Well Felipe has gone and the BBC are certainly pretty sure Kimi is headed to Ferrari ...

 

We'll see.

 

I doubt Smedley would use (or need to use) the same approach with another driver:

 

Yes i don't think he would take the 'encouragement' that Massa gets

I'd be fairly sure that McLaren get Button a chance int he new turbo car next year before deciding. I still think given the right car he's very much a top F1 driver. Equally he might put his hand up if McLaren f@#k it up again. He's had a very frustrating career team wise.

 

I'd definitely agree he's largely in F1 on merit rather than being a pay driver. His image and likability helps him a lot though and is why he over Anthony Davidson has a race seat.

He doesn't have the outright pace of Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel but his biggest weakness is car setup. Listening to his radio messages during free practice sessions it's painful how lost he sounds about how the car is behaving. I fear without a team mate who can nail setup for him he'll never extract the best from a car.

It's not that I think Hamilton is some genius who can tell them what camber setting to use etc.. but you get the impression they send him on track and he delivers you the best lap time that car can do. They make a change and he does the same again which lets you know if it's a step forward or backwards. I think to McLaren that's a bigger loss than his race performance.

 

Indeed ...

 

I still really rate Button as well, and I think he can do so much more than we have seen of him in the last couple of years.

With setting up the cars my understanding is that it's how the drivers communicates what the car is doing back to the engineers that's really important. If you can describe what it's doing/not doing they have a fighting chance of correcting the issue. That said if the car is pony there probably isn't a great deal they can do to sort the problems.

I'm not surprised to hear Massa is moving on. I think he'll be lucky to get a drive next year. Since his accident he's never really been the same, and all those times he kept driving into Lewis did his career no favours. I am very surprised to hear Kimi is moving back to Ferrari. I thought he left under a bit of a cloud, and I'm sure he recently stated that he'd never go back.

 

Can't wait for the first 'Fernando is faster than you' radio call.

The response will be along the lines of ... 'so f^&%&^g what'

 

Those faces tell a thousand words.

Personally I think Ferrari have made a mistake.

 

I never thought I would see Kimi back at Ferrari.

They sent him off to go rallying so that they could keep Massa when they signed Alonso!

Having followed Ferrari since the Lauda era, I'm not sure if this decision is genius or madness.

But I'm sure looking forward to next season now! Forza Ferrari!