Concerning Felipe Massa If it was me I would certainly replace Massa after Malaysia is finished. I'd bring in a different driver for all the remaining races. Who? Perez only has 1 season under his belt, and he's spent all of testing preparing to drive the Sauber not the ferrari, I'd let him complete the rest of the season and maybe consider him for 2013 but certainly not this year. The 2 options that I see to replace him are Heidfeld and Sutil. Both experienced and dam good drivers, and I can't see either would turn the seat down. (I'm not sure If sutil would have to wait till after china though) Based on how disrupted Heidfelds career has been since 2010 onwards and Sutil had his best season to date last year I would bring him to replace MAssa for the rest of the year.
They've stood by Massa for this long, they need to give him at least a half dozen races before they act.
They should also address the fundamental problems with this years car as well. Replacing Massa may mean the 2nd driver is closer to Alonso, but being close to 5th place is hardly where they want to be.
Yeah but take 2010 and 2011 into account as well. They might have potentially taken 2nd in both WCC's
No doubt he is on borrowed time, and if they do decide to make a major change to the car then why not bring in a new driver as well?
I don't think he belongs on the grid tbh, is it a coincidence that the only times we see Massa is at the start, when we see everyone, and when he's either hitting someone or trying to put them off track.
I'm not a Massa fan by a long shot and think he has hogged a top seat for too long. However, its not Massa's fault that Ferrari have regularly only produced the 3rd or 4th fastest car. Whilst some of his personal performances have been less than adequate, the only thing Massa has really been guilty of is being inferior to his team mate. Some drivers have a Nak of driving around a fundemental problem and extracting beyond the maximum of the car - Massa is clearly not one of these drivers! If a change were to be made (Which I dont think would speed up the recovery of the car in general) I would imagine that they would put Fisichella in the seat - he is already paid for and wont mind doing the development donkey work on behalf of the team, whilst posing no threat to Alonso. Outside of that for me it would have to be Sutil, nothing to do with Perez as a driver, just cant see Ferrari wanting to potentially damage him by chucking him into a dog of a car which he will have little familarity with - Sutil would have nothing to lose!
It depends why you're bringing him in. Bearing in mind that Massa is contractually entitled to 10 races, if you want like-for-like competition to confirm whether he is bad or Alonso is simply blowing a quite good driver out of the water, you bring in Sutil. If you're minded to go for an insane strategy in an attempt to outperform the car, you bring in Perez.
Sack Massa, replace him with Perez. It is quite obvious that Perez is being groomed for that second seat as Massa himself was 10 years ago. Massa will get another drive next year but I think for now he could perhaps do with a break from F1, I wonder if he was rushed back from his injury before he was psychologically prepared.
2008 season he was fantastic. He was also dragging a lot more than Raikkonen out of the 2009 Ferrari - which was also a dog - up until The Accident.
Perez is good, but e is not an experienced driver, he only has 1 year. The ferrari is clearly a real handful to drive and Perez has spent the whole winter testing the Sauber, I really don't think he would be the best choice. Fisichella, I considered him, but he's been out for too long now, might as well keep Massa. As for Massa and Sutil like for like, I would say Sutil is currently a lot better than Massa.
I think its about time these younger drivers that have proved themselves in their midfield teams so far are given a shot in the big teams. Rosberg definitely deserves a championship winning car, to see what he can really do, it maybe Mercedes best chance this year, but i'm still on the fence with how their pace will turn out. It's just a shame theres no seats available. Vettel's, Button's, Alonso's and Hamilton's seats are pretty much secure, and Webber's seat will go to a Toro Rosso driver when he retires, more than likley, to Ricciardo. So it leaves Massa to drop out (please) to either any of these drivers, that I think deserve it; Rosberg Perez Kobayashi di Resta (possibly)
well seems a bit rash to drop him right now but lets see how he copes in the next few races. Only problem now is that he has the media against him now so can he cope with that extra pressure? The sad thing is, I believe he has kept his Ferrari seat for the last 2 years out of sympothy of his accident otherwise he would of been out the door after 2009. Harsh but true
Ok, so maybe this is an unlikely suggestion: De La Rosa If he's really the development driver that he's made out to be, get him in the 2nd Ferrari, and don't worry about positions at all, literally use the entire race as a test session. With the car as it is, Alonso can't mount a meaningful challenge either, so unless they work the car out, they aren't going to win either championship, and may even struggle to get 4th in the WCC judging by the Lotus' performance. So, use the 2nd car to unlock the performance in the car, using Alonso as a barometer to see if you're getting anywhere in race trim. Yes, they'll lose a few points to start with from effectively running a 1 car team, but as it is, Massa is going to be scraping around for the very tail end of the points. These can be made up in the second half of the season, where you hopefully have a championship challenging car. When Alonso can start competing for race wins, and picking them up, you ditch De La Rosa (assuming he isn't doing well in the races), bring Massa back in (who in the meantime you've sent to GP2 to keep himself sharp and regain confidence) and hope that he shows better form, and can pick up enough points to support Alonso's late surge for the WDC. Thoughts?
