Ferrari has played down rumours it is close to immediately ousting Felipe Massa, insisting it is possible the struggling Brazilian will still be in a red car next year.

On Twitter, the famous Italian team said the latest rumours – including a claim that former Virgin driver Jerome d’Ambrosio is a candidate to replace Massa in 2012 – are “funny”.

But it was Ferrari itself who fuelled the speculation, publishing a statement on its website that read like a warning to Massa.

“It was a very carefully-worded statement, wasn’t it?” said Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary.

“The way this crazy season is going, I really would not be massively shocked if they ditched him mid-season.”

The Swiss newspaper Blick said Monaco next weekend could be the 30-year-old’s last chance to up his game.

And the candidates are lining up.

“Ferrari knows that I’m ready. If they need me or they want me, then they will call me,” Adrian Sutil, who accompanied his manager to last weekend’s Spanish grand prix, said.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo said some paddock pundits believe “the only reason” Massa still has its seat is because the “name Todt” – a reference not only to Massa’s manager Nicolas but to the FIA president – has a “protective arm” around him.

Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper this week: “Felipe has the full confidence of the team, starting with our president.

“We have not decided who will be our driver in 2013 but Felipe is not ruled out,” he insisted.

Indeed, while some believe Ferrari has hung a sword of Damocles above Massa’s head, others think the Maranello based team have been patient since the Paulista’s recovery from his near-fatal head injuries of 2009.

“We have no evidence that makes us think that Felipe has slowed down because of the accident. Zero,” Colajanni said.

F1 doctor Gary Hartstein agreed: “An experience like that (Hungary 2009) changes you, but you can’t say that’s why Felipe has not won again.”

The oddest element of the 2012 season so far is that the unlikeliest of candidates could now be genuine title contenders.

Before the Spanish grand prix weekend, Pastor Maldonado was a commonly derided ‘pay driver’ with 500-1 odds of winning in Barcelona, and just a single point to his name in 2011.

Now, he is F1′s newest pole-getter and race victor, and genuinely regarded as a potential contender for the world championship.

And Dr Helmut Marko, the reigning world champion Red Bull’s motor racing manager, said: “If the Williams really has traction that good, then Maldonado will run rings around everyone in Monte Carlo,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Maldonado travelled straight from Spain to Caracus, where he was being quizzed by the local media as to his chances of a back-to-back victory repeat in Monaco next weekend.

“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to be strong again,” he said.

All this year’s title contenders know after four ‘flyaway’ races in 2012 is that they do not know what will happen in Spain next month.

“The only certainty is uncertainty,” read the German headline at Netzeitung.

With F1 generally regarded in the wider world as a sport with predictable results, this is an entirely new situation.

“The statistics show that it’s been nine years since there have been four different winners in the first four races,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.

Indeed, the famous Italian team as well as McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull have won the opening races of 2012, and also with potentially winning pace have been Lotus and Sauber.

“More than that,” continued Domenicali, “you have to go back 29 years to find the last time four different cars won.”

One explanation is that F1 has never been more competitive, with plenty of well-oiled teams and no fewer than six world champion drivers on the grid.

But Domenicali thinks Pirelli is the dominant factor.

And not everybody is happy about that. Michael Schumacher told Bild newspaper that this year’s tyres degrade so fast that rubber “flies from the rim” if he pushes too hard in a corner.

“We drive around like the safety car. It is not a satisfying situation,” the seven time world champion said.

Pirelli’s motor sport director Paul Hembery is unimpressed with the rebuke, insisting that the Italian marque is only trying to “make tyres that make the races exciting”.

“We cannot take individual drivers into consideration,” the Briton insisted.

“It would be dead easy for us to make tyres that don’t break down. Then the top ten would also be the top ten in the race.

“But no one wants to see boring processions,” Hembery claimed.

Agreed the Swiss headline at Blick: “Pirelli is sweeping away the boredom”.

Indeed, not even the other Mercedes driver, Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg, agrees with Schumacher.

“It’s total chaos. You don’t know who is going to be fast at the next track,” he is quoted by DPA agency. “Formula one has become almost unlike any other sport.

