Valtteri Bottas ‏@ValtteriBottas 4m I'm happy to confirm that I will be racing with @WilliamsF1Team in 2014 with @Felipe1Massa as my team-mate! #F1 please log in to view this image Massa to Williams confirmed!
please log in to view this image Scuderia Ferrari ‏@InsideFerrari 1m @Felipe1Massa Our best wishes for your new adventure in 2014! Congratulations! Nice to see Ferrari giving Massa the dignity and respect he deserves as he wraps up his Ferrari career. They let him announce his own departure in his own time and have supported him in going to a new team
Bottas looks like Massa's bodyguard. Massa must be bringing a fair wad for Williams to commit to a three year deal.
hmm Im glad massa has found a seat and Willaims have shifted maldo (in a way). But Massa has to bringing som big bux otherwise this is a big mistake for Williams as he in my books is not a top driver any more
He's improved recently (unless Alonso is just on a slump). I think his head has been lifted by the chance of a fresh start. Wonder if Smedly is going with him, can't see his style working to well with Kimi Maybe Ferrari are keeping him on a retainer for future sports car drives? I'm sure he has some backing of sorts.
Felipe Massa is confident he has "chosen the right team" after revealing he held talks with Lotus and McLaren before signing a multi-year deal with Williams. Having proved that he hasn't lost any of his talent, or desire, it appears as if the veteran Brazilian wasn't short of offers as he sought a new seat in which to continue his F1 career, with Massa divulging that held talks with Lotus, Sauber, Force India and McLaren before plumping for Williams. "I'm very happy to be here and to start a new part of my career with Williams. I had a very long and nice time with Ferrari but now I'm really happy to move to Williams. I have a lot to give to this team," the 32-year-old told Sky Sports News. "It's the beginning of a new F1 with the new rules, it will be completely different in 2014 compared to 2013 and the rules change will be bigger than ever. I'm really looking forward to a good car. I'm happy to be here and believe I've chosen the right team. "I'm very lucky to be moving to a very famous team in Formula 1. It's a very difficult time for Williams but the most important thing is that they want to go back to how they were before. I want to help them grow and take the Williams name back to first place and the podium." Pivotal in Massa's decision to join Williams is the team's engine deal with Mercedes which will see the Grove outfit supplied with what is predicted to be the most powerful unit on the grid next year. "Many people are very positive about Mercedes, you hear so many things about the Mercedes engine in 2014 and that's the engine we are going to use here. For sure, big teams have more possibility to build a good car but it's a big change for everyone and so many and you could see another team have a good year in 2014."
Smedley's been being linked with Williams for a couple of months now, he was linked with them even before Massa was so I think it's likely he's going there.
Its all happening! Perez out at McLaren - looks like benson and the BBC are about to confirm to. Sergio Perez will leave McLaren at the end of the current season, after just one year with the Woking team. The news has yet to be confirmed by McLaren, but it appears that the team chose not to take up its option for the Mexican to continue in 2014. The McLaren has not been a very good car this year, but the 23-year-old Mexican has seemed a little overwhelmed on occasion. He has collected only 35 points compared to Jenson Button’s 60. In qualifying Button has been ahead on nine occasions, Perez eight times and it is a widely-held belief that Button is not a great qualifier. Perez’s biggest problem, however, has been that the people in Woking believe that they have a real ace up their sleeve in the person of Kevin Magnussen, who is understood to have done much better in the McLaren simulator than Perez. This year the 21-year-old Dane has shown both pace and maturity in the Renault 3.5 World Series and cantered to the title. It will still be a big step for him to race for McLaren, particularly at a time when the cars are changing significantly, but it seems that McLaren is sufficiently confident that Kevin will be able to take the pressure and flourish. He will then be a much stronger driver in 2015 when McLaren starts its new relationship with Honda. suzi perry ‏@suziperry 3s More news on Magnussen and McLaren here soon http://bbc.co.uk/sport #bbcf1
What if they take on Magnussen, then stuck Vandoorne in at Force India? That would actually be pretty sick....
Sure I read that somewhere . Williams are going to be strong next year IMHO Is Massa bringing Petrobras Money ?
Williams says Massa signed because of talent, not financial backing While the Brazilian is a driver who has the potential to attract backers to the team, particularly sponsors from South America, Williams insists Massa's ability's was always the main attraction with any commercial benefits secondary. "At Williams, the most important thing to us has always been the talent and that has been the priority over the commercial benefits or [commercial] attraction of a driver," Williams told AUTOSPORT. "Felipe is not a pay driver, he has made that very clear and we have appointed him for his talent and for what we believe he can deliver to us in the cockpit. "It's now up to us to go out there and take advantage of the fact that he is from Brazil and they are the biggest audience that our sport has." We shall see
Well, I gotta say I felt it would be disgraceful to not have Magnussen on the grid next season, so I'm happy for him, but pretty gutted for Perez. Wonder how that will all shake out.
Cannot believe McLaren have dropped Perez ( if they have ) Surely he deserves a chance next year with rule changes etc , UNLESS he is a disruptive influence ?
Sauber didn't feel the need to give Gutierrez a drive when Perez was hurt, opting for the experience of De La Rosa (despite rating Esteban highly enough to give him a race seat in subsequent seasons), so I don't see why Lotus would be any different. Reserve drivers are needed at race weekends in case somebody is taken ill/hurt during the weekend (nobody wants to fly a driver in from the other side of the planet last minute!), but when you've got a little bit of advanced warning, to me it makes sense to put the best person available in the seat. I don't know how highly regarded the two youngsters are within Lotus, and Maldo and Grosjean have shown of late that the race-craft or rookie's isn't always up to scratch right away. Kovalainen or Buemi are more known quantities in terms of pace/racing ability in F1 machinery, and I'd have more faith in either of them to bring the car home safely in the lower half of the points, which might be enough to hold onto their constructor's position. As to today's news, pleased for Massa and in particular Bottas, although whether Williams will regret the lack of a pay-driver remains to be seen. They seem to be gambling on being able to get Brazilian investment, which whilst they've got time to do so before the PDVSA money runs out (assuming it's been coming in at all), it could hurt them if it doesn't come off. Maldo and Perez on the market could make attractive propositions for a financially weak team, perhaps one or both of them to Force India? If they held talks with Massa, it doesn't sound like they're sure they want Di Resta and Sutil. They could also be attractive for the "new" teams, although whether they'd want to go there is another question.
