ROSSI IN PLACE OF MASSA...THE PLOT THICKENS

I agree with you on this David. All the crap about Rossi in place of Massa is bs. Valentino, himself, has stated he's concentrating on another title this year.

Carol

 

You make it sound like Ferrari can do whatever they like with whoever they like in terms of drivers. Why would you think so?

Vettel was contracted with Red Bull - he wasn't available. It doesn't matter how much Ferrari would like him, he was spoken for. Same reason Alonso couldn't go to Ferrari, they had Kimi and Massa under contract. As for Schumi, why do you think he would have wanted to drive under Ferrari's conditions?

-The Ferraris have been pretty bad since Brawn left
-He would be at best an equal driver in the team
-Luca crapped on him before, why go back for seconds?

MS chose to drive for Mercedes because they have more to offer him than Ferrari... including $$$, a top-shelf car, #1 status, Ross Brawn, etc, etc.

 

Don't agree.

The whole third car thing was pie in the sky from the get-go. Luca knew it would never happen, IMO it was a PR move. If Ferrari wanted MS, all they had to do was fire Massa and give him the seat. They showed with Kimi that getting out of a contract isn't an issue if someone better comes along.

Brawn/MB simply offered MS the better deal. At MB, he is the #1 driver, in a team with Ross Brawn, in the current WDC winning team and car. Ferrari has been lackluster the last two or more years, so Brawn simply had the better offer.

As I said, MS is his own person, he isn't owned by Ferrari, and is free to do whatever he likes. So given his choice, he chose Brawn. Luca even said he was surprised that Schumi had elected to race at Brawn - all of that IMO points to what I say as being correct, MS was free to choose what he would do, and he chose Brawn... and we know Ferrari could have made room if they wanted to, but they didn't decide to do that.

 

Bottom line is that often drivers who suffer an injury come back and don't have the same speed as before. There are reams of data to support this. All we can say for Massa is that we'll wait and see.

If that were true, why would they ditch Badoer in favor of Fisi, and why not give Gene a shot at all? Ferrari want the fastest guy in the seat, and it ain't Fisi.

 

Now THAT is how I read it,Montezemolo Knew Muchael wanted to race at all costs, but had no car, as the THIRD car option dropped, Michael moved on...

and into a WAY faster car on paper so...he is at Merc.DAMN.

 

I think this dispells those rumors:
"Felipe Massa has put a dampener on reports that Valentino Rossi would be ready to make an immediate switch to formula one.

The reigning and multiple MotoGP champion tested for two days in a 2008 Ferrari last week in Barcelona, setting a best time quicker even than the fastest lap of the 2009 Spanish grand prix.

But team regular and 2008 title contender Massa, 28, put the performance into context a day later when he took a turn at the wheel of the car fitted with GP2 slicks.

It is rumoured the Brazilian's best lap was a 1.19.5, which is nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than Rossi's 1.21.9.



Source: GMM"

 

The big difference for Massa though is that he had no idea his accident was coming, he knew nothing at all about it. When you look at the accidents of Lauda, Villeneuve, Schumacher and Hakkinen, they weren't unconscious before the accident, they saw it coming. This would have a much bigger psychological impact on a driver and his speed in My opinion, and yet they all came back as fast as ever (with the obvious exception of Villeneuves final accident). The fact that Massa knows he did nothing wrong and that the accident was not the fault of his car, combined with the freak occurance of what did happen, all go towards him being very little affected by it as far as I can see.

Because Gene (like Badoer) had no recent F1 race experience behind him whereas Fisi had just had a pole position and a second place at Spa, a circuit noted as being a drivers circuit. He had proved a capable driver throughout 2009, getting the Force India car up to the mid pack in races, despite not being the best car on track.

Really?, ever heard of a guy called Filipe Massa?. He was rated as a complete joke when he was at Sauber, a danger to other drivers (Martin Brundles opinion, not Mine), who was using opposite lock whilst driving down the straights. He seems to have gone from crap to good as far as I can see.

We're not talking about Piquet Jnr though are we?. You're saying Fisichella's a rubbish driver and I've provided evidence that given enough time in a car and with a team he's more used to, he's capable of getting pole position and (almost) winning a race in a car not rated that highly. There wasn't just two cars on track that day, he really had to race 19 other drivers to get that result.

 

That's interesting as the official Ferrari website states that Massa did 400Km on demonstration tyres, not the same GP2 tyres that Rossi was using: http://www.ferrari.com/English/News/Pages/100122_F1_Special_training.aspx

 

Carol, Rossi isn't there for Massa, he's there for Alonso. In case Massa comes back even faster than he was. We all remember what happened the last time Alonso had a fast teammate...

 

That's a good point.....

 

Which is to say that this whole thread is BS.

 

As someone said earlier, he is just being rewarded for winning his bike championship and that all. I guess some in here have to post something when it gets borring. Yawn

 

Because they made him a promise!. They've also said they're quite happy to offer Casey Stoner a go in one of their cars if he wants to try one, does that mean that it'll be Rossi and Stoner at Ferrari next year?, I don't think so somehow!.

 

The promise was that if he won the MotoGP world Championship, they would let him test one of their cars again and Rossi has been badgering them ever since winning it to make sure they kept their promise. There was no mention of a race seat for 2010 or any other season as far as I'm aware.

I'm not discounting any possibility, but some on here have read far too much into this test and have replaced Massa with Rossi already in their minds.
Like I've said, when asked about Casey Stoner, Ferrari have said that they quite happy to offer him a test if he wants one, does that automatically mean that he's going to race for Ferrari in F1?.

 

A reports in a Spanish website just said Massa was 2.5 seconds faster than Rossi. 1,19.500 to Rossi's 1'21.900. End of thread...

http://www.f1aldia.com/7124/massa-fue-25-segundos-mas-rapido-que-rossi.html

 

Sorry, yes we've been at cross wires on the promise, I was referring to Rossi not Massa. Here's where the Autosport were reporting Ferrari's promise to Rossi: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80921. As I read it, it was merely another reward for a great achievement (that's not to discount a possible ulterior motive on Ferrari's part though ).

As I say, I wouldn't totally discount anything, especially if a third car is allowed in the future, but for the time being, I can't see Ferrari replacing Massa with Rossi in the immediate future like some seem to think.

 

As I've said already though, Rossi was on GP2 tyres and Massa was on demonstration tyres so the comparison may not be as straight forward as it would first appear.

 

Of course, still it would be silly to think that they would swap out Massa for Rossi but they are probably just keeping their options open in case they had to or in case Felipe didn't feel he was ready. All other things being equal, Massa is the better driver. Rossi hasn't done more than a few tests.

 

Can't see what the fuss is all about, Alonso will make mince meat out his team mate whoever it is, if not ......There may be trouble ahead, But while there's Massa and Schmacker and Hammy and smiling Vettel, Let's face the facts and race..

 

Very true.

I can't wait.

 

+1

 

Putting words in my mouth? I'll remember that next time we meet on the track. Like in March...



If Massa really means that much to you, I should give you the signed card I have from him.