“Yes, you cannot drive any laps any more at full throttle. Often, it’s like driving on ice. But that’s a big and an interesting challenge,” said the German.

Undoubtedly exciting for the fans, but the teams are having to adapt quickly. Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said on Sunday that Vettel’s victory could mean Red Bull resumes its dominant grip on F1.

Dr Helmut Marko doesn’t think so. “We don’t even know who our opponents are!” he exclaimed.

With Red Bull the latest to hold a trophy aloft this year, yet another potential 2012 champion has emerged.

In theory, back to back world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Bahrain grand prix winner, was always a contender for a third drivers’ crown this year.

But his RB8 was not a race winner until Sunday, after McLaren, Mercedes and even Ferrari had tasted the first victory spoils so far this season.

It was said that – amid the extraordinary field of 2012 – Adrian Newey’s latest creation was simply in the league of other midfielders including Lotus, Sauber, and perhaps even Williams and Toro Rosso.

But as Dr Helmut Marko remarked at the chequered flag: “Those pronounced dead live longest!”

“We never wrote them off,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh insisted to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “because we knew that they had a good car and that they only needed to find the key.

“This season is really crazy; more exciting than we would like!” the Briton admitted. “And now we have to say Lotus are also contenders.”

German Vettel won in Bahrain from pole, but even he admitted that the weekend was a surprise.

“After Australia it seemed that McLaren had a supercar and it would be difficult to beat them, at least in the short term,” he is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo.

So even the experts are at a loss after the initial ‘flyaway’ phase of the new world championship.

“We know that we know nothing,” beamed Vettel after his victory, referring to the oddly see-sawing balance of power in 2012, blamed mainly on the Pirelli tyres.

“It is almost impossible to predict in advance how the different tyre compounds are going to behave on race day,” he is quoted by Der Spiegel.

“You have an idea, but nothing more.”

Emerson Fittipaldi, the successful Brazilian driver of the 70s, has tipped Jenson Button as a strong contender to match his own tally of two world championships come the end of the 2012 season.

“From what I can see, it will be between Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. They are the big favourites,” the 65-year-old is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.

“Obviously, if Ferrari improves, then Fernando (Alonso) is spectacular. Lewis Hamilton is very aggressive, very fast, but I think Jenson is very clean, easier on his equipment and the tyres.

“I think this (season) is best suited to his (Button’s) style,” said Fittipaldi.

McLaren’s Button, however, is not so sure, pointing out the unusually closely-packed 2012 grid, and the big role being played by the Pirelli tyres.

“You don’t know who is going to be your main opponent on Sunday,” Auto Motor und Sport quotes the 2009 world champion as saying.

“It could be Red Bull, or Mercedes, or Ferrari, or Lotus or even Sauber,” he smiled. “So who do you focus on for the strategy?”

This weekend, F1 will find out whether the hot track temperatures in Bahrain will reshuffle the order. Button laughed when asked if it means McLaren will pull ahead of Mercedes this weekend: “We hope so, but we don’t know!”

Michael Schumacher, whose career stretches all the way back to 1991, said 2012 is the “closest season I’ve experienced”.

As for what happened in China, where his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won from pole for the first time, the German admitted: “I really didn’t think that would happen.”

It is for that reason that Button warned against writing off F1′s reigning champions, Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel said he is not expecting “miracles” in Bahrain, but he also said: “We still haven’t seen a team that is clearly above all the others.

“Maybe McLaren is the most consistent, but they didn’t do what you expected them to do in Shanghai …”

Norbert Haug said he is proud Mercedes has reached the top of formula one in a short space of time and with a small budget.

The German carmaker’s works team is often lumped together with F1′s other grandees including Ferrari and McLaren, but Haug insists the Brackley based outfit is in fact “a small team, with a small budget”.

Mercedes’ competition boss, who on Sunday collected the winning constructors’ trophy on the Shanghai podium, also said some of the team’s rivals – undoubtedly Red Bull – “took five years to win”.

“We have done it in two and a quarter,” the German told the RTL broadcaster. “That’s not bad at all.

“And there are other teams that still have not made it.”

