Ferrari should consider retaining Felipe Massa. The team is built all around Fernando Alonso, he seems comfortable having a (very) weak teammate in Massa, so there is harmony in the camp, and Alonso's notoriously short fuse and delicate ego hasn't been troubled yet. A change may upset the balance, and possibly hurt the team more than improve the team. There is a simple dilemma here, which i'll sum up briefly; A)Ferrari retain Massa, Alonso stays happy and motivated, leading to better development and performances (see 2005-6) B)Ferrari fire Massa, hire a more competant teammate, Alonso gets upset, motivation drops, leading to worse performances and worse development. (see 2007) In summary, what would benefit the team more, a fast and happy Alonso, or a less fast and angry Alonso, but another driver to help with point scoring? Neither choice is correct or incorrect, they both have pro's and con's. What would you do?
Your point is very valid Kyle, the worst thing would be to bring in a very good driver as you said '07. But then there is the other extreme, Massa i think personally is damaging Ferrari's reputation. They need a driver that can collect a few points every week, beat Fernando from time to time but most importantly not beat him regularly. Whether this driver is Perez who knows !
Without wishing to discredit Alonso, he is a bad loser, he needs a teammate who can't get close to him. Massa is that man.
They need someone who is at least close to Alonso, Massa is slow, erratic, and crosses the boundaries of fairness frequently, which is why he gets in accidents. Today he wasn't in an accident and finished well out of the points, while his team mate won.
I rather think that it is Alonso who is Flattering Ferrari's reputation. It will be interesting to see whenever he gets a new team mate, should they be able to do a better job than Massa to keep up with him.
It's simple logic, if Alonso has a bad day you need another to deliver the goods, massa doesn't do this.
I think there's a huge gulf between hiring someone more competent than Massa and hiring someone who could rattle Alonso. I like to believe that Alonso would welcome Hamilton for 2013 onwards and, because that flies in the face of Ferrari strategy, I can go on believing it. 2007 is not a good barometer for judging how he'd react to a challenging team mate today. I think he'd be comfortable with anyone who is not a recent WDC but I guess whoever replaces Massa will support or undermine my opinion because Alonso will doubtless be involved in the decision.
I wonder if Alonso would perhaps veto the appointment of Perez as his numero 2? Whilst i personally don't rate Perez, the vast majority in the F1 community do, so maybe Alonso would be concerned about this young pretender.
I think if he has a good team mate, he will learn from his '07 season and actually beat him. We wont know until maybe next year. Although, i think he's at his very best now, and can beat any team mate he gets.
Ferrari don't normally make mid-season changes, so Massa will probably be kept on until the end of the season. Ferrari have a tough decision to make when appointing his successor.
By this picture alone I can see Alonso has no real concern for Perez at this moment as his arm is over Perez and Lewis' shoulders which means he is openly showing his dominance as pack leader. Perez is grasping both Stefano and Alonso's neck which for me says he feels he's done enough and wants to make sure they know it. Though it looks like Stefano doesn't make this driver call as Stefano is already showing submission on Perez by putting his arm under Perez's shoulder and more evidently he's shorter so he's already trying to butter him up, meaning Montezemolo makes the call who drives.
I agree with Kyle. If Massa is fired, Ferrari will hire a remotely competent human being, who might improve the team atmosphere and help them develop faster. As much of an embarrassment as Massa is to his profession, on balance I would prefer that he stays at Ferrari for a while. It's not as if the sport desperately needs them to dramatically improve this season. McLaren have plenty of competition.
Personally... I'd think if you had another fast driver in the second Ferrari, It would only make Alonso faster. I actually think he wouldn't mind a bit of support and competition. Lets face it, If he's going to win the championship this year, he's going to have to do it alone.
Massa just isn't good enough these days, and as I've mentioned elsewhere I'm shocked Massa didn't take someone out and destroy his car with his defending today. What happened in 2007 was unusual, joining a team as a Champion and finding a rookie beating you is bound to have some effect. These days I'm sure having a driver close to Alonso's standards in the other Ferrari is nothing but a good thing.
Very doubtful. Making a move like this would raise a question over his own credibility. Such questions began to be asked over his handling of Hamilton, but in the long term, despite not winning a Championship since, he's ridden it out and largely regained his reputation. But after that, he cannot attempt to veto a relative newcomer without a serious loss of face which would reverse his credibility to the year with McLaren. No driver can remain immune from a real challenge forever and still retain proper, discernible credibility. This includes Schumacher who managed to hoodwink so many for so long by vetoing or otherwise tripping those who threatened him at every opportunity. Alonso got smoked at McLaren but not quite burned. Smoke may cause a cough but burns leave permanent scars. Vetoing Perez would open wounds and invite a close scrutiny for scars. He won't want that.
But Senna constantly vetoed the appointment of class teammates (anyone else know how the earl of dumfries ended up as his teammate) and never recieved stick for it. Senna was the best driver of his generation, Alonso is the best driver of the current crop, surely it gives him priveliges that the past masters were entitled too?
Disagree with this. Alonso's a different driver now, he's matured drastically from mid-2010 onwards, I think he could cope with the added pressure and as long as he still led the team I don't think he would still be very happy with the situation. I think Ferrari's only concern would be for Perez's development, I think Sauber is the perfect environment for him right now, moving to Ferrari mid-season would only see Alonso hand his arse to him at least in the short term, the Ferrari and the Sauber are completely different beasts, the Ferrari right now is violently unstable while the Sauber looks relatively settled and kind on its tyres. Perez could never switch from one to the other with no testing and compete with Alonso, regardless of how good he is. It's not like Ferrari would come out and say "look, we want Perez, but Alonso is scared of him and wants Felipe to stay in the team". I also think Alonso cares about winning above everything else, he'd rather boost his title credentials than save face.
Thanks. This is a very good point Kyle. However, I would like to draw your attention to my exact wording: I said "proper, discernible credibility" - by which I mean something which extends beyond folklore and the mythology often associated with romantic views of historic events and personalities, to a view held by the more discerning!
