Bianchi won't take Massa's seat - not for 2013 anyway. No way Ferrari will hire an inexperienced driver. He needs to win Formula Renault 3.5 and impress in the nine practice sessions Force India give him. If he can do that, he'll have a good chance of getting a drive - maybe replacing a FI driver or going to Sauber. Then he needs to impress his team and and prove to Ferrari that he is good enough. If he ever gets a Ferrari drive, it will be in 2015 or 2016 at the earliest. It's a shame - I expected him to win GP2 back in 2010 but twice he's failed and now he's been replaced by ART. If he had won GP2 in his rookie year like many expected him to, it would probably have been him in the 2011 Sauber instead of Perez.
I think people are forgetting that massa may come good. There's all this talk of him being fired, you'll look like ****s if he wins the title.
A couple of years at least. That contract will be hugely expensive to get out of and it's still presumptive to suppose that Ferrari are in decline. They mounted a serious WDC challenge in 2008 and won the WCC and, in my opinion, 2010 was Alonso's championship. I think he had the best campaign: he was inspirational in Babe Ruthing the championship as early as Silverstone and then delivering on it throughout the second half of the season, only to slip up at the last. In 2011 everyone was in the doldrums behind the RB8, for Ferrari an echo of 2009. This year they think they have something good and if they can unlock it within a few races then even another 2010 would allay any such fears.
Totally agree. I think Ferrari will have learned from their disastrous 2011 season, and will be making sure they are among the challengers this year, if not for more seasons to come. On that basis alone Alonso will stay with them. Alonso is hungry for another WDC, and he has the right package to deliver that with Ferrari.
Whatever Horner and Haug may say about Ferrari blagging, there is good reason to believe they're simply being straight - they feel they're just at a particular point in the cycle of renewal. please log in to view this image
Update: please log in to view this image Closer view: http://www.formula1.com/wi/sutton/2011/d12mal345.jpg
There are plenty more, too: please log in to view this image What craftsmanship. please log in to view this image
With the terrible performance in Australia, it wouldn't suprise me if it was rushed. Typical italian build quality then.
It's a very clever system that feeds the air through ducting around both side of the monocoque, along the inside of the engine cover, up and over the rear wing, down to the diffuser, into the floor, back along to the front wing, up the support pillars, into and along the nose, and out into the cockpit to cool the drivers' feet.
