Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has quashed speculation that Sergio Perez is being lined up to replace Felipe Massa at the end of the current season.
The young Mexican driver, who finished second in Malaysia just behind Ferrari’s own Fernando Alonso, is part of the Italian team’s young driver programme – but Montezemolo doesn’t believe he’s ready to make the step up to Ferrari yet.
“Perez is a good driver but to drive a Ferrari you need more experience,” he told Reuters on Friday.
“I think he is one of the potential best young drivers for the future, but before putting a young driver in a Ferrari I need [to see] more experience and more results.”
Meanwhile Massa has restored some faith in his abilities after making it through to Q3 in Monaco for the first time in 2012. He also finished sixth to score eight points, giving him a total of ten after six races.
“I’m sure that, because we are improving our car, the car will be less difficult to drive,” added Montezemolo. “And I expect from Felipe better performances as I have already seen in Monte Carlo, because in Monte Carlo he was among the five quickest drivers on the track and in the qualifiers.
“So I hope he will continue like this. At the moment we are not taking any decision yet for the future, because it is too early.”
