So last Thursday evening whilst enjoying a night out ‘N aboot on the town I was drawn into a conversation with Robert regarding the plight of the Scuderia’s much lamented number two fill-in for the injured Felipe Massa… As Luca Badoer has been taking a lambasting for his outings behind the wheel of the recalcitrant Ferrari F60, while SPEED’s Bob Varsha said during the Friday Belgian GP practice show; OBVIOUSLY Luca’s trying his hardest to do his absolute best, having waited his whole life to fulfill his dream of driving the red cars…
But he simply doesn’t seem able to cut the Mayonnaise, Err French Fries, not to be “Cornfuzed” with those Frites di Machen-Dougals… which sounds much better then Belgium’s other novelty; Vlaams du Muscles, but I digress…
As once again the hapless 38yr Old Italian was some two seconds off the pace on Friday, ending up stone last. On Saturday during qualifying, Badoer once again was unable to hoist Massa’s No. 3 Ferrari out of the “Q1 Qualie” session, winding up in last place on the grid in P20, although somewhat surprisingly Badoer’s Ferrari had the fastest trap speed of 200mph! But he had trouble woahing himself down as Steve Matchet commented that it looked like he’d out braked himself in the closing minutes of qualifying when we saw Luca lurching off track…
On Sunday, whilst Luca’s teammate The Iceman (Raikkonen) was utilizing the Ferrari’s KERS system to his best advantage after an unbelievable start, which potentially caused the races major pile-up which eliminated both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson button, along with Romain Grosjean And Jaime Alguersuari on lap one…
Badoer who was on a one stop strategy was unable to string together any substantial lap times, running some two seconds a lap slower then Williams Kazuki Nakajima, as the Kimster would scorch his way past an unbelievably competitive Fishy-Fellah… Holding off the Italian by less than one second, while Badoer would cross the line as the very last runner in 14th, nearly 100 seconds adrift; officially 1m38.177 behind.
Meanwhile Fisichella scored Force India’s very first Pole position and initial Grand Prix points with his amazing second place finish behind Raikkonen, while holding off a fast charging Sebastian Vettel…
Yet as The House ‘O Winsor also noted upon Friday’s show, Badoer definitely has his work cut out for him; strapping in for the first time on a race weekend in nearly 10yrs at a track he’s never driven. Off to the blindingly fast Spa Francorchamps, the insane pressure of the Tiafosi, a night race in Singapore, the rain in Suzuka and back to the concrete canyons in Yaz Marina… (Abu Dubai)
NO, the real embarrassment lies firmly on the Scuderia’s shoulders as it seems unfathomable that they don’t have a contingency plan for this very circumstance, nor any “Young Lions currently in the pipeline to have drawn upon… As Kimi’s miraculous victory helped increase the gap between arch rivals McLaren to 12 points, who are pressuring the Scuderia for third place in the Constructor’s Championship, of which is not only for bragging rights but valuable prize money and travel funds.
Of course all of this seems to be facilitated from the FIA’s NONSENSICAL BANNING of in-season testing, or even worse yet, the redundancy of Friday Third Driver’s, which seemingly gives potential Grand Prix Piloto’s little incentive to become a Formula 1 Test Driver, eh?
Alas, what will Maranello do? As it seems the best hoped for solution would be to grant “Fishy-Fellah” his long distance dream of finally driving for Ferrari, as Giancarlo bravely described his time at Sauber his closest chance to driving a Ferrari powered landshark in battle royale. As this may be the best way for Vijay Malia to politely show Fisichella the door in order to make way for the anxiously waiting Vitantonnio Luzzi, who’s reportedly already been promised a drive in 2010. Not to mention freeing up some capital to pay off his outstanding Ferrari customer Lumps debt…
Then again why not let Luzzi fill-in for Ferrari in order to prepare for next season? Although the Scuderia may balk at the idea of preparing a potential rival, eh? Otherwise, Ferrari may simply take their lumps with Badoer as Raikkonen has already stated that all development work has now transferred onto next year’s challenger, and reportedly Badoer is faster then test driver Marc Gene whom also hasn’t raced in F1 in an exceedingly LONG time.
Of course Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastian Bourdais are currently available, while I have no idea whom Ferrari would approach from the GP2 ranks? And what would happen if Fishy-Fellah actually outperformed the Kimster in “equal” machinery… Would that be a good or bad thing for Kimi’s future with Ferrari? And will Massa really return in Brazil?
