Ferrari Losing Patience with Massa

[cosworth151]

Monaco could be the beginning of the end for Felipe Massa at Ferrari. The team is turning up the pressure on the Brazilian driver.

"In [Spain], 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."

Translation: Move it up or move on.

Ferrari has one of the biggest "team mates war" gaps I've ever seen. Alonso leads the pack right now with 61 points. Massa has 2 points.

Now the speculation begins as to who would replace him. Perez is tied up for this season. I'd like to see Jarno Trulli get a shot at a good team one more time.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99622

[John S]

I've seen rumours on the net about Ferrari taking Di Resta from F1FI and Sutil coming back in to cover at the silverstone based team.

Not sure Norbert would be too happy with Paul swanning off to Maranello, I'm inclined to think Haug sees him as Schumi's successor at the Mercedes team.

However if Perez is the long time goal for Ferrari then Di Resta could pick up some valuble top team experience, in the meantime at the Italian squad, to aid his development.

[Jericoke]

I suspect that whoever replaces Massa this time won't do much better than his previous replacements.

With such a close grid (Massa qualified 17th, but only by hundredths of a second), and a lack of testing time to get every ounce of performance out of the Ferrari, I don't see how any of the rumoured drivers could improve on Massa's performance.

Whose head rolls if Massa's replacement doesn't improve the team?  (I suppose it's the same person whose head rolls if Massa doesn't improve:  a lose-lose proposition.  Mark Webber joining a Flavio led team in 2013 seems likely to me.)

[F1fanaticBD]

They should take the chance, because I don't see Massa getting any quicker, though his performance was much better than what it shows on the board. In Q2 only .6 sec separated him from Alonso, who was in the 5th place. But in the end, in the constructors championship, Ferrari is losing big time for his lack of pace. Whoever comes, certainly he will not make to the top immediately, but Ferrari people want him to put up decent points in the races.

But I must admit, Massa & Hammi really gave us a clean and joyous moments with some great driving, and if it was not for the drive-through penalty, we could have seen Massa a lot better place than he actually finished.

[David]

I'm the guys biggest fan, but even I'm losing patience. 

I would like to see Perez have a go in the Ferrari seat. Not sure about Paul Dull Resta, I don't think I would enjoy him as a Ferrari driver. He's as exciting as Kimi in an interview. 

[F1fanaticBD]

If they snatch Paul, it will be second time Ferrari have snatch a driver from Force India, Fisi being the first, in the mid-season ...

[Scott]

I suspect that whoever replaces Massa this time won't do much better than his previous replacements.

100% agree.

I'm trying to figure what the heck is going on though.  At the beginning of the season I thought the issue was that Ferrari needed to fix the car and not worry about Massa.  I would like to say Alonso is doing much better now because of the car, but cripes, having to give everything they have to try to keep up with a Williams while RBR and Mclaren are nowhere in sight means that maybe haven't fixed the car yet, but others are falling apart.  If that's the case, then I'd still rather Ferrari spend more attention on their engineering efforts than Massa. 

[cosworth151]

That's why I thought Trulli might be the driver for them. He could help them develop the car, and still leave room for someone like Perez to move in next season.