Massa deserves to stay just with that overtake save. And unless Ferrari has a great replacement, just doesn't make sense to kick him out IMO. And as far as Alonso, don't forget he's overdue with a mechanical DNF. All other contenders have had at least one. He's one DNF away to basically be neck and neck with Vettel. BUT if Ferrari delivers and he does not have one, I also think he has the WDC basically in the bag. He deserves it more than anybody else IMO. Plus it'd be great for Ferrari as well.
Don't get me wrong. If Ferrari was to replace him with Perez right now, perfect. But I don't think it'd be good for Ferrari to replace him just for the sake of replacement, like the talk of getting Hulkenberg (or somebody else) for just a year. I personally don't think one of those guys would peform any better than Massa in their first year. That was my point. He definitely needs to go, but with the right replacement .
Indeed, but they've closed the gap dramatically, don't you think? All major teams have struggled with one track or another. McLaren seems to be the chassis to beat now. When it's going to get really interesting is with the new engine. That's when Ferrari wants a new #2 for sure.
Alonso has been carrying Clifford on his back all year. Making the car look better than it is and Phil worse than he is.
That might be true but building the fastest car is very difficult. Finding someone faster than Massa isn't at all. May as well make the layup before working on that 3 shot...
I'm more inclined to think Fern makes the car look as it should, and Massa makes it look like it has flat tires.
What they need more than anything is a replacement for Ross Brawn. They're still making bad race strategy decisions, and lack the ability to capitalize on events by changing their race strategy on the fly. Felipe may have done so well, this race, because his original pit wall race strategy was thrown out the window by his flat in lap 1. But I have noticed that Phil does some of his best overtaking outside of DRS and KERS environments, and part of the reason he didn't beat Hamilton, that year, was that he doesn't do as well when the car is bogged down with a heavy fuel load. (The team overloaded his car with more fuel than necessary during several street courses that year -- which made his stops longer than they should have been, and gave him a heavy car.) He also isn't one of the drivers who can preserve tires that are designed to go off. I think the rule changes are hurting him more than any effect of his accident. But then, he was Schumi's protege, and Schu isn't doing that well under these rules, either.
Even if Brawn offered to come back to Ferrari right now, I wouldn't want him to. The strategy calls at Mercedes are usually comical. Ferrari has made some strategy blunders this year but I think their pit work has been strong overall.
and part of the reason he didn't beat Hamilton, that year, was that he doesn't do as well when the car is bogged down with a heavy fuel load. (The team overloaded his car with more fuel than necessary during several street courses that year -- which made his stops longer than they should have been, and gave him a heavy car.) He also isn't one of the drivers who can preserve tires that are designed to go off. I think the rule changes are hurting him more than any effect of his accident. But then, he was Schumi's protege, and Schu isn't doing that well under these rules, either.[/QUOTE] That´s true, at Monaco they screwd him pretty badly. Massa would have easily been second if they hadn´t loaded him hoping for another safety car, that made him lose one place to Kubica.
As a (retired) businessman I want the best talent working for me that I can get. The sooner I can start training a replacement with more potential the sooner I will have acceptable performance from my team. Keeping a substandard performer sends a message to the team that performance is not the most important thing. Hurts performance in ways no one can imagine. I realize that Phil has a contract for this year. Keeping him for another year baffles me. Several drivers are better and would love to drive for SF. This is one of the reasons why F1 and SF have a rep for being too political. Over 100 posts and 3 years tells me Phil's time has come and gone. Time to move on. Does SF really want to win? If they don't really care why should the fans?
The fans care because 1 driver is not bigger than the team. The drivers come and go the team endures. The Massa issue is overblown compared to not winning a title for over 20 yrs as Ferrari endured in the past. FA's defense in the press prior to the race put the issue in perspective. All the 'little names' as he put it, while putting them down!! Priceless. Remember this was from FA. The 'hero'.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102663 Alonso labelled the drivers on that list as "little names" compared to Massa and his achievements in Formula 1. "I've been working with Felipe for three years now and we have a very good relationship," said Alonso on Thursday in Singapore. "If the team decides to change Felipe, anyone who arrives has to be better than Felipe. "I've seen a lot of names written, and I don't know if they have been written with the head or the heart. "With all the names you hear, if you compare what Felipe has done in Formula 1 and what these little names have done in Formula 1..."
Thank you sir as I did not know if it was the driver issue or an issue with the car, that is all I wanted to know. Please carry on.
Maybe I'm thinking of some other driver in some other race but didn't he have an unscheduled pit stop very early on?