Massa Who?

[ECW Dan Selby]

True, but the good thing about someone like Perez is they can always give him a totally different (longer) strategy than Alonso.

He's the type of guy that can make it work.

Selby

[bella]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Yeah I'm sure he'll be a serious championship contender. I was watching the live timing for the second race, but all my attention was on Ritchie Stanaway... who was going pretty good considering the engine problems they were having. Korjus did out-qualify Bianchi, his teammate, in both quali sessions, and was faster in 2nd practise, but Korjus is in his 2nd season with Tech 1.

if you're gonna play the engine card then remember bianchi had a misfire at the end of race 1 (that effectively robbed him of that win) and the clutch caused him to stall in race 2 in the same way it did stanaway in race 1. they do need to consider the clutch seriously, purely for safety reasons you can't have up to 3 or 4 cars stuck on the grid every race. but stanaway could be something very good - as long as he brings it to sorensen. based purely on motorland, sorensen's the quicker and better prospect. korjus did nothing wrong, but... if you do nothing wrong you have nothing to bounce back from and impress those following the race

/off topic

ps. if you watch the races talk about it in the fr3.5 threads in the niss forum! especially if you've been watching your local guys like stanaway a while. monaco's going to shake it up a bit...

Originally Posted by chunterer

The thing that bugs me about Jules is he really should've put away the GP2 field last year which wasn't particularly strong. He did a couple of great races but didn't shine overall. There's plenty of time yet for him I guess but depends on whether Todt can get him the right drive at the right time. I doubt Ferrari is either of those things at present.

i think the fact they've adjusted his racing schedule so he doesn't have to go to two sets of meetings and be bothered about two teams in the same weekend shows they know they got that wrong last year. would they demand the same of an engineer? then it's kind of harsh expecting it of a driver imo.

[b1ackcr0w]

If things continue as they are, I could see Maldonado going there. Scuderia need another driver, Williams need the money and have good options on younger drivers.

[ECW Dan Selby]

That's a bit of a long shot, though..

Selby

[pauln]

Originally Posted by Greem

Would Sergio want to go to Ferrari in the knowledge that he would not be the No. 1 driver? As long as Alonso is there, and monstering the car in the way that he is at the moment (which Massa clearly isn't capable of doing), Alonso will be top dog. Anyone else will get crumbs off his table.

Very true. But Massa went there in similar circumstances when Schumacher was doing the monstering. He did so in the knowledge that if he proved he could cut it, he'd be the natural successor. The main reason that hasn't worked out (in my view) is his accident.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by pauln

Very true. But Massa went there in similar circumstances when Schumacher was doing the monstering. He did so in the knowledge that if he proved he could cut it, he'd be the natural successor. The main reason that hasn't worked out (in my view) is his accident.

I think I have to agree with this...

[stripedcat]

Could Kubica make a comeback at Ferrari(assuming Massa's days are numbered - which at the moment it does look likely)? Otherwise it looks like he won't get back into F1.

[Pingguest]

Personally I do not think Kubica will come back to Formula 1 ever.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Pingguest

Personally I do not think Kubica will come back to Formula 1 ever.

It would be a shame, but i agree.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Pingguest

Personally I do not think Kubica will come back to Formula 1 ever.

Yes, I'm afraid he might never race in that level again.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Yes, I'm afraid he might never race in that level again.

Bob's gone, little doubt about that unfortunately, imagine him in that Enstone contraption this year, god, he would fly!!!!!!

Agreed re Massa, something has gone missiing in his armoury, I think he's 'done a Capelli' to be honest, the confidence and natural flair has left him.

The Scuderia can do that to a driver.

[p-matt]

I think it's much less to do with Hungary '09 and much more to do with Hockenheim '10, and the fact that the team is so obviously orientated around Fernando.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I think it's much less to do with Hungary '09 and much more to do with Hockenheim '10, and the fact that the team is so obviously orientated around Fernando.

That must be the main contributor to his lack of apparent form, the Alonso numero uno factor.

I'm still not convinced about the injury effect, after all who was the driver who ran Alonso close for the first few races of 2010 and what's happened to him since?

[Bononi]

Gone down the road... to nowhere.

[Razzzor]

Yeah i'm not sure about the injury either. It was a freak accident, he probably doesn't even remember anything about it. How is that really going to effect his driving ability, unless his vision is impaired?

I can understand if it was something big like Lauda's burns you might never want to drive at 11/10ths again, or an arm or leg injury effecting your physical ability, but Massa's was too much of a freak occurrence to have effected him mentally, imo.

It could just be the car not suiting him at all and built around Alonso. He clearly can't make the tyres last like Alonso can. Mix that with a lack of motivation/mojo because Ferrari constantly completely ignore him in races and put him on stupid strategies...

[OZ_HCR32]

Do people really think Ferrari will replace Massa mid season? Think back to 2009 and the They will have learnt that lesson with Badoer/ Fisi in 2009. Massa isnt matching the performance of Alonso but given the difficulty everyone is having with tyres. The problems Ferrari having with the engineering side of things...the last thing they will want to do is throw in an unknown quantity into the mix who will do no better all things considered.

The only benefit is if they chose to wear the pain in 2012 to blood someone who may be able to match-better some of Massa's performances with a view of them blossoming in their first full season with the team. So unless the option is a long term deal, I cant see them throwing someone in the car for just this season.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Sorry, I don't buy this argument of 'it's the mechanical side of things'. Why can one driver handle it and the other not? (rhetorical)

The driver needs replacing. He's had more than enough chance to redeem himself, and it's clear that he will not. Give someone else a chance.

