Domenicali pretty much confirms Alonso to Ferrari?

[The FOZ]

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news ... x-q-a.html

Briatore thinks Fernando is going to Ferrari, too.

[ISLAMATRON]

So then the next best driver on the market is who? Kimi? is he even on the market? Does he know he is on the market? Or is it MAssa who will be playing musical chairs?

[stl0]

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5512796,00.html

Not sure I posted the link correctly. If not, I apologize.

At any rate, here's the relevant quote from a "source" from GPWeek :

"Fernando will be a Ferrari driver in 2010. The deal has been signed. The only question is his team-mate and out of respect for Felipe, Ferrari will not make the announcement until they are sure whether he will be able to return."

The "out of respect for Felipe" part sounds like a hint that he's the one on the way out. I don't think there would be a risk of disrespecting Felipe in announcing that Kimi's getting fired while FM is laid up in Brazil.

I'm not familiar with GPWeek, so take it for what it's worth.

[The FOZ]

So then the next best driver on the market is who? Kimi? is he even on the market? Does he know he is on the market? Or is it MAssa who will be playing musical chairs?

10:1 it's Kimi.

After Massa's accident, it would be like a slap in the face to ditch him as he's on his way to a recovery.

But then again, if he doesn't ever manage to get back into F1, for whatever reason, the decision becomes a bit simpler.

[The FOZ]

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5512796,00.html

Not sure I posted the link correctly. If not, I apologize.

At any rate, here's the relevant quote from a "source" from GPWeek :

"Fernando will be a Ferrari driver in 2010. The deal has been signed. The only question is his team-mate and out of respect for Felipe, Ferrari will not make the announcement until they are sure whether he will be able to return."

The "out of respect for Felipe" part sounds like a hint that he's the one on the way out. I don't think there would be a risk of disrespecting Felipe in announcing that Kimi's getting fired while FM is laid up in Brazil.

I'm not familiar with GPWeek, so take it for what it's worth.

I read that a few days ago, and hesitated to post it. Autosport is quite reliable, and they've not picked up the story, meaning they can't or won't confirm it themselves. Planet F1 is just parroting what they got in GPWeek.

[DaveKillens]

x

[The FOZ]

To touch on what you've already mentioned, Dave.

The damage to Massa's brain could be so subtle, a .1% slowing of neurotransmitters, a slight change in eye-hand-foot coordination, any number of small changes could take away whatever made him different than the average person in the first place. Whatever gave him the gift that made him so much better a driver than the average person could now be gone.

Also, we will never will know the true extent of the damage to Massa.

Here's why.

No matter how thoroughly he is tested now, there is no "before" to compare the "after" data to. No baselines.

The only way we will ever know how fully Massa has recovered is to see him drive an F1 car again. He may never be the same. He may be better, or worse. We just won't know until he gets back in the cockpit. But that's just a small part of the picture, really.

So Ferrari's delay of an announcement, whatever it may be, will likely be more than a few weeks...

[DaveKillens]

x

[The FOZ]

I understand Kimi has been known to get so drunk he falls down. But it would do him a terrible injustice to think he's so dense that he is unaware of what millions of fans know.

You could almost say...he probably knows more than we know?

I mean, were I Kimi, even if I knew I was going to be paid out at the end of the season, I STILL wouldn't tell the media, and I still would say "I have a contract", Just to avoid dealing with the issue and the sh!tstorm it would surely create mid-season.

[andartop]

As I've said repeatedly in the relevant thread, thankfully, it seems Massa's injuries were nowhere near as bad as some people were afraid, or as bad as they could have been. At the moment, there is no reason whatsoever to suspect he has sustained any brain damage, so I really think all this is pure and pointless speculation. Had he developed any signs or symptoms of brain damage whatsoever he would still be in a hospital receiving tests on a daily basis. Based on the pure fact he is at home, I think it's safe to say he must be indeed recovering well and uneventfully!

[danrur]

Ferrari has always hired experienced drivers, not caring at all to youth programs. And I don't think they'll change their mind in the future, even if Badoer's (ugly) races would last till the end of the season

[Giblet]

It's not just brain damage that could keep him out. There could be severe headaches, or dizziness down the road, very common from this type of injury.

It's not like he just has to get better to the level the average Joe is at, he needs to get back to %100, as lets face it, Massa has improved many fold since he first got to F1, but he needs to be %100 to be competitive.

[andartop]

There could be a million different things down the road for Massa, or none. The thing is, we can only go by what we know for sure, and still we know very little about the exact extent and severity of his injuries to be able to speculate about his prognosis.
As one of the treating Hungarian doctors very wisely said on the next day of the accident (I think), in head injuries every single case is different. Yes, they all have some common considerations and risks, but without examining the patient and all available information from the various tests they carried out as well as monitoring him after the treatment was provided to evaluate his response, it is pretty damn impossible to have any idea about possible complications down the road: thus, as I said on my previous post, this is all pure and pointless speculation.
On the other hand, when someone says "common" in regards to possible complications, this may vary so widely depending on various factors, that again the word itself says absolutely nothing at all. For example, you may have a hundred well organized multi-centered randomized control trials estimating the possibility of a specific complication at 10% - 25%. This is quite a lot. But it is also quite a wide range, and it really depends whether you consider it from the patient's or the doctor's point of view: if it really is 10% and you're the patient, it means that by a chance of 90% you'll get away with it, which is quite good! But if you're the doctor and the actual figure is 25%, for you it means that 1 out of 4 of your patients will present complications, which is very bad!!!

[raceman]

In case of head injury, anything is possible. Nonetheless, let's hope that Felipe will race again and be as competitive as he was before the accident.

Let's continue with this thread's topic though ; no 'concrete' news/leaked news of Alonso going to Ferrari in 2010 yet..... just rumours running wild

[oj1983]

I was getting the feeling Ferrari were going to pay Kimi for next year off as he seems like he's ready for a new challenge, but with the uncertainty surrounding Felipe's recovery or otherwise, they would be mad to commit either way. The way things are looking it could be nearer next season's testing before a number of the drivers even know who they will be racing for next year!!