Article: 2013 Driver Line-ups, News & Rumours | Formula one

Interesting that the button rumours weren't denied, only the Raikkonen ones. Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but if Ferrari are looking for a good, solid driver, they could do a lot worse than Button.

 

I think Button and Alonso would make good team-mates, given that Button obsesses over set-up and is unlikely to be a consistent threat to Alonso...

 

And the fact that Button can get on with anyone would tempt Ferrari, no fall outs should happen.

 

Indeed. The only other possibility I can foresee is Ferrari trying to pull a Mclaren 1988, by tempting either Seb or Hamilton to the team and creating a hopefully unstoppable driver pairing.

 

Di Resta & Hamilton Snr off to court

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7952241/Di-Resta-Hamilton-Snr-off-to-court

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...te-with-Force-India-driver-Paul-di-Resta.html

Weird stuff!

 

Do my survey

 

Domenicali hints Ferrari seeking ‘number 2′ driver

Domenicali: "It has always been Ferrari’s philosophy, to have a great champion and then a very good driver who is close to him." On Button and Raikkonen, he says: "I think these drivers have contracts with other teams,"
http://www.f1zone.net/news/domenicali-hints-ferrari-seeking-number-2-driver/15205/

Meanwhile, Boullier says he wants to keep Grosjean and Raikkonen for next year.

 

Sad words by Stefano, I was always hoping of a Seb vs Alonso clash to get F1 on the map on the sporting world.

Guess I'll have to wait until 2016 until Seb gets into Ferrari!

No matter the lure, Seb and Lewis would only go to Ferrari if there was entire equality against Alonso as going there as a number 2 for a number of years would just be stupid!

 

Surely you're not genuinely surprised to see Ferrari's philosophy from the horse's mouth, Silver? It has been their mentality for donkey's years and discussed all over the internet ever since it was invented!

Although a fantastic driver, Alonso is in a very privileged position and effectively has a veto on potential team-mates. Hence, sadly, we will not see him teamed with Vettel; and certainly not with Hamilton (truly his biggest fear).

Furthermore, hard as this may be to swallow, the whole Red Bull organisation's driving force is to out-Ferrari Ferrari; which means, essentially, that they have the same ruthless (rather unsporting, in my opinion) mentality.

 

Well I always have hope that 1 day Ferrari won't have to do it anymore and actually try to win everything rather than just going for the drivers championship.

It's like Man und having Wayne Rooney up front and putting me in goal when they could easily get somebody far better.

I just don't understand the mindset to just entirely focus on 1 driver, yeah it helps improve the performances of the number 1 but the number 2 is just a waste of a car so why bother running it? You might as well just stick in Pastor and make 40 million a year if that's what it is used for.

As a Seb fan I can't give a unbiased opinion (in your eyes) saying that Red Bull don't favour him over Mark considering (I well and truly do not believe it.) I'm not trying to fake it or anything, I believe Mark gets equal treatment and people cant get over Silverstone 2010. If Mark well and truly knew he was being treated like a number 2 why bother staying? He would just never be allowed to win and has a better chance winning the world title by replacing Grosjean at Lotus.

It just seems every good result mark has against Seb is suddenly proof that he is being treated equally for once and when Seb beats Mark convincingly somehow Mark is getting shafted? Seb is in a no win situation in that case.

 

Maybe not, the same reports that said Vettel was headed to Ferrari also said that Alonso has no problems with Vettel joining, so maybe Alonso and Ferrari see Vettel as the "very good driver who is close" to Alonso. Remember that Kubica was one of the best drivers on the grid and Ferrari signed an option with him for 2013. If he fits Domenicali's description, why wouldn't Vettel?

 

Possibly but I doubt it because of what I said above: "No matter the lure, Seb and Lewis would only go to Ferrari if there was entire equality against Alonso as going there as a number 2 for a number of years would just be stupid!"

Unless Alonso is actually intending to retire in 2016 Seb won't take a number 2 role unless he was guaranteed he would take the reigns after Alonso left within a year or two.


