Despite denial, Ferrari have already decided their 2014 drive line-up according to various paddock sources and they’re likely to announce the decision on Wednesday.
Kimi Raikkonen will replace Felipe Massa at the Italian outfit for 2014, they claim, with a two-year contract having already been signed.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali and president Luca di Montezemolo had already admitted the Finn was a possibility, but stopped short of confirming anything to the media.
Why Raikkonen over Massa?
Whilst Massa has been improving recently, with a fourth place in Italy, it’s come too late for Ferrari’s management. His 90 point deficit to team-mate Fernando Alonso and his single podium so far haven’t been enough to keep them interested.
Raikkonen meanwhile, in arguably equally paced machinery to Ferrari, is just 35 points behind Alonso and has taken six podiums in comparison. The Finn is seen as consistent, yet capable of winning races, unlike Massa who hasn’t won in some 84 races.
Ferrari need a title. They haven’t won a drivers’ title since Raikkonen’s 2007 glory and a constructors’ since 2008. They see 2014 as a massive opportunity to claim at least one with Red Bull’s now weaker driver line-up featuring the inexperienced Daniel Ricciardo.
To win the constructors’ they need two drivers capable of scoring big points each and every weekend – something they would most certainly get with an Alonso-Raikkonen pairing.
What’s Massa’s next move?
It isn’t certain, as is the case with everything in F1, what Massa might do next. The Brazilian has previously stated he wouldn’t return to a smaller team, but his best bet lies with Sauber, whom he knows well from his time there between 2002 and 2005.
Sauber are expected to drop Esteban Gutierrez in order to run Russian youngster Sergey Sirotkin as they are contractually obliged to do. Yet the Swiss team might find itself having to fill the second seat as Lotus are believed to have been in talks with Nico Hulkenberg should Raikkonen leave.
Massa would certainly have some competition for the seat though, with Ferrari keen to see former junior academy driver Jules Bianchi move up from Marussia to the Ferrari powered Sauber next year.
