No one better on market to replace me – Massa

[killer]

we don't know the real reasons behind Kimi's sacking, so i wouldn't bring that up. however my purpose is - if you don't risk it, you won't get the biscuit. so if Ferrari wants to play it safe, then Massa is obvious choice, though i believe some changes from time to time are only healthy

Kimi wasn't pulling his weight, Alonso was better and had been in their sights for some time by then. The testing ban slipped my mind--you were right in saying Nico as a test driver was not an option. Having said that and given Ferrari driver policy of traditionally taking in proven talent, Massa is the only option at this point.

[MJ]

i reckon that this suspense in announcing the 2nd driver seat is just a way of motivating Felipe to drive the best way he knew how.. given the positive response from him during interviews, i do believe that his confidence is back and he's optimistic to be in top form the rest of year, hence, that coveted 2nd Ferrari seat..

hope for the best Felipe! Forza!

[Katu]

maybe Massa should get an one-race deal, always motivated to do well

[racingbradley]

maybe Massa should get an one-race deal, always motivated to do well

It may well work but think of his fans how would they deal with pressure?

[F2008]

Some people actually think Massa has a one-race deal. During the second race of this season, the commentators on the Belgian (Flemish) television said they were almost sure Massa would be fired before the next race. In a pre-race discussion they even mentioned that Massa is a waste of fuel. I will never watch them again.
The Walloon commentator is much better, he's always positive about le petit brésilien Felipe.

I hope he can maintain his current level and secures his Ferrari seat for next year. If he has/wants to leave at some point, I prefer Bianchi or even Rigon who impressed me during his Superleague Formula career.

[F430]

http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/sc...id2057590.html

For all you Massa fans

[Hornet]

Ferrari do have plans to bring a young driver into the team in the near future from this Domenicali's interview about Perez leaving the academy. But it appears that they may still be looking for the right time for one of those young driver in their list, whoever they may be.

“As I said, I think that Ferrari gave him a bit of experience by helping him in understanding something, and that's the way it is. We need to accept that, and we will see. We are working with other young drivers that we hope we will be able to bring in our team as they will be considered ready, so that's what I can say.”

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...medium=twitter

Massa will be the natural choice, I think, until Ferrari bring in this young driver. My guess would be in a couple years time, assuming this young driver is not in Formula 1 yet.

[Nova]

+1 Felipe. Give this kid a good car n he can run.
Great driving, great pitstops, well done.

[FrankAlfa]

Felipe Massa's drive today was an EXCELLENT DRIVE by the 2008' Champion!!!!! Felipe earned the maximum from the car today and drove Flawlessly with not a single error! These last 5 races have earned him a drive for next year. He has his old form that I thought was gone! Hat's off to Felipe Massa and his Champion ability! Hat's off to Ferrari for believing in him when so many of us wrote him off!

Ciao.

Forza Massa!!!!

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[wisepie]

If Suzuka doesn't allow Felipe at least a drive for 2013, there's no justice. Great drive all weekend and I stand by my thoughts about previous early season races where his strategies always seemed to play second fiddle to Fernando's, some may have been justified to try to help Fernando, but always compromised Felipe. Just goes to show that when he's the only Ferrari running, he can get the results as all the effort is directed at him. And I don't blame Rob for strategic errrors because he's fighting for Felipe and himself.

[Hornet]

If Suzuka doesn't allow Felipe at least a drive for 2013, there's no justice. Great drive all weekend and I stand by my thoughts about previous early season races where his strategies always seemed to play second fiddle to Fernando's, some may have been justified to try to help Fernando, but always compromised Felipe. Just goes to show that when he's the only Ferrari running, he can get the results as all the effort is directed at him. And I don't blame Rob for strategic errrors because he's fighting for Felipe and himself.

There is no need for Ferrari to intentionally compromise Massa race because that makes no sense. All Massa needed to do to help Alonso was to not fight Alonso, but he can always be right behind Alonso if his pace allows, he don't have to be 20 second behind. Why would Ferrari mess Massa up and make him so far away from Alonso? That makes no sense.

Massa have said many times he knows what he need to do to help Alonso, there's no need for the team to compromise Massa's race and force him off Alonso's back because Massa knows what he need to do.

Another conflicting point I'd like to point out is that, if one were to believe that Ferrari is not treating Massa right, why then would anyone want to see Massa stay in Ferrari who bullies him. You can't say Ferrari is not treating Massa right and on the next breath you want to see Massa stay with Ferrari, that doesn't make sense.