So the question remains, just how badly does Ferrari truly wish to retain its current third place in the Constructors Championship?
Good Luck Luca!
But he simply doesn’t seem able to cut the Mayonnaise, Err French Fries, not to be “Cornfuzed” with those Frites di Machen-Dougals… which sounds much better then Belgium’s other novelty; Vlaams du Muscles, but I digress…
As once again the hapless 38yr Old Italian was some two seconds off the pace on Friday, ending up stone last. On Saturday during qualifying, Badoer once again was unable to hoist Massa’s No. 3 Ferrari out of the “Q1 Qualie” session, winding up in last place on the grid in P20, although somewhat surprisingly Badoer’s Ferrari had the fastest trap speed of 200mph! But he had trouble woahing himself down as Steve Matchet commented that it looked like he’d out braked himself in the closing minutes of qualifying when we saw Luca lurching off track…
On Sunday, whilst Luca’s teammate The Iceman (Raikkonen) was utilizing the Ferrari’s KERS system to his best advantage after an unbelievable start, which potentially caused the races major pile-up which eliminated both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson button, along with Romain Grosjean And Jaime Alguersuari on lap one…
Badoer who was on a one stop strategy was unable to string together any substantial lap times, running some two seconds a lap slower then Williams Kazuki Nakajima, as the Kimster would scorch his way past an unbelievably competitive Fishy-Fellah… Holding off the Italian by less than one second, while Badoer would cross the line as the very last runner in 14th, nearly 100 seconds adrift; officially 1m38.177 behind.
Meanwhile Fisichella scored Force India’s very first Pole position and initial Grand Prix points with his amazing second place finish behind Raikkonen, while holding off a fast charging Sebastian Vettel…
Yet as The House ‘O Winsor also noted upon Friday’s show, Badoer definitely has his work cut out for him; strapping in for the first time on a race weekend in nearly 10yrs at a track he’s never driven. Off to the blindingly fast Spa Francorchamps, the insane pressure of the Tiafosi, a night race in Singapore, the rain in Suzuka and back to the concrete canyons in Yaz Marina… (Abu Dubai)
NO, the real embarrassment lies firmly on the Scuderia’s shoulders as it seems unfathomable that they don’t have a contingency plan for this very circumstance, nor any “Young Lions currently in the pipeline to have drawn upon… As Kimi’s miraculous victory helped increase the gap between arch rivals McLaren to 12 points, who are pressuring the Scuderia for third place in the Constructor’s Championship, of which is not only for bragging rights but valuable prize money and travel funds.
Of course all of this seems to be facilitated from the FIA’s NONSENSICAL BANNING of in-season testing, or even worse yet, the redundancy of Friday Third Driver’s, which seemingly gives potential Grand Prix Piloto’s little incentive to become a Formula 1 Test Driver, eh?
Alas, what will Maranello do? As it seems the best hoped for solution would be to grant “Fishy-Fellah” his long distance dream of finally driving for Ferrari, as Giancarlo bravely described his time at Sauber his closest chance to driving a Ferrari powered landshark in battle royale. As this may be the best way for Vijay Malia to politely show Fisichella the door in order to make way for the anxiously waiting Vitantonnio Luzzi, who’s reportedly already been promised a drive in 2010. Not to mention freeing up some capital to pay off his outstanding Ferrari customer Lumps debt…
Then again why not let Luzzi fill-in for Ferrari in order to prepare for next season? Although the Scuderia may balk at the idea of preparing a potential rival, eh? Otherwise, Ferrari may simply take their lumps with Badoer as Raikkonen has already stated that all development work has now transferred onto next year’s challenger, and reportedly Badoer is faster then test driver Marc Gene whom also hasn’t raced in F1 in an exceedingly LONG time.
Of course Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastian Bourdais are currently available, while I have no idea whom Ferrari would approach from the GP2 ranks? And what would happen if Fishy-Fellah actually outperformed the Kimster in “equal” machinery… Would that be a good or bad thing for Kimi’s future with Ferrari? And will Massa really return in Brazil?
So the question remains, just how badly does Ferrari truly wish to retain its current third place in the Constructors Championship?
Good Luck Luca!