Seb I'm sure would love to learn off Alonso as he has a lot of respect for Fernando as much as Schumacher, but the kid loves records more and won't like having one of his hands tied behind his back when he feels he can actually beat somebody.

 

Yes, I'm with you on that forlorn hope, Silver.
But your second point which I've quoted, about focussing on one driver does have an answer. It is because Ferrari know that the World Drivers' Championship is what the public are concerned about. That is where the respect comes from. It is direct, passionate publicity and they want their number one to look like the best, regardless of how one makes comparisons – and even if they do not ultimately get a World Champion at the end of the season! It is almost clannish; equivalent to disputes being settled by one person representing the interests of the protagonists: an Irish bare-knuckle fighter representing his family, or a Knight in shining armour at the joust representing his Princess, Province, King or Country.

Ferrari 'champion' one person as 'the greatest', even when he's not winning, because they are trying to generate a sense of peerless awe and elevate his standing to that of a semi-deity throughout history. In a sense, they are trying to create something little short of a religion. Seriously! They know what people value and remember and they are concerned with their own place in history which is promoted in this manner. Thus, they are concerned that their chosen one appears better than the other as often as possible, and only become concerned about the subservient driver when 'il campione' is out of contention, or to 'do a job' on other drivers (fortunately, this particular nicety is virtually outlawed these days by effective regulation).

Propogandising this perception is far more important to them than the Constructors' booby prize (despite the direct revenue it brings). – Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying the Constructors' is not important to them; rather that from their perspective, it is far far less important.

As a philosophy, it is the complete antithesis of McLaren and Williams – and most other teams sit somewhere in between to a greater or lesser degree, with Red Bull easily the closest to Ferrari, in my opinion.

 

I don't think Ferrari's future contracts with drivers would say "You are a number two driver. You are not allowed to beat Alonso". In my opinion it would say something along the lines of "You are free to race on equal terms with Alonso, until the point where the team decides you are no longer a realistic championship contender, at which point you must play a supporting role to Alonso." I suspect Alonso has something similar in his contract, based on this quote and the fact that no driver is bigger than the team. Anyone joining Ferrari will have the opportunity to beat Alonso and become the team favourite; and when they fail to do that, it will be because they're not good enough.

 

You may well be right, Forza; but your final sentence begs an obvious question, doesn't it? I think your logic is perfect; but equally, it follows that they may prefer to have a driver who is "not good enough", doesn't it?

 

So what will happen "if" Alonso goes out of his way to treat Seb like he did Lewis in 07?

I don't think Seb has that kind of patience and will likely lash back if Alonso tried it so you would have to be correct in saying "Here are the rules you both follow them." Then I'm sure that's fine as it's the same with McLaren and RBR to a degree of playing a support role if the leading driver has a stupid lead.
But! Seb let alone Alonso wont like it if there's 2 races left and they are 20 odd points behind their teammate and then having Ferrari telling the other guy behind on points to allow the guy behind, infront to seal the title. I'm sure in a situation like that all bets are off as neither is going to allow that to happen.

Would Ferrari punish them in that kind of situation, or would they allow it to get out of control like McLaren did? So many variables that can help it get out of control...

 

So the likes of Heikki, Sutil, Perez, Di Resta, Hulk, Kamui, Kubica etc... Must be on the lines then?

 

To be quite honest, Silver; I've no idea! My earlier point was that Ferrari are highly unlikely to employ Vettel, or Hamilton. I would also have doubts about Button, unless he has changed his philosophy which demands 'equal billing': he went to McLaren because they were happy to honour this agreement. I very much doubt that Ferrari would accommodate such a proposal, which would mean a fundamental shift in thinking.

I said this earlier in the thread, and the 'quote' in Forza's link is from di Montezemolo who alluded to the same thing two years ago (although it has been common knowledge for at least two decades). Berger and Alesi were effectively the last partnership with parity.

 

If you don't want to be a number 2 driver at Ferrari, don't try to get there in the first place.
When you sign the contract, you understand what you are agreeing to.

 

For someone like Perez it could be useful. He'd learn a lot from Alonso and he's young enough to be able to sacrifice a couple of years knowing he could take over when Alonso retires.