Mercedes: With Nick Heidfeld now officially signed as reserve driver, the German national team is complete and we've enjoyed watching the hilarious PR dance going on pretending Michael Schumacher is not being named #1 driver. The story they came up with about Schumi being "superstitious about even numbers" has to go down as one of the funniest ever. Why is it even a PR issue to name a seven time world champion, returning to the sport after three seasons, one of the biggest stories in motor sport history, number one over a young guy who has zero wins in 70 starts, is a mystery. Does anyone honestly believe that team will not revolve around Schumacher?
USF1: They finally signed an American driver and by American we mean from Argentina of course. And by signed we mean they will take the check signed by Jose Maria "Pechito" Lopez's sponsors, some say as much as eight million dollars, a deal which has come together with help from prominent Argentinian politician and ex-Peter Windsor managed F1 driver Carlos Reutemann.
Ferrari: Why are they not publishing Massa's test lap times, to protect Massa or to protect Rossi? Why would they protect Rossi?
Lotus: Will return with an all black livery... add gold?
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Also another not on Rossi's times, apparently from the videos on youtube it appears as if he was using the shorter configuration of the hairpin before the final set of corners which would also take off a good .5-.7 seconds off his time.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail on the head. Massa just isn't up to speed at this time. Whether it will come together over the next few tests. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteSadly, I believe he's not tough enough mentally to come back from this. And Ferrari are wondering whether the loyalty (whilst noble) they paid him is actually the best thing for the teams standings.
Just to clear about pay drivers, De La Rosa was hired by Sauber over Fisichella because the spaniard came with a 4 million dollar dowery, Renault might hire Valery Petrov because he will bring a 15 million EURO sponsorship package and who knows how much money Alguersuari had to come up with to keep his seat at Toro Rosso....
ReplyDeleteMassa was as quick as he has always been in both his kart race in Brazil and the one on snow in Italy a few weeks ago. Granted they aren't F1 cars, but you still need the reaction times and hand eye coordination to be quick and those seemed to be just fine. I think Massa will do just fine this year :)
ReplyDeleteMassa will be under real pressure this season: Alonso as a teammate, the comeback from the accident and his contract being over at the end of the season. He will feel it.
ReplyDeleteI agree Massa definitely will be under a deal of pressure this season, but I think 2010 will be a pleasure. Like most, I can't wait to see how the recent and perennial winning teams will perform this season along with the intra-team battles with many quality (national?) driver line-ups.
ReplyDeleteI can't find any other information on Massa's time, but James Allen mentions that he ran a full three seconds faster than Rossi:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jamesallenonf1.com/
I wonder where he gets that, just read the whole Gazzetta web site and there is no mention of Massa's time. Maybe there was an article today in the actual paper.... Anyway.
ReplyDeleteOK, I found Massa's time as 1:18.9 so I guess Ferrari was protecting Rossi. I guess FErrari really hoped to "scoop" everyone by bringing possibly the most popular name in motor sport to Maranello and has spent some serious money testing him. But Rossi is probably too bright to get sucked into a Badoer type situation... I'm sure he enjoyed the test though.
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