Replacing Massa

[JHS18 0]

On a sort of related note of who might be where next year - I'd love for Felipe Nasr to get a ride. But I suspect he'll probably elect to do a second season of GP2 and win the title, which he probably won't in his rookie season.

[Gilles V. 0]

Thank you for the nice welcome Massa (are you a relative of Phillipe? )

[Gilles V. 0]

Sad to finish one's carreer in such fashion, but Massa has to go now. His performance is so poor that I would not be surprised if he left the team by himself. Alonso fights in front with no help whatsoever from his team mate against two cars of rival teams.

If Ferrari is serious about winning this year, Massa will be gone for the next race.

[Massa 0]

I agree, his time has come at Ferrari. I hope his time hasn't passed him by in F1, though. I think he could score more than two points at a team that isn't Ferrari. The car just seems to be the furthest from him it's ever been; each year with Alonso, it's gotten more and more foreign to what Massa prefers, and that's obviously normal and fine and justified. The real problem with the F2012 is that it wasn't designed around Alonso, it was designed around no one, and only Alonso's really figured it out (and it will obviously evolve around him, as it should, he's earned it). So I do think that he could actually do better with another team/car if another team would take him on. I know Massa didn't want to take a pay cut, and that's one thing I will always hold against him because quite frankly everyone was taking pay cuts, so maybe he'll just retire since most of the teams below Ferrari, you pay them. And I certainly don't want to see him go to IndyCar...you can usually get past one head injury, but multiple ones, that's it, and the chances of a head injury are unfortunately higher running, say, a 500-mile race in the 210-range than running a 190-mile race at variable speeds surrounded by run-off room.

SparkNotes: I'll miss the guy but it's time. I just don't know it is time for. Jacques Villeneuve or Vitantonio Liuzzi. Both would intrigue me. The others would not. I'm sure Peter Sauber will tell them to get Nick Heidfeld and they will.

[Massa 0]

Massa's saying the penalty wasn't his fault.

It never is, sunshine.

Why don't you sack up and take something like a man? Let it bounce off like a spring from your head, kiddo, and carry on to the next race. Time to dig deep, little guy. You know how to be classy. You lost well in 2008, you thought of the guys on the other crews and gave them some uniforms. You went from being in position to score 0 points to being in position to score 0 points. Get over it and quit looking back at the season because right now you have to get into Q3. This guy has no mental game anymore. None. He's disappointed in himself in one article, he's taking the blame off himself in another. Where's your head, buddy? It's time to go.

[Rainmaster 7]

He can recover mentally in another team imo (which is to me the biggest of his problems), but I wonder if any would bother taking the risk.

[JHS18 0]

Saw this. Made me laugh.

[Massa 0]

Finding a team that:

1) Wants him.

2) Can afford him.

3) He wants to race for.

It's going to be impossible, I think. I'd feel bad for him because I've supported him since 2006, and he's been nice enough after Barcelona, saying he's pleased with what the team has done and he's happy for Fernando. But I don't like having to see Ferrari come out and say "Massa wants to improve more than anyone" and then Massa never say anything like that himself publicly. I'd have so much more respect, and so much more confidence in him improving, if he'd come out and say "I'm not getting the results my team deserves, penalties or no penalties, I'm burrying myself in qualifying and I'm making too many mistakes in the races." Just own up to it. Don't make your team cover your *** for you because there are no excuses. Good kid, hit his peak, no replacement could be worse. Not even Badoer.

[Rainmaster 7]

Indeed.

@JHS: can't beat Sniff Petrol!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Massa's saying the penalty wasn't his fault.

It never is, sunshine.

Why don't you sack up and take something like a man? Let it bounce off like a spring from your head, kiddo, and carry on to the next race. Time to dig deep, little guy. You know how to be classy. You lost well in 2008, you thought of the guys on the other crews and gave them some uniforms. You went from being in position to score 0 points to being in position to score 0 points. Get over it and quit looking back at the season because right now you have to get into Q3. This guy has no mental game anymore. None. He's disappointed in himself in one article, he's taking the blame off himself in another. Where's your head, buddy? It's time to go.

He really dissappointed you did'nt he...

[JHS18 0]

He really dissappointed you did'nt he...

Not much else you can talk about when you're a Massa fan. j/k

[Massa 0]

He really dissappointed you did'nt he...

The more I like a driver, the harsher I'll criticize him/her.