You can't just reference 'that time Ferrari replaced their driver mid-season' and automatically decide this time will be a failure, too.

They put Luca Badoer in the car, for crying out loud

Someone made a great suggestion on another site - Heikki Kovalainen. What a great idea.

If anyone saw the interview before the race he gave on BBC, you'll know that Heikki's looking elsewhere. It's ALMOST a shame as I thought he was sticking with Lotus/Caterham for the long term, but in fairness, they havn't made the progress they probably should have made, so I can't blame him.

He's a much improved driver, great head on his shoulders, seems like a popular/easy-going fella around the paddock. But he'll bring the car home, push it, while probably not knocking Alonso off the pedastool.

Selby

[steve_r]

Yep, I agree there are plenty of driver options currently on the grid if Ferrari are prepared to put their hands in their pocket. Perez, Kovalainen, De Resta - any of them would surely do a good job. Massa could even go the other way as part of the deal.

Ferrari don't need to panic and dig out an over-the-hill Badoer-type replacement.

[VIVA GT]

I see that Sniff Petrol have added thier thoughts to the Massa matter...
(You'll have to scroll down the page to find it).
http://sniffpetrol.com/

[Javi]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Yep, I agree there are plenty of driver options currently on the grid if Ferrari are prepared to put their hands in their pocket. Perez, Kovalainen, De Resta - any of them would surely do a good job. Massa could even go the other way as part of the deal.

Ferrari don't need to panic and dig out an over-the-hill Badoer-type replacement.

2009 was a strange year, because it was the first for the new regulations, wings, KERS... and that F60 Ferrari was difficult to tame. Badoer was a driver past his time, and was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but in 15 days Fisichella went from nearly beating Raikkonen´s Ferrari at Spa to qualify 14 in Italy. And Fisichella is quite a decent driver.

Massa is not doing by any means a good job (he seems menthally destroyed), and if he does not improve he must be replaced, but we should not take for granted that the replacement is going to inmediately challenge for points or matching Alonso´s times. If the Ferrari looks anything similar to, for example, Schuey´s Benettons 194 or 195, it´s understandable that can suit one driver of great calibre while making the other look much worse than he really is...
If I was Perez I´ll stay in Sauber this year, he´s got everything to lose at Ferrari with no testing, difficult car and Alonso as team mate...

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I see that Sniff Petrol have added thier thoughts to the Massa matter...
(You'll have to scroll down the page to find it).
http://sniffpetrol.com/

So cruel but so funny.

I prefered the McLaren tour advert

Selby

[ECW Dan Selby]

But my point is this has been going on since Germany 2010. How much longer do you 'give the guy a chance' for?

And another thing, yes, Badoer, he was from another era. Wrong place, wrong time etc. But, it was meant to be a thank you to him, so good for him. I'm sure he enjoyed himself, in a way!

Fisi didn't have too many races to properly prove himself, but it still wasn't exactly a great outing.

And even if they do have a crap first few races out of the points, it's no different to what's happening with Felipe right now. (and I like the chap, I really do)

The difference here is that they have a long time to acclimatise to the car. Ok, first few races might be a bit of a write-off, but after that, we could begin to see how they genuinely fare against the mighty Nando.

Selby

[bella]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Yeah i'm not sure about the injury either. It was a freak accident, he probably doesn't even remember anything about it. How is that really going to effect his driving ability, unless his vision is impaired?

when drivers are operating at a very high level of brain activity (or very low level, i think it depends who you are and how you drive), the tiniest imbalance can make a big difference. so it could be a teeny tiny damaged bit of brain, or a slight change in his vision. or even a thought right deep down at the back of his mind that is triggered by sight. he also became a father not long after the accident and depending on exactly what type of a person he is and how his brain works that could be right in the back of his mind affecting his analysis of risk and potential outcomes. that could compound the tiny change in his mind since the accident.

to put that into context and simplify it, maldonado is the pure take action, no concequences driver. he doesn't even react to subtle visual stimuli (how he's so effective at monaco - he knows where the apex is and hits it every time, regardless of visually there being a barrier in the way before it becomes visible, for example). you and me would be at the opposite end of the scale in our first laps in a f1 car - we would react to *everything*, visual, noise and touch, as well as subconscious triggers. on the sliding scale felipe perhaps is edging closer to us than maldonado, whereas in 2008 he would have been closer to pastor's extreme.

as far as felipe is concerned, he probably feels he's doing nothing differently to before. he's right, he isn't, but the tiny changes in his mind are changing the way he's reacting to things.

(sources: my understanding of driving, psychology, meditation, basic sports psychology and how it fits into f1, and another drivers analysis of maldonado at monaco)

[ECW Dan Selby]

Yeh I was about to try and attempt to give a similar analysis, bella, so thanks for that

You can't just say 'oh he's medically cleared so he must be fine'. So, so, so much more than that. It can be a millisecond of reactions might have gone, a snippet of confidence.

And given how close F1 is these days, that can be the difference between Q2 and Q3..

Selby

[bella]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

You can't just say 'oh he's medically cleared so he must be fine'. So, so, so much more than that. It can be a millisecond of reactions might have gone, a snippet of confidence.

exactly, the reactions that drive racing drivers (so to speak) are on such a deep level that it can be a really little change to their confidence or risk analysis. effectively it changes your instincts.

i think of it like the time i managed to bin it on a roundabout. i only spun, but it took me a long time to regain the feel to even start to rebuild my confidence on roundabouts. it's not just saying "i can do it, i was just unlucky", you have to go right back to the beginning where the fear of doing it again starts and patch it back up from there.