He is meant to sign for the Italian car company today.

How long before Alonso throws the toys out of the pram?

Lotus seem pretty confident he isn’t going anywhere. I can’t see him leaving after what Ferrari did to him last time. Shirly Ferrari will be better off with Hulkenberg as it will keep Alonso happier.

I knew it! Woot

What, giving him $25 million to leave 🙂

No chucking him off the team in favor of Alonso.

and giving him $25 million payoff 🙂

How long before Alonso throws the toys out of the pram?

He already started 2 races ago.

Interesting to see what Alonso makes of it, he’s not exactly known for being a team player 🙂

Alonso to McLaren(/Honda)? (button still waiting for McLaren to sign)

or perhaps a big deal behind the scenes is Renaults buy out of Lotus, welcome back Flavio & Renault & Alonso.
anyone else notice Flav on TV in the Alonso garage at the weekend of the race.

No chucking him off the team in favor of Alonso.

As I understand it Kimi’s head wasn’t in F1, he admitted it repeatdly in the two seasons before. Won it and wanted a sabatical – Ferrari PAID him to stay on garden leave for a year/not to go to another team.

True?

Alonso needs a kick. The current line up isn’t working IMO. He’ll either leave (a real chance?) or whinge all season? (again)

[radio]Kimi… Fernando is quicker than you[/radio]

I’d love to hear Kimi’s response to that!

[radio]Kimi… Fernando is quicker than you[/radio]

I’d love to hear Kimi’s response to that!

Kimi: ‘So, tell him to overtake or f***k off’….probably

Well it has been widely rumoured for a while.

Bad for Alonso,
Good for Raikonnen
Good for Ferrari

I’m sure if Alonso had a veto on driver selection he would have chosen Massa. So perhaps this shows he doesn’t have as big an influence on the Ferrari team as people think

Hmmm do people not rate Alonso much?
I do, because I suspect Ferrari’s pace is more around the Massa times, and therefore for Kimi to move looks a bit daft considering he usually finishes in front of him – but then he did say people may think his move will be “daft”

[radio]Kimi… Fernando is quicker than you[/radio]

I’d love to hear Kimi’s response to that!

‘No’.

On Alonso in general, I’d be inclined to call him the Teflon driver. Alot of controversy around him but he was never implicated/tarnished. At McLaren he obviously gleaned a performance advantage from the nicked data but kept quiet and turned grass when he couldn’t get his way in the team.

It seems like he has a habit of turning people off- I imagine alot of the Ferrari staff aren’t ‘happy’ with the comments etc around their hardwork.

How come other (previous) Ferrari drivers did so well?

suspect Ferrari’s pace is more around the Massa times

Need to look at the other teams too.
Vettel teamed up with a n00b. Vettel may walk the driver’s champinship, but with a team mate who probably won’t help deliver the constructors.
Kimi and Alonso will be tripping all over each other for 2nd+3rd all season, and throwing it away exactly like Alonso+Hamilton did. Although Vettel will win by way more than the 1pt the Kimi did when he was gifted the WC. Ferrari stand a pretty good chance of stopping Red Bull do the double.

But I see Kimi+Alonso team only lasting a year.

I like Kimi’s style. I see it Kimi next season and beyond and Alonso moving out.

Only veto that matters is Di Montezelemo’s…

I’d say over 1 lap Kimi is quicker than Alonso, but I think Alonso has slightly more race craft and can deliver results better than the car should allow.

Remember there’s a big change in regs next year – new engines, increased (K)ERS, revised exhausts & reduced aero. 3 out of 4 of those are hitting key points of the RedBull’s performance advantage this year so we may see a slight levelling of the field. Plus the new engines will probably have some reliability issues so having 2 drivers who could/should be running at the front of the field is more important than ever for the WCC.

Can’t see anyone fighting for a McLaren seat until they go to Honda in 2015 – only having the Merc for one year will mean they’re probably at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to engines being dished out.

And as for Flav – he’s been banhammered worse than TJ & Fred combined.

Was Kimi driving for Ferrari when he stopped racing to eat an ice cream? Kimi’s great.

yep.

though it was more ‘the race was stopped so he had an ice cream’.

di Montezummas revenge is an idiot and holding the team back IMO, Alonso really hacked him off by openly criticising the team.

I think Kimi is ace, if only for his excuse for missing the (first) Schumacher farewell bash.

