The future of Ferrari's #2?

f1freak · Post by **f1freak** » 15 May 2012, 12:19

With another disappointing result for Felipe Massa, Ferrari is getting impatient with him by each day passing by. They have already urged Massa to raise his performance starting from Monaco. And by the way he is driving it seems Monaco is going to be another nightmare for the Brazilian. With Alonso sharing the championship lead with Vettel @ 61 points, Massa is right @ the bottom of the table with 2 points.

With Ferrari losing ground to Lotus-Renault in the Constructors because of no contribution from Massa the question is how quickly they are going to axe him & replace him with another driver. Ferrari is also understood to be evaluating Force India duo Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg as well as Lotus test driver Jerome d'Ambrosio. With Ex-Force India driver Adrian Sutil visiting the Paddock during the Spanish GP & his manager sneaking into the Ferrari Motorhome the big question is who will be Ferrari's next number 2 who can perform on the track and bring important points to the teams & at the same time support Alonso.

So come on guys & join the dicussion. Let's see what the majority of the comminuty thinks of it.

donald29 · Post by **donald29** » 15 May 2012, 12:24

donald29 wrote:The talk of mid-season replacements, I still think it's best for Ferrari to grin and bear it as there is zero guarantee a replacement with no testing and no experience of the car will do any better.

I don't want to suggest Massa gets hung out to dry, as he's such a nice guy and and has been so successful in the past but it could be more embarrassing for Ferrari if another driver comes in and struggles as well.

f1freak · Post by **f1freak** » 15 May 2012, 12:41

donald29 wrote:
donald29 wrote:The talk of mid-season replacements, I still think it's best for Ferrari to grin and bear it as there is zero guarantee a replacement with no testing and no experience of the car will do any better.
I don't want to suggest Massa gets hung out to dry, as he's such a nice guy and and has been so successful in the past but it could be more embarrassing for Ferrari if another driver comes in and struggles as well.

I agree. As they did a Major mistake trying Luca Badoer during the 2009 season. He made a fool out of himself & bought lot of embarrassment to Ferrari. But taking a driver from the current season should not harm them as it did in 2009. But the point is who will jump seats in season & that too when Ferrari will not be committed to the driver on a long term.

It would be better they start giving the young drivers an opportunity from the Ferrari Young Drivers Program. In this way they can save money by not participating in the Young Drivers assessment at Silverstone or Abudhabi

Mar · Post by **Mar** » 15 May 2012, 13:04

Teams tends to remember just what happened last time and that, sometimes, determine their decisions.

In Ferrari's case, it's not just what happened with Badoer, but what happened with Fisichella: the guy went from almost winning in Spa to be nowhere to Räikkönen for the rest of the season in the other Ferrari (while Ferrari was, I never understood why, expecting Fisichella to arrive and trash Kimi). When those things happen, teams tend to think twice or three times before changing a driver in the middle of a season.

Nevertheless, there is something pretty interesting with these new Massa rumours: they've appeared at the same time in the German and British media. Motorsport-total wrote about it yesterday, before Autosport. Moreover, both media give the same names as possible replacements. I doubt very much Autosport uses Motorsport-total as their news source, what make me think there are really important voices in the paddock telling Massa's head is in real danger.

Let's see what happens.

iceman1 · Post by **iceman1** » 15 May 2012, 16:11

Mar wrote: Nevertheless, there is something pretty interesting with these new Massa rumours: they've appeared at the same time in the German and British media. Motorsport-total wrote about it yesterday, before Autosport. Moreover, both media give the same names as possible replacements. I doubt very much Autosport uses Motorsport-total as their news source, what make me think there are really important voices in the paddock telling Massa's head is in real danger.

Maybe Ferrari leaked this information to the press, while they say on their site they support Massa to do better for next race

According to Autosport there are 3 candidates: Hulkenberg / Di Resta and D'Ambrosio.

shailf1 · Post by **shailf1** » 15 May 2012, 17:39

I hope for Massa's sake he leaves Ferrari and joins another team. I cant see him ever getting back to form specially in Ferrari with Alonso as his team mate. He needs a fresh start.

donald29 · Post by **donald29** » 15 May 2012, 18:05

Competition for drives is so high and money such a factor it's sadly hard to see where else on the F1 grid Massa would go.

Omegablue · Post by **Omegablue** » 15 May 2012, 20:43

Perez remains the likely candidate for next season, but as he can't be released by his sponsors' indorsed contract to Sauber, Ferrari are left with a problem for the rest of this season.

However all this might change as soon Fiat might land a mega deal in Mexico...

If not, then Di Resta or Hulkenberg are likely drivers for this year.

mikhailv · Post by **mikhailv** » 15 May 2012, 22:18

To be honest, id like Sutil in the rest of the year.

To partner fernando? Id say someone like Perez. Di Resta dont deserve anything, he has yet to show any form of potential. Its got to be Perez, and replacing perez at Sauber would be Bianchi (he is the young driver right?)

Omegablue · Post by **Omegablue** » 15 May 2012, 22:36

mikhailv wrote:To be honest, id like Sutil in the rest of the year.

To partner fernando? Id say someone like Perez. Di Resta dont deserve anything, he has yet to show any form of potential. Its got to be Perez, and replacing perez at Sauber would be Bianchi (he is the young driver right?)

I'm not convinced of Sutil. My personal favorite for Ferrari remains Kobayashi. Although I'm also taking a liking to Grosjean. But yeah, Perez will have to be the understudying of Alonso.

Perhaps all the managers of the Force India drivers, are publically trying to get that unstable second seat at Ferrari, and just haven't accepted it's already got Perez's name on it.

Post by **tderias** » 15 May 2012, 23:04

I don't mind Sutil or Perez, but I agree with Mikhail, Paul Di Resta has only proved he is an average driver, capable of beating his teammate... nothing more, nothing special.

Omegablue · Post by **Omegablue** » 15 May 2012, 23:11

tderias wrote:I don't mind Sutil or Perez, but I agree with Mikhail, Paul Di Resta has only proved he is an average driver, capable of beating his teammate... nothing more, nothing special.

What can he do with the Force India machine? Last year and already this year he's consistently in the points. Has had some impressive top six finishes, but he isn't driving a Red Bull.

Take away Malaysia and what has Perez done? Eventhough I do rate Perez superior to Di Resta, I'm just saying it's not kind to highlight a driver in a midfield car just by one good race.

Post by **tderias** » 15 May 2012, 23:45

Well thats the thing though... if he hasn't proved anything yet, then why shall Ferrari hire him and not anyone else? Last year it was a total farce that Sutil got the boot when he had more points than Paul. You know what I think of Paul? The young Mark Webber. Nothing too special, just drives around to the limits of the car, you never feel his presence in the race and rarely does anything out of the ordinary, like overtakes and such.

Ali · Post by **Ali** » 16 May 2012, 08:27

Although it would be very difficult to sack one driver in the middle of the season, I believe Ferrari and Massa needs an air change. That relationship is not working at the moment. Candidates?

Alguersuari - No (but have experience and in the groove)
Buemi - No
Fisichella - Err
Kubica - Fairy tale
Liuzzi - Pass
Chanhok - Next?
Bianchi - Too early
Villeneuve - Too late

So I say Alguersuari for the remainder of the season.

Post by **phil1993** » 16 May 2012, 08:35

The problem is that which sane driver - who knows that Sergio Perez or Jules Bianchi is the future of the team - would go up against Fernando Alonso in a terrible car?

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