Felipe Massa - Robert Kubica, to swap teams?

[ringo]

What we do know is that Massa was champion quality. We can't deny the guy won a championship. Hamilton grabbing it from him after 32 seconds, doesn't make him less of a driver if Lewis didn't pass glock.
What hurts Massa now is his injuries from the accident, he could be brain damaged, or partially blind; i don't know, but he's not the same driver from 2008 and midway 2009. Alonso would not have it so easy is Massa was in his 2008 form.

I still the the F10 is the second best car, but the team strategy is hurting Alonso just as much as his mistakes. The team may be listening to him too much and going with what he thinks works and not what actually works.

Kubica and Massa switch would be good, Massa would be king at Renault and Kubica would be Alonso's sidekick. I'd like to see how that plays out at Ferrari.

I would prefer if Alonso goes back to renault and Kubica goes to Ferrari!

[timbo]

What hurts Massa now is his injuries from the accident, he could be brain damaged, or partially blind; i don't know, but he's not the same driver from 2008 and midway 2009.

I don't think so. E.g. in Spa he was fastest man thru Eau-Rouge which requires coordination and precision. Also, his karting outings were as good as ever.
What I've noticed (and mentioned here many times) is that he persistently has a problem on breaking.
I hope next year Pirelli's would suit him better.

[D'Leh]

The only thing Massa might lack is confidence. Imho that is. Those people are professionals. They don't go racing with brain damage or partial blindness.

While I'm somewhat skeptical about Massa being a potential WDC I'm sure he doesn't lack the speed or talent. He got his shot at WDC in a year when Hamilton was putting up some atrocious racing too occasionally. Had he won it he might now have the confidence to take the fight to Alonso. But he didn't and so he struggles. He never was better than any of his team mates all around. But he got the potential to beat any of them when everything gets together, stars are aligned. In my opinion a WDC title or just great confidence can help getting to this mental state.

[mx_tifoso]

Yet more info from AofO...

Axis of Oversteer:

Kubica at Ferrari rumor won't die.

Given Alonso was definitively not going to Ferrari a year early from Renault you cannot totally chuckle at this one.
It goes like this:

Ferrari was not super keen on signing Massa again but Massa's family is good friends with Santander Brazil's CEO, Fabio Barbosa. who then intervened with Santander marketing in favor Felipe. The Brazilian is naturally seen as a better promotional asset than a pole in the South American market where the Spanish bank is in the process of doubling its market share, with presence in Brazil, Mexico Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
While Santander's checkbook obviously prevailed, the story continues, this did not sit well with Luca di Montezemolo who does not believe 100 Million Euro a year entitles the sponsor to run the team and is out to prove the famous mantra that Ferrari comes first, and drivers only matter so much.

So the compromise solution would work out something like this, Ferrari would continue to pay Massa as a test driver and loan him to Renault. Being under contract to Ferrari would still mean Massa would have to appear at Ferrari PR events. Renault would then agree to sell Kubica's contract to Ferrari, the French team could use the extra 7.5 Million Euros for development.
Massa, the theory goes, would not mind too much since at 14 Million Euros he's the best paid, non world champion on the grid.

[ringo]

What hurts Massa now is his injuries from the accident, he could be brain damaged, or partially blind; i don't know, but he's not the same driver from 2008 and midway 2009.

I don't think so. E.g. in Spa he was fastest man thru Eau-Rouge which requires coordination and precision. Also, his karting outings were as good as ever.
What I've noticed (and mentioned here many times) is that he persistently has a problem on breaking.
I hope next year Pirelli's would suit him better.

Maybe his blurred vision is on and off. It could be G force induced now that you mentioned braking. This is all my speculation still, but i don't think that he is that psychologically damaged from teaming with Alonso. He is simply driving too slow nowadays. And it's not the tyres, because he's slow deep into the races where the tyres are well worked in.
Maybe at the end of the year we'll find out what's really affecting him.

