- 26 May 10, 19:16#200758
Massa's manager opens talks with Renault
Wed, 26 May 16:30:28 2010
Felipe Massa’s manager Nicolas Todt has initiated talks with both the Brazilian’s present employer Ferrari as well as Renault regarding next year, as the 2008 F1 World Championship runner-up’s position at the Prancing Horse appears to be ever-more tenuous.
Massa has been a Ferrari driver on-and-off since 2003, and has competed for the Scuderia on a full-time basis since the beginning of 2006. During that time, the Paulista has defied his detractors by proving capable of holding his own against the likes of world champions Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, but the title-winner over in the other side of the garage to him this year could just be one too many, it seems.
Massa and Fernando Alonso have not had the easiest of relationships ever since the former accused the latter’s ‘fixed’ Singapore victory of two years ago of having cost him that season’s drivers’ crown – and tensions heightened after the Spaniard brusquely and single-mindedly elbowed his team-mate aside onto the grass entering the pit-lane during the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last month.
There are some who contend that Massa is being increasingly edged out of the door at Ferrari – speculation that is scarcely quelled by the reaction of the company’s president Luca di Montezemolo to his lacklustre performances of late and struggle to adequately get to grips with the F10 [see separate story – click here] – ostensibly to make way for Renault star Robert Kubica. Indeed, whilst he insists his principal goal is to stay put, the smarter money now looks to be upon the 29-year-old doing a straight swap with the Pole next year.
“I like it a lot at Ferrari,” Massa told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat. “I know everybody and everybody knows me. However, it is always encouraging to know that other teams with fast cars are interested in me. The main objective is to continue with Ferrari, but if that fails than we will look elsewhere.”
Another man to be linked in connection with Massa’s Ferrari seat is Red Bull Racing’s current world championship leader Mark Webber – winner of the most recent two grands prix in Spain and Monaco – though the plain-speaking Aussie is remaining tight-lipped, conceding only that ‘things happen and change very fast in this business and you never know what’s around the corner’.
The Maranello-based outfit’s team principal Stefano Domenicali, meanwhile, insists that ‘we trust Massa...he is doing a good job’, as the eleven-time grand prix-winner and erstwhile F1 2010 World Championship pace-setter bids to kick his challenge back into gear again in this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, around the demanding Istanbul Park Circuit at which he went unbeaten from 2006 to 2008 and that he transformed into something of a personal stomping ground, acknowledging that it is ‘probably my favourite track’.
“The only thing that matters is my work within the team and how we prepare for the future,” he told French publication Le Nouvel Observateur. “I came here to be with Michael [Schumacher – in 2006], I have also teamed up with Kimi and today I’m with Fernando. They are all strong drivers. I feel a lot of respect within the team – and that is what matters.”
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26052010/ ... nault.html
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26052010/ ... s-800.html
di Montezemolo praises Alonso, snubs Massa as Ferrari hits 800
Wed, 26 May 14:50:21 2010
Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has spoken warmly of Fernando Alonso and little of Felipe Massa as the illustrious Prancing Horse approaches its 800th F1 start in the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend – with the Spaniard bullish about his prospects of successfully turning the tables on current runaway pace-setters Red Bull Racing.
Alonso led the title standings earlier this season, only for a brace of costly faux pas – a rather hasty getaway in Shanghai and an accident that wrote his F10 off in Monte Carlo last time out – to somewhat blunt the Oviedo native’s challenge and leave him at the mercy of the rampaging Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. di Montezemolo, however, insists he can easily forgive such errors.
“I only consider the Monaco one, where he was being over-confident,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “He wanted to test the limits, thinking about the pole and he made a mistake. The jump-start in China was down to tension, but he has team spirit, he’s conscientious and [he] has attachment to the team. We are in good shape for the world championship – it’s still open.”
Perhaps tellingly, less – far less – was spoken on the subject of Massa, who is ostensibly under pressure to retain his seat at Maranello in 2011 following a series of lacklustre showings in comparison with Alonso and with Renault star Robert Kubica and maybe also Webber waiting expectantly in the wings for an opportunity to supplant him.