[Gilles V. 0]

SparkNotes: I'll miss the guy but it's time. I just don't know it is time for. Jacques Villeneuve or Vitantonio Liuzzi. Both would intrigue me. The others would not. I'm sure Peter Sauber will tell them to get Nick Heidfeld and they will.

Well, if they go think of Heidfleild, they might as well go with Jacques Villeneuve, who kicked NH behind in his own car after just a half a season. Thiesen go rid of JV eventhough he was beating NH in a regular basis. He should have tought about the team's interest before him own (he did not like Jacques). Bad leader who ended badly, a little bit like Richard at BAR.

[Quiet One 15]

Well, if they go think of Heidfleild, they might as well go with Jacques Villeneuve, who kicked NH behind in his own car after just a half a season. Thiesen go rid of JV eventhough he was beating NH in a regular basis. He should have tought about the team's interest before him own (he did not like Jacques). Bad leader who ended badly, a little bit like Richard at BAR.

Even given JV some credit, the guy has no actual, interesting credential to provide to F1. No experiene in the current cars, not a remarkable career after his William Renault days, no outstanding skills to offset his strangeness to the new F1 world, no sponsorship backing...you might as well bring back Bernoldi, Tarso Marques, Montoya, Kubica or my Aunt. Will he be better than Massa? Of course. I would be at least as good as Massa, now. Might even improve if I get hit on the head. Could he be a success? Sure, why not. But would be a mere hit or miss.

I'd rather put Petrov anyday if going on a limb.

[Massa 0]

There's "exciting news for American F1 fans" coming tomorrow at 4 AM Eastern time. I can only assume this means Kyle Busch has finally gotten the call and Massa's gone.

[Massa 0]

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.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99622

You can't tell me Villeneuve is a less interesting choice than Jérôme d'Ambrosio. I can't see Paul di Resta doing it; if Sergio Pérez is their long-term future, what's the point of leaving the security of having Mercedes ready to place you elsewhere next year? Nico Hülkenberg, too, is too young to be saying "yeah, I'll bumble around in a car I've never driven for the rest of 2012 and either be replaced by Pérez for 2013 or 2014." d'Ambrosio has no job prospects at all so he'd actually do it. How underwhelming that would be.

It will never be Villeneuve, of course, so there's no point in debating it but like I said, only he and Vitantonio Liuzzi would be interesting choices to me. Everyone else will be boring.

[Rainmaster 7]

Alguersaurus.

[Quiet One 15]

Alguersaurus.

That's so obvious a choice that the fact that he isn't being automatically linked in first place shows that somebody was not so keen at Ferrari. And my guess is Alonso. Don't ask me why. Just a feeling.

[JHS18 0]

The only driver out of that list that vaguely excites me is Perez.

The others, Hulkenberg, Di Resta...d'Ambrosio...they're either overhyped (Hulkenberg), bland (di Resta) or somewhere in between (d'Ambrosio).

Why on earth you'd choose any of those over and above someone from your own driver academy...

I know it is basically for the remainder of this year and not next, but I hope they don't do anything rash. It is pretty likely either Hulkenberg or di Resta will be with Mercedes sooner than later, so they're not really free. d'Ambrosio is free now but...probably wouldn't get anything more out of the car than Massa would on the basis of his inexperience. Alguersuari? Same as d'Ambrosio really. Still not really sold on the idea of someone jumping into an unfamiliar car, particularly someone who hasn't even got a race seat this year. They'd just be causing more problems than they'd solve.

It is going to be a long season with Massa at this rate, but I still think they should just see it through to the end of this year, then start a fresh with someone they really want over someone who is available now for 2013.

[Massa 0]

Bruno Senna had Santander on his hat in Barcelona. Clearly he has the seat locked up, and that's why the Valtteri Bottas negotiations are going on now.

Jim Alguersuari wouldn't be a bad choice, but what Andrés has said makes a lot of sense. The name never came up and there has to be a reason for that.

Sergio Pérez is still young and needs time to develop. Ferrari have never rushed a young driver up and they aren't going to do it now. Felipe Massa spent four seasons before he got to replace Barrichello. Pérez is better now than Massa was in his second year, but it doesn't matter. Ferrari believe in giving it time and that's just a better way to go. He's not losing out at Sauber, and let's be honest, Pérez may be in their "academy," but he wasn't discovered by them. They signed him after Peter Sauber signed him to a race seat. He's not some kid they have a decade invested in; they obviously have more they want to do with him before they give him a Ferrari seat and I don't see any harm in that. He's really, really young and he'll only be even better when he takes over.

