotten. He will always have been a Ferrari pilot, and always have actually done and achieved already what his critics say he can't do. If I was running Scud.F1 this year, what to do next year would be a long debate - but it's by no means a short debate. I also think it's a reflection on the team and their approach. If they were not a primary/secondary car team, FM would be there with Eddie drinking another one to their last race of the season where they took the championship. Again I don't run Ferrari - so I am really no different to everyone else on the couch with their expert opinion. There needs to be an Urban Dictionary addition for Mark Webber syndrome. Obviously Mark didn't invent it, but his midi-chlorine count for this has got to be way past 9000. I estimate Massa to be at least 5000.
Yes it seems Massa can't forget that either.. Oh but then again he hasn't got cretin Mosley helping him either.
Im in! He wears red and showed the over rated, so called Iceman the door! Im no Alonso fan but respect his true talent and speed. Same with LH. Felipe is a racer no different than the rest. He has his own problems etc as they all do. Tough world they live in.
I support the guy. I love his passion and drive and think he's in a difficult situation. Even when in a position to put one in the win collumn, he was told to pull over. That has to be mentally tough on anyone. I would wager being forced to concede the win to FA has more to do with his current lack of pace than the near miss in 2008. Mark
I don't dislike Felipe, I dislike what he's become. Whether it's a result of the accident or an inability to get past his feelings that he got jobbed in '08 (hard to see that, imo, since Mosley was so prominent in keeping him close) he's become more of a hockey goon on the track than a racer. I was one of the people howling last year when Smedley made him move over at Hockenheim...at that point, I thought he was performing every bit as Alonso's equal. Since then, he's melted down and become more like Mark Webber than anything (note: I would rate Webber as his equal, btw). I want him to get past the thing with Hamilton. I think they both have had their say via driving (I think it all started in '08, when Hamilton ran Felipe off at the European GP and Felipe responded with running him off at turn 1 in Hungary) and now they both need to focus on doing what it takes to win races. Felipe seems still more focused on 'payback' for LH's arrogance and proving that he can beat Hamilton by holding him up or at least denying him a chance to compete for race podiums. Hopefully they both can gain perspective in the off-season and come back ready to burn the track up.
Word from Maranello is that LdM is furious over Massa breaking the suspension of the Ferrari twice in the same weekend. He wants him gone.
Source please. [Bild? Benoit? Oh dear. ] We already know LdM wasn't/isn't happy with his performance this year, but OTOH has committed to him for '12. As I've said before, the little guys had a crap season, but they all do if they're around long enough. Cheers, Ian
No, the Koelner Express. http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/automobil/war-rosberg-schon-in-maranello-4075543.html Laut 'Express' soll Ferrari-Präsident Luca di Montezemolo über den Ausfall des Brasilianers in Indien "getobt" haben. Massa war im Qualifying so hart über einen Randstein geräubert, dass die Radaufhängung kollabierte, und leistete sich den gleichen Schnitzer im Rennen noch einmal... Translation: According to Express LdM was extremely upset about the DNF of Massa in India. Massa drove so hard over the kerbs, that the suspension collapsed and he made the same mistake again in the race.
I like Massa but only supported him because he was driving for the Scuderia and his day's there are numbered.
Hmmmm...... Being "extremely upset" and "wanting him gone" are two very different things IMO. LdM has been "extremely upset" on many occasions - He *expects* his highly paid jockeys to finish 1-2 every race. The nature of the game - Being a Ferrari pilot pays well, but the pressure is always there. Even if the car is crap. Cheers, Ian
I always preferred Massa over Kimi. I give him one more year and then I will make a decision. Fred is so good at making a poor car perform that it masks the problems of the 150th Italia and hurts the way Massa is viewed. Who knows how the status quo will change once the turbo cars come around
I do, and still support Massa. But he needs to grow up. Last season and this season his performance have been below par. He needs to get his act together. Yes of course he escaped death and all, but when your driving for the scuderia, performance count. Not pity. Pity isn't going to win the scuderia wcc titles. I sincerely hope Massa raises his game next season, if not he'll definitely be replaced at 2013.