So is Mercedes now a contender for the world championship, despite Haug’s earlier protestations that the team needs a few more campaigns under its belt for that?

“It is too early to make a prediction,” he told Auto Motor und Sport. “I hope so, but so far we have seen three different winners in three races.”

The newest of those winners is Nico Rosberg, who along with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve are the only sons of F1 drivers to have also gone on to win grands prix.

It is a good omen for Rosberg that both Hill and Villeneuve also won titles.

Rosberg’s former Williams teammate, Alex Wurz, has high praise.

“As a teammate (in 2007) he made my life difficult because he was such a fantastic qualifying driver. In the race it was then always okay.

“But for this (race win) he deserves praise,” Wurz told the Austrian ORF broadcaster, “because he did everything after his pole position also sensationally.”

But in Bahrain, there could be another winner, triple world champion Niki Lauda remarked.

“I have never before seen F1 as interesting as this,” said the Austrian legend. “Every race we see another winner.”

Norbert Haug on Monday played down reports Mercedes could be set to be a shock title contender in 2012.
Some new analysis in the sport’s specialist media claims the W03, to be raced by Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg this season, was actually quicker than all comers in the crucial ‘long runs’ during recent pre-season testing.

But Haug, Mercedes-Benz’s motor sport vice-president, insisted it is unlikely the former Brawn, Honda and BAR team can leap from fourth in the constructors’ world championship to first in just a single bound.

“You don’t go from the the creation and restructuring of a team to (winning) the world championship in two years,” he is quoted by SID news agency.

“The reigning world champions (Red Bull) didn’t, and we didn’t either (as engine supplier) with McLaren.

“You just have to accept this building-up period,” added the German.

Fourth in the 2012 championship is a “realistic” target for Lotus.
That is the claim of reigning GP2 champion Romain Grosjean, amid suggestions his new mount – the black and gold E20 – is among the very best cars on this year’s grid.

“If I am really positive, we can say we are the third force, with Mercedes,” he is quoted by RMC.

“If I am more realistic, we can say that we will fight for fourth place with Ferrari, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso,” added the Frenchman.

Former F1 driver Mika Salo said the development race will be Lotus’ true test.

“They are a contender at least early in the season,” the Finn told the MTV3 broadcaster. “But the biggest teams develop at such a fast pace.”

 Pedro de la Rosa has admitted he senses a little too much pessimism from the Ferrari camp.
Amid talk the famous team’s new F2012 car is a flop and needs to be substantially redesigned, the La Gazzetta dello Sport daily wondered recently: “Let’s hope it’s just pre-tactics.”

De la Rosa, the veteran Spanish driver for HRT, thinks there is an element of truth to that.

“They are better than people think,” he told Cadena Ser radio.

“On the other hand I know that there are teams that are stronger, but I wouldn’t rule out the podium — I assure you,” the 41-year-old insisted.

“What happens is you try to remove the pressure that is on you. As for me, I see Ferrari in a better shape than the sort of negative feeling that exists here in Spain.

“I think they have their problems like everyone else, but their car is faster than it seems.”

It was Pat Fry, Ferrari’s new technical director, who announced recently that the F2012 is not currently a podium contender.

“This is not something that goes through my head,” Felipe Massa admitted to reporters in Sao Paulo this week.

“It is true we tested a type of exhaust and realised it was not the right thing. But last year everyone was 90 per cent sure we would fight for the title and then we did not.

“I won’t hide that we are not 100 per cent satisfied with what we did in the three test sessions in Spain.

“But we have a very strong team and I have lots of faith in their capacity to be able to develop the chassis during the season,” he added.

Luca di Montezemolo has reacted with alarm as Ferrari concedes it will not be a podium contender at the start of the 2012 season.
Despite a media ban, Fernando Alonso warned that he expects to “suffer” initially this year due to the famous Maranello based team needing to better understand its complex new F2012 car.

It is that comment that has raised the alarm of Ferrari’s charismatic president Montezemolo.

“I hope that it is not true that we are going to suffer at the beginning, although Alonso is always very objective.

