month chronicle : who to possibly replace Felipe Massa in 2013 ?

Everyone speaks more of it since the start of the season: who to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari in 2013 ? 

Felipe continues to be supported by his team but until when ? The Scuderia begins to lose patience in view of the lack of performance of Massa ! but there is a criterion that should not be ignored, that all drivers fear: being only a number 2 driver !

* Jenson Button:

Although the British driver has signed a long-term contract with Mclaren , each year the rumours would want to him to go to Ferrari in 2013 ! and this idea would have everything to seduce because it would align 2 world champions and thus allow the "Santander" sponsor of kill two birds with one stone by touching both the Spanish market and the British one ! but this idea will probably stay in cartons, Jenson recently reported: 

"McLaren, it is the right team for me for the moment. And as I have always said never say never..."

before adding about Fernando Alonso:

"He is a very intelligent driver and perhaps that, in a parallel world, I would work with him. It would be difficult but it is always interesting to have someone on your side that is so hard, so intelligent. I admire him as I admired Alain Prost for that: he created a nice atmosphere around him, with very good people."

+: speed, 1 title of world champion , experience

-: contract with Mclaren, position of number 1 

* Kimi Räikkönen: 

the Lotus driver , who made a brilliant return this year, could be an ideal partner for Fernando Alonso but that's not counting liabilities with Luca di Montezemolo! everyone remembers all how, in late 2009, Kimi was more or less "thanked" in favour of Fernando Alonso! Moreover, in the margin of the Gp of Hungary, Kimi said did not want to close the door to Ferrari but not as long as Luca di Montezemolo will be at the head of the Scuderia! more, we see poorly the Finnish driver leave the Lotus team in which he flourishes rather well! 

+: experience in Ferrari, 1 title of world champion, speed

-: liabilities with Luca di Montezemolo, contract with Lotus 

* Jules Bianchi: 

until last year, Jules seemed the ideal candidate. from the Ferrari driver academy, 3rd driver of the team, it seemed natural that he be confirmed but Jules left for the Force India team where he served as a third driver. then will the Scuderia undertake a pilot without actual experience only the one to have worked on the Ferrari Simulator? or will Jules prefer to stay at Force India ? 

+: from the FDA, former 3rd driver of the Scuderia

-: very little experience on track 

* Sergio Pérez: 

Sergio is surely the ideal candidate given his route and the close ties between Sauber and Ferrari. In addition, after completing the Gp of Malaysia in second position and held the high hand to Fernando alonso(who won this day), the F1 world discovered this young driver loaded with talent! Since then he appeared almost obvious that the successor of Felipe Massa would be Sergio! some journalists  even asked Ferrari to hire him on the field! but the Scuderia is not precipitated and still wants to see the performance of Pérez before deciding. only Pérez loses patience and starts may be wondering if it would be better to build a career with Sauber! 

+: speed, capable of bringing points, important sponsors, from the FDA

-: results in tooth, ability to be only a 2nd pilot?

* Romain Grosjean: 

The Lotus drivers as definitely on top at this time because after Kimi Räikkönen, it is the turn of romain Grosjean to enter the dance! It might seem absurd because at first glance, Romain has no link with Ferrari and yet not so much! Indeed Romain has been team-mate of Fernando Alonso at Renault in 2009, they know well each other and he could make a very good teammate for Fernando. then will the French driver transfer to the sirens of Ferrari or will he see his future with Lotus ? 

+: former teammate of Fernando Alonso, fast, able to score points

-: ability to be only a number 2 driver ? , links to sponsors with Total 

* heikki Kovalainen :

apart from Button and Räikkönen, Heikki is probably the most experienced driver to succeed to Felipe Massa in 2013. and Heikki has more than one asset: he well knows the inner workings of a large team since he was a Mclaren driver. Heikki already showed his talent at the wheel of a modest (but evolving) team as Caterham. 

+: ex member of Mclaren, familiar with Pat Fry and his team, quick and experienced driver .

-: lack of results 

* Felipe Massa: 

here is a driver that nobody has probably thought about : Felipe Massa ! Ferrari would make a good case in retaining the Brazilian driver a year more because Felipe will surely agree a decrease salary to remain on track ! but  the Brazilian should have a strong second part of the season and if he manages to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, to win the world title then maybe that Felipe would win his ticket to remain with the Scuderia ! 

+: Member of the Ferrari family , number 2 driver confirmed, can be fast.

-: lack of self-confidence , large difference in performance with his teammate.

the news of Wednesday August 8th

* the Fia has established the 2013 season winter testing schedule :

-Jerez (Spain) 5 to 8 February 2013 

- Barcelona (Spain) from 19 to 22 February and from 28 February to 3 March 2013. 

* Pirelli has provided the list of tires that will be allocated to the drivers for the 3 next races:

-Grand Prix of SPA - Francorchamps: hard and Medium:

-Grand Prix of Monza: hard and Medium

-GP of Singapore: Super- softs and softs 

* all the teams are on vacation ! They must take a break of 2 weeks but all teams are not on holiday at the same time so here are the dates:

-McLaren is on vacation since the end of the Hungary Gp and is therefore the first team which has gone on vacation. 

-Ferrari, Mercedes, Lotus, Force India, Sauber, Williams, Caterham, HRT and Marussia: from Sunday 5 August to Monday August 20. 

-Toro Rosso from 4 August to Sunday August 19 

- Red Bull from 3 August to Friday August 17

pics of Fernando Alonso birthday party in Hungary !