[Katu]

If Suzuka doesn't allow Felipe at least a drive for 2013, there's no justice. Great drive all weekend and I stand by my thoughts about previous early season races where his strategies always seemed to play second fiddle to Fernando's, some may have been justified to try to help Fernando, but always compromised Felipe. Just goes to show that when he's the only Ferrari running, he can get the results as all the effort is directed at him. And I don't blame Rob for strategic errrors because he's fighting for Felipe and himself.

i'm not saying either Ferrari should or shouldn't renew Felipe's contract, but this shouldn't be based on one or two races, he has been with team for seven seasons and surely it won't be easy one to take, since apprantely decision hasn't been taken so far. Ferrari is familiar with him. if his contract won't be renewed it wouldn't be unfair as his contract renewing wouldn't be unfair either, i'm sure the decision isn't made in the heat of the moment. there's so much more than we know that Ferrari knows, so i wouldn't judge that decision.

[Greig]

I have no idea why Ferrari would replace him, he has been performing very well and seems like he has found his style to get the car working for him which also gives him some confidence.

[F2002]

I have no idea why Ferrari would replace him, he has been performing very well and seems like he has found his style to get the car working for him which also gives him some confidence.

I fully agree with you.

If they did make that choice, I wonder what's holding the announcement.

[eddie]

I fully agree with you.

If they did make that choice, I wonder what's holding the announcement.

Only Ferrari would know but I reckon $ and cents plus terms of agreement...

[Red passion]

Only Ferrari would know but I reckon $ and cents plus terms of agreement...

I agree Massa will drive for us next year but money is probably to be sorted. he drove great today

[Poltergeistes]

I also agree, Ferrari always keeps the suspense if theres no shock comin up, from every point of view keeping felipe is the right choice, not only because of this race, but he has been doin fine since monaco, even if the scorepoints weren't there yet, this is a car that came a long way since the start of the season, even Fernando said thursday i think, that it would be a miracle to win the championship, it means that we don't have a superior car, but the hard work of the drivers and team is makin up for any flows, well if the car isn't so great, and even fernando said so, finishing the race in 2nd is amazing in my view.

Funny thing about all this drama about Felipe staying or leaving is that Fernando has always been pointing out that felipe is doing good under the circunstances and that he is underrated, one might say nando is saying that to be polite, but the thing is, fernando doesn't have to be nice to felipe, at this point he will have to help his teammate wether he likes it or not, as he has done in the past. i really like the pair, and i think it's hard to manage 2 good drivers, that you know won't jeopardize things in the last moment just out of spite.

[Hornet]

I have no idea why Ferrari would replace him, he has been performing very well and seems like he has found his style to get the car working for him which also gives him some confidence.

I don't think Massa will be replaced either, but I think the point is that its never down to one single race. People always say this result will be important for the driver, or what a great race, time to sign the driver. Not just the fans but the media too. It never works that way.

While most team don't share their insight on how drivers are selected, the interview with Sauber's boss yesterday on Sky pretty much gave a picture of what really goes on. People keep saying this race will be important for Kobayashi and she honestly said it isn't down to one single race. The team don't just sit back and wait for that one race where the driver had a great result and they suddenly said thats it, lets sign him.

[SS454]

Even when Massa has been below his own standards, I think he's still a better match to Ferrari than Hulkenburg or PDR. Now that he's doing better, seems like a no brainer to keep him for another year.

[impactX]

Awesome effort by Massa yesterday. Also great job from the pitcrew getting him in front of Takuma Sato.

It's been 2 races with a relentless charge from him, it's brainless to even think about not renewing his contract. Also, very good job to him for avoiding the mayhem and not crash into the spinning Webber. P10 to P4 on the first lap was simply amazing. Some people like Grosean simply does not belong in F1.

[Katu]

Even when Massa has been below his own standards, I think he's still a better match to Ferrari than Hulkenburg or PDR. Now that he's doing better, seems like a no brainer to keep him for another year.

PDR? who gave you that silly idea?

[Rishu]

PDR? who gave you that silly idea?

Media. They have linked DiResta to Ferrari

[wisepie]

There is no need for Ferrari to intentionally compromise Massa race because that makes no sense. All Massa needed to do to help Alonso was to not fight Alonso, but he can always be right behind Alonso if his pace allows, he don't have to be 20 second behind. Why would Ferrari mess Massa up and make him so far away from Alonso? That makes no sense.

Massa have said many times he knows what he need to do to help Alonso, there's no need for the team to compromise Massa's race and force him off Alonso's back because Massa knows what he need to do.

Another conflicting point I'd like to point out is that, if one were to believe that Ferrari is not treating Massa right, why then would anyone want to see Massa stay in Ferrari who bullies him. You can't say Ferrari is not treating Massa right and on the next breath you want to see Massa stay with Ferrari, that doesn't make sense.

