Ferrari hopes to maintain its momentum next year
Ferrari has had an amazing season this year with Fernando Alonso finishing in 2nd place just 4 points behind the 2010 World champion Sebastian Vettel. However, Ferrari could have easily secured the drivers’ title since Fernando Alonso was leading
the standings and was 15 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel before the grand finale at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Fernando was further chased by Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton who were just 8 and 24 points behind the Spaniard respectively. The two time world champion was running for his 3rd drivers’ title and it seemed that Alonso would join the short list
of legends who have secured more than 2 titles in the sport.
However, it seemed that his teammate Felipe Massa was unable to support his teammate in any way with the exception of the win Felipe literally gifted the Spaniard at the German Grand Prix. Massa was ordered by his team to back off and let his teammate Fernando
Alonso who was running in 2nd place to score maximum points and gain an advantage over his 5 rivals who were competing for the drivers’ title.
Clearly, it was not imposed on Felipe and since he was way behind the top 5 drivers in the drivers’ standings, enabling Fernando Alonso to secure maximum points was the best move for Ferrari. Besides, Felipe Massa was nowhere near the pace of Fernando or
the two McLaren or Red Bull drivers. Therefore, the team realized that the Brazilian driver would not be able to compete against the top five in the future, and mathematically, it was nearly impossible for Massa to recover.
Felipe Massa has been blaming Bridgestone for his poor performance as he believes that Bridgestone’s new tyre compound does not suit his driving style and as a result, both Felipe and the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher struggled throughout
the season. However, it is not an acceptable excuse since their respective teammates have driven extremely well this season and if Felipe and Michael claim that they are one of the best drivers’ in the sport, can’t they get used to a new tyre compound even
after driving for almost a year on it?
There were many rumours that Ferrari might replace Felipe Massa with Robert Kubica for the 2011 Formula 1 season but these rumours were ruled out by Luca di Monetzemolo. He stated that Massa only has to sign the contract for another year’s extension in the
team and believes that the Brazilian will show the world once again what he is made of in 2011.
However, these sorts of decisions create many problems for the other driver which in this case is Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard is obviously not happy with his results since he had the championship in his bag. He hopes to secure the title next year as he
is now more determined than ever and is aware that his future is secure with Ferrari for at least a couple of more years.
When Ferrari, says that they will not change their strategy for 2011, does this mean that they will keep Fernando Alonso as their front running driver? If that happens, Felipe Massa would not be happy as he stated that he came to Ferrari to win and will
not driver as a side winger for Fernando Alonso just like Rubens Barrichello did for Michael Schumacher.
Fernando Alonso has always been a better driver than Felipe Massa and if Ferrari wants to win the constructors’ title, they will have to think of a way to enable both of their drivers to score maximum points race after race consistently rather than just
enable one driver to run for the drivers’ title and eventually, lose it in the end once again.
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