Any of the choices to do a mid-season swap are going to be underwhelming because, well, you have to be to be a candidate to do a mid-season swap and only be agreeing to have a ride until the end of the year. They just need a pair of steady hands who can get the car in points-scoring range. Sometimes, it's an advantage to have not run at all this year. If you're so used to one car, and the Ferrari is a big departure from that, it's probably harder (why I wouldn't move Pérez, for example) than for someone who hasn't been adapting to a car this year (see Nick Heidfeld joining Sauber in 2010 and scoring points twice). Then it's just like changing teams after/before a season.

Who is the Pirelli test driver now, by the way?

[Rainmaster 7]

I don't know if there has to be a reason for Algetc's name never coming up when discussing candidates. What I mean is, I hardly think the press have much of an inside line to Ferrari to speculate on this any better than we do. For example, Perez is only bought up because of the Ferrari Academy connection, but otherwise makes little sense. Di Resta? Only because Jackie Stewart said so last week (I wonder why). So no, his name not coming up is about as meaningful as plenty of other drivers which do come up; none of this is coming from Ferrari other than the acceptance that Massa sucks and cannot continue sucking.

The advantage Algetc has is that he can extricate himself from his current job relatively easily, I'd expect, and he has nothing to lose. From his perspective it would be a fantastic opportunity. The other candidates cannot say as much, for example Perez might ruin his career. Ditto Di Resta, with the added problem of "why the hell would he want to do that anyway" and the Mercedes connection. Barrichello? JV? Forget it. From Ferrari's perspective there are no outstanding options whatsoever, and certainly none that seem viable to sign now but remain long term (2013-14). That's their biggest issue and Massa's security.

[Massa 0]

Thanks for the insight, George, as to where the di Resta name came from. It seemed really stupid and sure enough it was.

[JHS18 0]

Who is the Pirelli test driver now, by the way?

Alguersuari.

Personally, I view an in-season with change with a mixture of caution because of what happened in 2009. You know, Massa was injured, Michael was supposed to take his seat but couldn't because of his "neck injury", then they had Badoer who could barely make it out of Q1, then they had Fisichella who was better, but predictably struggled to change from a car he had been driving (Force India) to a car that obviously wasn't ideal.

It was a real messy situation.

Let's be honest, there's no way baring a miracle that Ferrari will win the WCC this year. Alonso is their main man and if it continues like this, should have a shot of the championship. The WCC, with Massa performing as he is, and with other teams (Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus, Sauber, even Mercedes when they get it together) scoring pretty consistently so far is done. The longer they keep Massa the further they'll fall behind. I don't think if they got anyone to replace Massa would really mean they'd suddenly start seeing both cars on the podium regularly again, because:

A. The car is clearly a handful.

B. Alonso is driving the wheels of it.

C. Unfamiliar car, unfamiliar team.

The WCC is the main price that the teams really want, but I think Ferrari will realise soon enough it isn't possible this year. As much as it is harsh on Massa, they should just bide their time, help Alonso as much as they can and then start again in 2013 with someone new that they want, whether that's Webber, Perez, whoever...

[Massa 0]

It's a morale thing, even if you don't think it's a performance thing.

The team works hard, and obviously I think they have real management issues but without getting into that, I'll say this. The managers give them Massa to work with. Massa makes their hard work entirely pointless.

By replacing Massa, the team is making two statements:

1) We don't tolerate poor performance, even if we really like you.

2) You guys are doing your job, we're trying to get a driver to do his.

Don't underestimate the impact shuffling staff can have on everyone else in the team. If the team feels as though "hey, the bosses are seeing the problems and making changes," they'll feel better about doing their best. When you know the driver is just phoning it in, you get frustrated, and frustrated people don't work very well. Either that, or it's a collective kick in the a## to everyone; if they'll take out the driver, someone who is hard to replace and in the public eye, they'll take out anyone who isn't doing it the right way.

It really does make a difference for the people working in the team. Even if the driver isn't an upgrade, you might get the team extra motivated, and everyone feeling better, and that could even trickle over to Alonso's side. I don't work there, obviously, I don't know how the team is feeling or what they're doing but I know big personnel changes like this can be really positive for a lot of people in a work place. It isn't as cut-and-dry as "Massa is a 14th place driver, d'Ambrosio is a 13th place driver, what's the difference?"

[JHS18 0]

On a sort ofdifferent note, does Ferrari still have Gene in its ranks? He's reasonably competent, but I guess he's busy with WEC and things. Not as busy as if Peugeot were still around though, I bet.