I'm not suggesting that the team deliberately compromised Felipe, it just seems that he always suffered by so much effort being directed at Fernando who was inevitably out front and from early on in the season was obviously going to be the lead driver fighting for the championship. Yes, Felipe seemed to lose his mojo after a string of poor showings, but as a dedicated Massa fan, I got so frustrated with the inflexible strategies which appeared to make him look even worse when stuck in the mid-field. We know Felipe is quick so the car held him back more than it did for Fernando, maybe it was set up more for FA than FM's style of driving. So I still think he deserves to be retained as I am convinced that stability is what the team needs as well as more updates. In no way do I think the team mis-treats or tries to make life difficult for Felipe, quite the opposite and I think they really love him, which is why it's such a difficult balancing act when he can't extract the performance from what we know was a pooor car at the beginning of the season. It's also the closest season as far as midfield performance is concerned and a fraction of a second makes a driver go from hero to zero. Felipe's recent performance surely points him in the right direction to be retained.

[Katu]

Media. They have linked DiResta to Ferrari

oh sry i thought Pedro de la Rosa was called PDR.. my bad

[Hornet]

I'm not suggesting that the team deliberately compromised Felipe, it just seems that he always suffered by so much effort being directed at Fernando who was inevitably out front and from early on in the season was obviously going to be the lead driver fighting for the championship. Yes, Felipe seemed to lose his mojo after a string of poor showings, but as a dedicated Massa fan, I got so frustrated with the inflexible strategies which appeared to make him look even worse when stuck in the mid-field. We know Felipe is quick so the car held him back more than it did for Fernando, maybe it was set up more for FA than FM's style of driving. So I still think he deserves to be retained as I am convinced that stability is what the team needs as well as more updates. In no way do I think the team mis-treats or tries to make life difficult for Felipe, quite the opposite and I think they really love him, which is why it's such a difficult balancing act when he can't extract the performance from what we know was a pooor car at the beginning of the season. It's also the closest season as far as midfield performance is concerned and a fraction of a second makes a driver go from hero to zero. Felipe's recent performance surely points him in the right direction to be retained.

The team do care about Massa, when he did poorly in Australia, they flew a new chassis to Malaysia for him while they flew his first chassis back to Italy to investigate what happened.

[eddie]

Mass a was man of the race yesterday. 10 to 2 was simply brilliant. Yes without a doubt there isn't any who can fill his seat for Ferrari. He is a team player and both Fernando and Massa will achieve much once the red car is competitive.

Some suggest he wasn't 100 percent happy being on the podium yesterday. How can he be? Fernando didn't get any points and I a pretty sure when interviewed he mentioned, if Fernando was up there with him together, it will then be perfect.

I am very confident Ferrari will resign Massa with favorable terms. Anything else will be a mistake...

[Rob]

MASSA STAYING AT FERRARI, HULKENBERG TO SAUBER - REPORTS
Monday 8 Oktober at 07:34 : Oct.8 (GMM) Some more pieces of the 2013 'silly season' puzzle are set to fall into place.

British broadcaster BBC reports with confidence that, with his return to the podium at Suzuka following a two-year drought, Felipe Massa could have his new contract to stay at Ferrari confirmed "before" this weekend's Korean grand prix.

It's a blow for Force India's Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, who were linked strongly with the Maranello team's potentially vacant cockpit.

But Switzerland's Blick newspaper reports that German Hulkenberg has a back-up plan that is now "ready for the signatures".

"Nico Hulkenberg will go to Sauber for at least two years," veteran correspondent Roger Benoit reports from Japan.

Blick said former Toro Rosso racer Sebastien Buemi, who this year has been Red Bull's official reserve driver, is in the hot seat to replace Hulkenberg.

But Force India's Otmar Szafnauer is quoted as telling Blick's Benoit: "Why doesn't Sauber take Buemi?"

http://www.onestopstrategy.com/daily...-+reports.html

[eddie]

Hope it's true very happy for Ferrari and Felipe if it is...

[Hornet]

Massa have already said his future is good even before the race.

That article is nothing more than just guesswork that assume Ferrari would pick Massa base on one race. The deal was probably done long before that (unless Massa is a psychic)

[Suzie]

Some suggest he wasn't 100 percent happy being on the podium yesterday. How can he be? Fernando didn't get any points and I a pretty sure when interviewed he mentioned, if Fernando was up there with him together, it will then be perfect.

Yeah, he spoke in Italian over the team radio at the end of the race and said it was a shame that Fernando wasn't able to get a podium also.

I hope the new rumours are true because it's been really, really tough at times this year having to put up with all this. He's been so good since the summer break, the highlights being that pass on Senna in Singapore, and going from 10th to 4th at the start yesterday... and needless to say I will be over the moon if he stays (understatement of the millennium).