[myurr]

Maybe his blurred vision is on and off. It could be G force induced now that you mentioned braking. This is all my speculation still, but i don't think that he is that psychologically damaged from teaming with Alonso. He is simply driving too slow nowadays. And it's not the tyres, because he's slow deep into the races where the tyres are well worked in.
Maybe at the end of the year we'll find out what's really affecting him.

Little bit ironic to discuss this after Spa where he was faster than Alonso in both qualifying and the race...

I think it's been a factor of two things - it took him a little while to get back up to speed after his injury and he's been slower to adapt to the new tyres and Ferrari car, neither of which particularly suited him as much as the last couple of years. Look at Fisi when he went from Force India to Ferrari, he went from near the front of the grid to the back and didn't really improve. This years car is probably much closer to what Alonso wants than Massa.

[Donuts]

Bobby K, stay where you're at! Massa is not going anywhere, he's the perfect "numbero duo" driver! How funny would it be if Bobby K outcsored Alonso this season? Hillarious! Probably won't happen. On a more serious note, these rumours are rubbish.

[siskue2005]

As much as i dislike Massa moving from Ferrari where he has been for most of his career.
I would love to see Kubica in Ferrari and give a real fight for Alonso ....well it could be a repeat of 2007 season for Alonso

[timbo]

And it's not the tyres, because he's slow deep into the races where the tyres are well worked in.

This logic doesn't hold much, as if you're not treating tyres right, not only you don't get most from them, you also destroy'em very fast.

[SiLo]

2007 all over again if Kubica moves to Ferrari. What's even funnier is that Hamilton made a point about beating him and spoke about it, whereas Kubica is quiet, and would probably say nothing about it at all, he would just drive the socks off the thing and beat him.

[andartop]

A million different unfounded diagnoses after his accident we now hear that Massa might have brain damage or selective residual blindness...

Wouldn't a much simpler explanation be that he is simply not feeling as comfortable with this year's car? The evidence is there that when he does get the setup to his liking he does perform, so we can safely assume any brain damage or blindness couldn't be geographical location related as well!

Furthermore, I don't see why after all the fuss and the show he put up in Germany he would want to stay at Ferrari, so a swap with Kubica should be a welcome opportunity for Felippe. Unless he follows Rubens' example and stay in the team for another 4-5 years, and then moan he was being treated unfairly and write a book!

[ringo]

Maybe his blurred vision is on and off. It could be G force induced now that you mentioned braking. This is all my speculation still, but i don't think that he is that psychologically damaged from teaming with Alonso. He is simply driving too slow nowadays. And it's not the tyres, because he's slow deep into the races where the tyres are well worked in.
Maybe at the end of the year we'll find out what's really affecting him.

Little bit ironic to discuss this after Spa where he was faster than Alonso in both qualifying and the race...

I think it's been a factor of two things - it took him a little while to get back up to speed after his injury and he's been slower to adapt to the new tyres and Ferrari car, neither of which particularly suited him as much as the last couple of years. Look at Fisi when he went from Force India to Ferrari, he went from near the front of the grid to the back and didn't really improve. This years car is probably much closer to what Alonso wants than Massa.

His spa race was good, but not great. Check out his gap to Kubica and Sutil. Especially after the final safety car, Massa wasn't that good in Spa. He just drove the car home.
The tyres are a problem for him, but it cannot be as bad as what the mercedes drivers are going through.
No one can be 100% after an accident like what felipe went through.
It may be till next year till he is fully recovered. He's just saying he's ok so ferrari don't send him to the glue factory.
I'm open to the idea he feels ok, but I'm more inclined to believe he got some lasting damage, like most people who have been in the kind of accident he's been in.

too many signs suggest he's not seeing well at some moments. Look on his grid start in spa! He missed the line by a mile!
His off in Q3. His many spins, Alonso overtaking him on his "blind" side in china before the pits, among other clumsy things that happened to him.
I'll be watching him for the rest of the season.