Petrov stirring Massa´s pot

Vitaly Petrov has joined the increasingly growing choir of people who thinks they know more about the Felipe Massa situation.

The Caterham driver, who formerly raced for Renault say he thinks it is very likely that Ferrari will not hold on to Felipe Massa to finish the season. Massa has been heavily under fire for his performance, in the previous two seasons he has racked up 262 points against team mate Fernando Alonso´s 509 points, or just under half the points tally from Alonso, and the media has written the eulogy for his career.

And though Petrov believes that Massa will be fired before the season ends, it won´t happen soon, as several media outlets have stated, says Petrov.

“I don’t think they’ll fire Massa just now. At least not until August,” says Petrov.

“I wouldn’t say that Ferrari are criticising him that strongly,” he said. “They’re not saying he has one more chance or anything like that.”

Massa ‘sack rumours’ not true, Ferrari says

After a lacklustre performance from Felipe Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday, where the Brazilian ended up in 15th place, as team mate Fernando Alonso came within a few seconds of a second race win this season, the media attacked the driver and the team, saying that it was a matter of time before Massa was sacked.

There is no doubt that Massa is far away from the fast and reliable driver he was back in 2008, where he misses the title by one just point to Lewis Hamilton, but after the Times stated that unless Massa delivered a ‘convincing performance at the showpiece Monaco Grand Prix’ next week, he faced a sacking. The Times used a comment from Ferrari, in which the Italian team said:

“Felipe was very unlucky, both in the race and in qualifying, but everyone, he more than anyone, is expecting a change of gear starting right away with the Monaco Grand Prix.” That caused the Times to claim that Massa basically needs to deliver his best performance in years, otherwise he´s out.

However, that comment did not go down well with the Maranello-based team, who on their team website said:

“It was funny to read on the media this morning how the same concepts can be read in a different way from one day to the next one! What was published on our website on Monday evening just reflected what Domenicali said Sunday night about Felipe, nothing more than this! Anyway, someone has found a good opportunity to promote the umpteenth candidate to replace Felipe: this time it’s Jerome D’Ambrosio….”

Massa has scored 3.2% of Alonso´s points total, 2 against 61.

Alonso wary of updates

After completing the first free practice session in Barcelona this morning, Fernando Alonso said it´s too soon to talk about expectations after the new updates were installed on the F2012.

At McLaren, their two drivers drove with two different front noses, Lewis Hamilton with the old lower nose and Jenson Button with a raised nose. And at Ferrari, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso had different front wings attached to the cars, Alonso with the old one, Massa with the new. And though the Spaniard finsihed on top of the timesheets, nearly four tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel, it´s way too soon to be making bets on the performance.

“We’ll see, we’ll see after the race, because we don’t know what car we have,” Alonso said.

“Obviously we have new parts, but everybody has new parts. Because it’s Ferrari there are quite a lot of expectations at every race we go to – it makes it seem like only Ferrari is bringing new parts. We have made a step forward, we believe, on what we had in Bahrain, but we also know that it’s not the last step we have to do.

“It’s a continuous work. We need to start here in Barcelona, making a step forward and trying to improve our qualifying position and race pace, but in Monaco we have to bring (more) new parts. In Canada as well.”

For now Ferrari are chasing around 8/10 of a second in pure race speed, but the updates installed might only be worth half that.

Webber rejects Ferrari rumours

“Sergio was flavour of the month last week for the Ferrari drive; now it’s me!”  Webber said on Wednesday, when confronted with rumours that he has been tipped to be replacing Felipe Massa for 2013.

The comment stems from the story that was revealed a few days ago, when Spanish newspaper El Confidential claimed that Ferrari is looking to hire the Aussie for the 2013 season, replacing Felipe Massa, who is understood not to be re-signed. The idea is, according to El Confidential, that though the Maranello-based team might be looking to Mexico, and more specific the sensation over at Sauber, Sergio Perez, he still needs one more year before he is fully mature, says the newspaper. And signing a well-rounded, fast, experienced and reliable driver as Mark Webber, who is out of a contract with Red Bull after this season, is just the man to fill Massa´s seat for that gap-year.