Conceding only that the Brazilian – who has returned from life-threatening injury this year – needs to continue to put the team first, di Montezemolo’s lack of encouragement must make sobering reading for the 2008 F1 World Championship runner-up.
The 62-year-old went on to allude to some possible changes to Ferrari’s technical structure by way of new arrivals ‘at the middle levels’ for ‘stimulus’, re-asserted his conviction that the current restrictions on testing were misguided and re-opened the debate about scrapping grand prix Fridays.
“It’s been discussed many times before,” di Montezemolo acknowledged. “The promoters don’t like it because it cuts down their opportunities to gain revenue, but the teams feel that the complete testing ban has possibly been a wrong route. We need tests to experiment, especially those of us who transfer technology from road-to-car. We want to go back to using Fiorano, in which we have invested a lot. We are constructors, not people who race for a hobby.”
As for Alonso, meanwhile, the double F1 World Champion is eager simply to get back out on-track this weekend to banish his Monaco mishap with a return to the top step of the rostrum in Turkey, having never triumphed around a circuit that his team-mate has all-but made his own.
“Istanbul will be a very important race for us, not just for the championship, but also in terms of the history of Ferrari, as it will be the Scuderia’s 800th grand prix,” the 28-year-old underlined. “That will be a further motivating factor to get a good result and try and make it to the podium, hopefully ahead of the Red Bulls.
“The team has worked very hard in the days following the Monaco Grand Prix, and I leave for Turkey in a confident and optimistic mood. Furthermore, if you think that, of the first six races, four times I found myself last or thereabouts after the opening laps and I am third in the world championship, three points off the leader, I have no reason not to be confident...”
The 22-time grand prix-winner, however, did confess that he remains at a loss to explain just how the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB6 is quite as fast as it is – and reflected that following its lead in terms of design innovations might not on its own be enough to gain the upper hand.
“It would be nice if we knew,” he admitted in an interview with German publication Die Welt. “It is incredibly difficult to figure out why the competition is better here and there, and so it is hard to copy them – and whether that always works is a different matter, because every team also has its own design philosophy into which the next elements fit. It means that you have to develop better in your own direction.”
Wed, 26 May 16:30:28 2010
Felipe Massa’s manager Nicolas Todt has initiated talks with both the Brazilian’s present employer Ferrari as well as Renault regarding next year, as the 2008 F1 World Championship runner-up’s position at the Prancing Horse appears to be ever-more tenuous.
Massa has been a Ferrari driver on-and-off since 2003, and has competed for the Scuderia on a full-time basis since the beginning of 2006. During that time, the Paulista has defied his detractors by proving capable of holding his own against the likes of world champions Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, but the title-winner over in the other side of the garage to him this year could just be one too many, it seems.
Massa and Fernando Alonso have not had the easiest of relationships ever since the former accused the latter’s ‘fixed’ Singapore victory of two years ago of having cost him that season’s drivers’ crown – and tensions heightened after the Spaniard brusquely and single-mindedly elbowed his team-mate aside onto the grass entering the pit-lane during the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last month.
There are some who contend that Massa is being increasingly edged out of the door at Ferrari – speculation that is scarcely quelled by the reaction of the company’s president Luca di Montezemolo to his lacklustre performances of late and struggle to adequately get to grips with the F10 [see separate story – click here] – ostensibly to make way for Renault star Robert Kubica. Indeed, whilst he insists his principal goal is to stay put, the smarter money now looks to be upon the 29-year-old doing a straight swap with the Pole next year.
“I like it a lot at Ferrari,” Massa told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat. “I know everybody and everybody knows me. However, it is always encouraging to know that other teams with fast cars are interested in me. The main objective is to continue with Ferrari, but if that fails than we will look elsewhere.”
Another man to be linked in connection with Massa’s Ferrari seat is Red Bull Racing’s current world championship leader Mark Webber – winner of the most recent two grands prix in Spain and Monaco – though the plain-speaking Aussie is remaining tight-lipped, conceding only that ‘things happen and change very fast in this business and you never know what’s around the corner’.