Fernando Alonso celebrated yesterday his 31st birthday  and Ferrari organised for him a birthday party  in their motorhome !

                   happy birthday Fernando !

Hungary Gp : Alonso & Massa Sunday quotes

* Fernando Alonso: "it is a positive result, no doubt. We knew that it would be a difficult weekend because we were not fast enough, but in any event, we are able to extend the advance on Webber. In the Championship, we had a good weekend. To have success in such conditions, we had to be in front of the Red Bull, by keeping them behind since the paper he was seventh. Hamilto has been inaccessible for us this weekend, but we have not lost much ground to Vettel and these are, in my view, our main rivals among the group which is behind me in the ranking. We have made the right choices in terms of strategy: it is true that I lost a bit of time behind Perez, which cost me a position in favour of Raikkonen but the Finn was probably too fast this afternoon. We still have a 40-point lead, while we didn't have the best car to this point of the season. Now, we are trying to make great work in terms of performance to allow us to keep the top of the championship , because what we have now, in the long term, will not be enough. If we are at this point, it is because we have always made out the best of us and what we had, and because we had excellent reliability: If you do not have it, you are not in the points at the end of 23 consecutive races. The month of July has been a difficult and stressful month with three races and a lot of work at the plant. Now, I want to go a little bit in holiday to completely recharge the batteries, and make sure to be fully prepared for Spa, with the hope that the second part of the season is also positive and productive than the first. We have five weeks to rest and work, look to the future before again by two very difficult races like Spa and Monza." 

* Felipe Massa: "this race was ruined at the beginning when I have skated the wheels, perhaps because the clutch that has overheated: there I lost these two positions I could not recover. On this track , overtakings are very difficult, and even if at some point in the second half of the race I was faster than Webber and Senna, I had no opportunity to overtake. This was therefore not a beautiful race for me but I have at the least points  to bring home . Silverstone and Hockenheim, we had a competitive rate, close to the best, here it was not the case what has certainly made the week-end difficult for us. Of course, this first part of the season was not good for me, but today, I'm certainly better off than at the beginning and I am sure that the second part will be better. My contract? Until the situation is clear, there is nothing to say! I'm concentrated to try to make good results in the next races, this is my first goal."

Hungary Gp : Alonso & Massa Saturday quotes

* Fernando Alonso: "we expected very difficult qualifications and this is what happened. We saw eight cars very competitive and therefore, nothing that join Q3 was difficult in itself. We did and we even managed to slightly improve the behaviour of the car in the last part, working on the pressure of the tires and the front spoiler. We have never managed the perfect tour, we lost tenths in a few turns handles. The wind was stronger than this morning and I think that he took a little everybody by surprise. Everything considered, the 6th place is not a bad result, far from it. It is true that the exceedances are not simple here but tomorrow it can still raining and we know that anything can change. There is the unknown factor concerning the behaviour of the tyres, because yesterday person has been able to really test on long term. We have to be very concentrated, particularly in how we manage the tires. On the dry track, we are not yet in a position to fight for the top positions and we are well aware of this. Usually, in the race, the situation improves and we hope to finish in the top 4 or 5 when we will take the chequered flag. Our goal will be to control our closest rival in the standings and we will begin before him. We will see the situation tomorrow night." 

* Felipe Massa: "it was not an easy qualification for the team and myself. Me and Fernando, we have failed to make a perfect tour, you can see because we were faster in Q2 and Q3. It is a pity in Q2 I had a good time and I expected to improve again, but unfortunately I was slower. I suddenly had less grip and a lot of oversteer, so now we need to understand why. It will be very hot tomorrow and it could also rain and therefore need to be prepared for any situation that will arise. We need to carefully consider the limited data that we have about the behavior of tires: we could see a significant deterioration of the software, which may be feeling a little more with the full of fuel. We must wait and see how things are in this long race tomorrow, I think that we still have a chance to fight for the podium, even if there is a very strong opposition. The Hungaroring was the scene of several important moments in my career, beginning with the 2008 engine failure which deprived me of a certain victory, followed a year later my accident. Many people here are close to me and continue to support me, then I am doubly disappointed because I wanted to reward with a good result this afternoon. We will try tomorrow!"

Hungary Gp : the grid

Hungary Gp : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

* Fernando Alonso: "as usual, Friday, it is always difficult to speculate on how things are going to happen during qualifying and the race. It is even more difficult when it rains, as has happened in the last three weekends of racing. It is precisely because the rain this afternoon that we could not try to dry tires in the long term, but, at least, this morning we were able to complete the work on the new aerodynamic system that we have here in Hungary. Now, our engineers do their best to analyze and implement the best possible program for the rest of the weekend. Here, the characterization is certainly more important than elsewhere: it will then be important to attention to every detail to fully prepare fortomorrow. The unknown on tires? "It is the same for everyone, such as Silverstone and Hockenheim"

* Felipe Massa: "in the end it was a good day with as only disadvantage the arrival of rain in half of the afternoon that we kept to our relay to understand tire." This has not only been our problem, but that of all the world. We have anyway managed to a fairly accurate idea about the performance erasers on the car but it is really too early to give a judgment on our position relative to the other. There are surely very efficient as cars at Hockenheim. We know while at the Hungaroring the results of the first day are to take with a tweezers because the runway is still very dirty. From Friday to Sunday, the situation changed radically. We will see how will be things tomorrow. We know that we need to do our best."