The news also travelled to Webber, while testing in Mugello:

“Sergio was flavour of the month last week for the Ferrari drive; now it’s  me!” Webber said.

“I’m focusing 100 per cent on this season and doing the best job for myself  and Red Bull Racing. I’m not putting any energy into anything else.

“I have not signed anything. Just think about my team. We have made a good start to the season, we’ve done only four races and the road is still very, very long before you start talking about the future.”

Red Bull is very likely to replace Mark Webber with either Daniel Ricciardo or Jean-Eric Vergne for 2013, although Webber is only five points behind championship leader and double world champion Sebastian Vettel. If Webber wins the championship, it could leave a sour taste in Red Bull´s mouth…

Malaysia – The Day After

It´s been a while since I have done my usual reports the day after a race. For some time I simply couldn´t find the time for them, there are so many details needed to be correct and was it lap so or so, that this driver overtook that driver and so on. It´s not that I don´t revel in the work, I love it, it´s just so time consuming. I also used to do a HOT/NOT list, where I compressed most of the updates on the Day After article into easy-to-chew bits, where I name the best three and worst three drivers or teams on the day. I have instead deviced a cunning plan. Yes, I have!

Instead of giving the usual race report, complete with who did what on which lap and was it raining by the way – the answer to that is YES! – I am simply going to name the drivers I feel made a difference. It can be good, it can be bad. Let´s do this.

Best Team: Lotus

Romain Grosjean placed his car in sixth place on Saturday, Kimi Raikkonen went fifth fastest of all, but was penalised for changing the gearbox, so he started tenth. In the race, Grosjean retired on lap 3, just before he was about to pit for full wet tyres. He is coming back to F1 after a couple of years out, and never had a full season in which he could learn and develop. he is facing a steep learning curve in 2012, but the speed of Grosjean is there and so is the car. Kimi finished fifth, and could perhaps have done a little better, had he not been penalised. Very good effort from Lotus.

Best Performance: Sergio Perez.

No contest. Perez opted for one of his now famous one-stop strategies, and drove his backside out of those overalls. There are times you see glimpses of brilliance in some drivers, we saw that with Kobayashi in his first race and certainly in 2010. Also when Fisichella came second in Belgium or when Vettel won his first race in a Toro Rosso. But Perez is not only a real gem, he drove an almost perfect race, and more importantly, he breathed down Alonso´s neck for some time. is it a sign of things to come? Is the Sauber, running with a Ferrari engine, just better than the Maranello team? Is it a true picture of how the season will unfold? Am I asking too many questions…?

Almost There: Bruno Senna.

The Almost There award, goes not to a driver who almost won the race, but one who almost won the coveted Best Performance Award. Bruno Senna started 13th and drove a really good race in Malaysia. He started the race by going off, actually hitting team mate Pastor Maldonado, and personally I thought that we would see him go off again or crash into someone else pretty soon. After the re-start, Senna was now 11th, the started to line up the drivers in front of him. Hulkenberg, Massa, Vergne, di Resta, and finishing sixth in such a mad race as it were, is just a very big thumbs-up from me.

Worst Performance: Felipe Massa

There are many things you can say about Felipe Massa, many are true. I don´t think we can put his performance down to one single incident, the accident he had in Hungary in 2009, there has to be something more to it. It if is ‘just’ the accident, then we are talking about the fear a driver has. A boxer, a race driver, needs the fear to work around the contrasting feelings he get when he performs. Placing yourself in a tub going 320 kmh is not a very safe thing to do, and the fear exists in all of them. All drivers have that, but it seems it weighs too heavy with Massa. If that is the fact, of course. Massa´s performance in the race, was completely anonymous and is by far not a sign of what either he or Ferrari can do.

Best Post-race Comment: Sebastian Vettel on Narain Karthikeyan.

“Like on normal roads you have some idiots driving around and you have one here.”

Massa optimistic about new chassis

After a lacklustre performance in the opening race in Australia a week ago, Felipe Massa was keen to turn his attention to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend, and his brand new chassis.