The Maranello-based outfit’s team principal Stefano Domenicali, meanwhile, insists that ‘we trust Massa...he is doing a good job’, as the eleven-time grand prix-winner and erstwhile F1 2010 World Championship pace-setter bids to kick his challenge back into gear again in this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, around the demanding Istanbul Park Circuit at which he went unbeaten from 2006 to 2008 and that he transformed into something of a personal stomping ground, acknowledging that it is ‘probably my favourite track’.
“The only thing that matters is my work within the team and how we prepare for the future,” he told French publication Le Nouvel Observateur. “I came here to be with Michael [Schumacher – in 2006], I have also teamed up with Kimi and today I’m with Fernando. They are all strong drivers. I feel a lot of respect within the team – and that is what matters.”
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26052010/ ... nault.html
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26052010/ ... s-800.html
di Montezemolo praises Alonso, snubs Massa as Ferrari hits 800
Wed, 26 May 14:50:21 2010
Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has spoken warmly of Fernando Alonso and little of Felipe Massa as the illustrious Prancing Horse approaches its 800th F1 start in the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend – with the Spaniard bullish about his prospects of successfully turning the tables on current runaway pace-setters Red Bull Racing.
Alonso led the title standings earlier this season, only for a brace of costly faux pas – a rather hasty getaway in Shanghai and an accident that wrote his F10 off in Monte Carlo last time out – to somewhat blunt the Oviedo native’s challenge and leave him at the mercy of the rampaging Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. di Montezemolo, however, insists he can easily forgive such errors.
“I only consider the Monaco one, where he was being over-confident,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “He wanted to test the limits, thinking about the pole and he made a mistake. The jump-start in China was down to tension, but he has team spirit, he’s conscientious and [he] has attachment to the team. We are in good shape for the world championship – it’s still open.”
Perhaps tellingly, less – far less – was spoken on the subject of Massa, who is ostensibly under pressure to retain his seat at Maranello in 2011 following a series of lacklustre showings in comparison with Alonso and with Renault star Robert Kubica and maybe also Webber waiting expectantly in the wings for an opportunity to supplant him.
Conceding only that the Brazilian – who has returned from life-threatening injury this year – needs to continue to put the team first, di Montezemolo’s lack of encouragement must make sobering reading for the 2008 F1 World Championship runner-up.
The 62-year-old went on to allude to some possible changes to Ferrari’s technical structure by way of new arrivals ‘at the middle levels’ for ‘stimulus’, re-asserted his conviction that the current restrictions on testing were misguided and re-opened the debate about scrapping grand prix Fridays.
“It’s been discussed many times before,” di Montezemolo acknowledged. “The promoters don’t like it because it cuts down their opportunities to gain revenue, but the teams feel that the complete testing ban has possibly been a wrong route. We need tests to experiment, especially those of us who transfer technology from road-to-car. We want to go back to using Fiorano, in which we have invested a lot. We are constructors, not people who race for a hobby.”
As for Alonso, meanwhile, the double F1 World Champion is eager simply to get back out on-track this weekend to banish his Monaco mishap with a return to the top step of the rostrum in Turkey, having never triumphed around a circuit that his team-mate has all-but made his own.
“Istanbul will be a very important race for us, not just for the championship, but also in terms of the history of Ferrari, as it will be the Scuderia’s 800th grand prix,” the 28-year-old underlined. “That will be a further motivating factor to get a good result and try and make it to the podium, hopefully ahead of the Red Bulls.
“The team has worked very hard in the days following the Monaco Grand Prix, and I leave for Turkey in a confident and optimistic mood. Furthermore, if you think that, of the first six races, four times I found myself last or thereabouts after the opening laps and I am third in the world championship, three points off the leader, I have no reason not to be confident...”
The 22-time grand prix-winner, however, did confess that he remains at a loss to explain just how the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB6 is quite as fast as it is – and reflected that following its lead in terms of design innovations might not on its own be enough to gain the upper hand.
“It would be nice if we knew,” he admitted in an interview with German publication Die Welt. “It is incredibly difficult to figure out why the competition is better here and there, and so it is hard to copy them – and whether that always works is a different matter, because every team also has its own design philosophy into which the next elements fit. It means that you have to develop better in your own direction.”