There’s something about Alonso that grates, hugely. As for Ferrari, they seem to be able to bend the rules in a way that McLaren cannot.

di Montezummas revenge is an idiot and holding the team back IMO,

Forget Grosjean. Kimi’s points total this year is getting onto 3 times Grosjean and double his last year. I think Kimi’s had a bit of bad luck (tyres etc) this season too. To be top 3 in a Lotus- with lower budgets I think Ferrari KNOW they are getting back A. A known commodity and B. a bloody good driver.

Kimi offers almost no feedback to the team on car setup which may be a problem for Ferrari development. Not sure how much Massa or Alonso give in this dept?

I think Kimi is ace, if only for his excuse for missing the (first) Schumacher farewell bash.

Aren’t you thinking of his excuse for missing the Pele presentation? 😉

I was doing a sh*t

You mean that?

It was a presentation to Schumacher before the Brazilian GP if I recall correctly.

What I want to know is what will Rob Smedley do all afternoon if he doesn’t have to talk Massa round the circuit?

I think Kimi is ace, if only for his excuse for missing the (first) Schumacher farewell bash.

Aren’t you thinking of his excuse for missing the Pele presentation?

It was the Schumi presentation. Pele forgot to wave the flag on the last lap.

We’re all right 😉 Pele did the presentation to Shumi before the race – I just remembered Brundle saying ‘you missed the presentation by Pele’ and forgot who it was for… 😳

The guy has a fantastic sense of Humour
😛

i agree with Mr Plow, i mean Alonso got in and lived and breathed ferrari, learning italian and pushing 110% out of that car, if he has to spur on engineers and workers saying that they need to improve so be it, he has earned the right with his outstanding drives and overtaking, just as he has the right to get criticism of he thrown the car down the gravel trap when in the lead….

lets face it, Kimi won his only WDC off the back of the far superior Schumacher/Brawn/Todt engineering masterpiece of the 2006 248-F1,
he does no PR, he doesnt care about the Fans, he goes home as soon as he can, stopping only for an ice cream.
Ferrari + kimi = mistake, and it will be a sliding slope downwards once more for the team – something started when Luca and Stefano Domenicali started to steer that ship more.

Kimi may have his detractors, but he signs his name as “James Hunt” whenever he’s trying to go incognito, apparently. Personally, I’d rather see him anywhere but Ferrari, but he’s PR gold.

Felipe Massa hasn’t won a race since 2008…that’s a sobering thought, is it not?

Kimi offers almost no feedback to the team on car setup

I was speaking to someone at Lotus and Kimi turns up, doesn’t say much (is nice though) and leaves pretty much the same way. So that sounds about right, he’d be a great advert for silent night beds!

Maybe a neg on the car development front but in the days of media/advertising/endorsements/PR etc hes bloody great.

i seem to recall reading more things from the enginners he have worked with in the past, saying that he is really good at giving feedback.

No idea which version is true though, but there was always these things going around, like him not being motivated etc etc

How about Red Bull happy with a potentially weaker no 2 driver in Ricciardo as they know Vettel will be off at the end of this season. Alonso happy for Kimi to join Ferarri and he and Vettel are swapping seats!

Thing is, you can speculate as much as you like but things might look very different next year. All the changes being made mean that Red Bull or any other team could end up being way ahead of the others if they spot something or get something particularly right. Given that, who know where drivers will want to be off to next year. For all we know, Newey could retire – he’s no spring chicken.

Well Massa has officially left now…

Sadly Massa has fallen out of favour with Ferrari/Luca Di Montezemolo, who is also a pi$$ed with Alonso as he keeps saying Ferrari aren’t giving him a winning car

Given the situation with drivers and Ferrari’s desire to beat RB; Kimi is about the only option if Ferrari wants to win races next year and Kimi doesn’t speak out of turn.

Assuming of course they have a fast enough car at season start.

PrinceJohn – Member
Well Massa has officially left now…

Yep

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Nao vou mais correr pela ferrari a partir de 2014 ! Gostaria de agradecer pela amizade , Vitorias e um lindo momento com a Ferrari . A ajuda da minha esposa , da minha familia e de todos os meus Fans. Toda a ajuda dos meus patrocinadores !! vou com tudo para as ultimate 7 corridas como piloto da Ferrari !A partir de agora quero achar uma equipe que me de um carro competitivo para conseguir mais vitorias e vencer um campeonato q e o meu sonho !! Um beijo a todos !! Felipe .

A post shared by Felipe Massa (@massafelipe19) on Sep 10, 2013 at 11:40am PDT

From 2014 i will no longer be driving for Ferrari. I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all. Felipe

I reckon they should sack off Alonso, and get The Hulk in to replace him. 🙂