Massa complained that the car felt strange and during the race weekend in Melbourne, the Brazilian struggled for grip. As a direct result of this, Ferrari has provided him with a new chassis, and despite clocking the 16th fastest time, or eighth slowest depending on how you look at things, initial reports from Massa was encouraging.

“I started in the morning with a completely different car and it felt good,” Massa said on Friday. “The car is more normal, so we can be more competitive here compared to [Fernando] Alonso.”

Massa said that the baseline for the F2012 still has a long way to go before it is competitive enough to catch up to the front runners, but starting with a whole new chassis, means a lot of new things that needs to be implemented and alterations being made continuously. So we could expect a lot more from Massa this weekend.

“In the afternoon, we tried some different pieces, including pieces we tried in Australia,” Massa said. “And everything went in a worse direction.

“So that was positive to understand. The car was completely different to the morning and that can be very positive to find out why things were difficult in Australia. Tomorrow, the car can be a big step and much more competitive than what you have seen in terms of lap time [in free practice].

“We don’t have a very competitive car but I hope that we can fight for as many points as possible. I want to get in the car with everything right, the best we have. And that will be tomorrow,” he added.

POLL: Who should replace Massa at Ferrari

If we consider that Ferrari are considering to replace Felipe Massa, after the Italian press made minced meat of the Brazilian driver Wednesday, for his performance in the opening race in Australia, then who would you most like to see him replaced by?

Italian media: Massa is useless!

Felipe Massa his used to be under fire, and also from the Italian press. Last year the harsh comments from the boot-shaped country did nothing to dampen Ferrari´s desire to keep the Brazilian on board for another season, but reading the articles from the observers in the Italian press reveals that they want changes now!

Fernando Alonso managed to convert 12th on the grid to fifth in the race, picking up 10 points for his troubles, but Massa started 17th and retired after a ‘brush’ with Bruno Senna, as some people are calling it. Ferrari has responded to the results by getting Massa a brand new chassis, read about it here, but it seems like the Italians are fed up with the excuses from Maranello. Dump Massa, now.

According to Italian Autosprint, Massa was an embarrassment in the race and useless for the team.

“The Brazilian is already a case: disastrous and embarrassing in the race. Last year, he had the excuse of not being able to get heat into the tyres, this year the opposite happens, [and] he destroys them in a few laps. Felipe is useless to the team and does not carry championship points. Massa is now the shadow of the beautiful pale rider of the past, [when he was] aggressive and [capable of a] quick lap.

“Sorry to say, but it is useless to deny the obvious: that the driver does not exist anymore since August 2009. Something clicked inside him [following his life-threatening Hungaroring qualifying accident] and he turned off the light of talent. Ferrari has already granted him many opportunities, but Maranello must now decide quickly whether to waste yet another season or try to fight for the constructors’ championship. To do this you need a fast driver alongside Alonso [and] Ferrari must have the courage to cut the umbilical cord with Massa now, not after this season but now or within a few weeks.”

It´s not the first time Massa has been rumoured to either get fired or the Italian media to come up with these stories. In fact, all of 2011 centered mainly about when Sergio Perez would get the call from Stefano Domenicali, to take over the seat and give Fernando Alonso a run for his money. Autosprint does comment on the fact that Perez started from the back of the grid in Melbourne and finished in eight place. Then there´s Adrian Sutil, who found himself out of a job at Force India, after a rather good 2011, where he finished in ninth in the championship, scoring 42 points, 15 more than then-rookie Paul Di Resta. Or what about Robert Kubica, who has also been linked with a seat at Ferrari.

For now the team is behind Massa 100%, but it is well-known that 2012 is the most important year of Massa´s career. Make it or break it.

“We need to stay close to Felipe because it’s clear that he’s under pressure,” Domenicali said, “I’ve asked his engineers to analyse the data on the car, also, to reassure him.

“We have fundamental issues [with the car] – one is the speed, and the other is the traction. Obviously the car will be nearly identical [in Malaysia] because it’s next weekend, but we will try to improve something in the set-ups. And then for China, Bahrain, etc, we will bring some updates. Hopefully, it will get better.”