“I would like to understand why and above all understand how we can very quickly make the necessary changes,” he reportedly said at the Geneva Motor Show.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, he pointed his finger at the current regulations.

“I don’t like this F1,” said the 64-year-old. “The aerodynamics count for 90 per cent and only the Kers makes developments possible that can be used in the production of road cars.”

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, meanwhile, is backing Ferrari to recover.

“I am convinced they will rise again soon and that a preliminary assessment can only be made after the first two or three (races),” he reportedly told Sky.

“I similarly think that McLaren will fight for the title. They could be the real surprise and it is already clear from the tests that they are very competitive,” added the sport’s chief executive.

Jenson Button has tipped Ferrari to recover, after the famous Italian team announced it does not initially expect to be a podium contender in 2012.
Paddock insiders are tipping a close three-way battle between Red Bull, McLaren and possibly Mercedes early this season, as Ferrari apparently flounders with its complex F2012.

But McLaren’s Button said: “I’m sure Ferrari can find their way out of a sticky situation — if they’re in a sticky situation.

“We’re all trying new things at the start of the year. One of us will get it right and I’m sure the others will follow suit in the end,” he told the Guardian.

“They’re obviously on the back foot but I’m sure they’ll catch up.”

Despite an almost unprecedented media muzzle, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso broke his enforced silence last weekend to admit by way of analogy that his 2012 car is not in top Barcelona football players’ Messi and Iniesta’s league at present.

But the Spaniard also pointed out that while the press is making a fuss about Ferrari’s troubles, the immense pressure on Ferrari is unique.

“For example yesterday (Sunday at Barcelona) Red Bull had only a few laps and the last time on the sheet,” Alonso reportedly told Ferrari staff at Maranello.

“If something similar had happened to us, hell would have broken loose, but here (in Italy) nobody really noticed it.”

Alonso does not think he will be pushing for the Melbourne win next weekend, but he also insisted: “What counts is not to be first in the first race, but in November, at the end of the championship.”

At the front of the field in 2012, before a single racing lap has even turned, the well-known formula one arms-race has already begun.
As the last days of pre-Melbourne testing are counted down in Barcelona, Red Bull and McLaren unveiled major evolutions to their recently-launched new cars.

On the RB8, the major difference was the Sauber-style exhaust, after designer Adrian Newey was reportedly “impressed” with the 2012 solution devised by the Swiss midfield team.

“It’s effectively a completely new (Red Bull) car,” said the BBC’s technical analyst Gary Anderson, according to the Guardian.

The high-profile Red Bull upgrade was the perfect time for McLaren to quietly unveil its own heavily modified car, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reported.

“Did you see that McLaren have rebuilt half their car?” Force India technical director Andrew Green is quoted as saying.

One new innovation on the MP4-27, apparently, is a Mercedes-like front wing W-duct.

“The upgrade is a major step forward; better than we expected,” said Jenson Button.

Elsewhere, the noises are not so positive: Ferrari stridently denied internet rumours Felipe Massa has been sacked, and then gagged both the Brazilian and his teammate Fernando Alonso from speaking to the media.

“The decision has been taken to keep the whole team fully focused on the job and there is not any polemic intent behind it,” the team insisted.

But while happily listing Red Bull’s likely contenders for 2012, Mark Webber admitted Ferrari’s form remains a “mystery”.

Even less is known about those at the rear of the grid, with Marussia and HRT still yet to launch their 2012 cars.

The Spanish team has sought permission at late notice to do a “filming day” with its new machine in Barcelona on Monday, while Marussia wants to run at Silverstone in the coming days.

At Marussia, the hold-up was caused by the FIA’s more stringent than ever crash tests.

“We’re going to make sure we get it right this time,” team boss John Booth told the BBC.

 Red Bull and McLaren have the quickest cars as formula one teams prepare for the final pre-season test before Melbourne.

That is the view of Sauber designer Matt Morris, despite the Swiss team’s Kamui Kobayashi setting the fastest overall time at last week’s Barcelona test.

“The top teams are yet to show their hands,” read a report in the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

Morris agrees with that assessment.

“If we are to believe our own analysis then Red Bull and McLaren are in front, there is a question mark about Ferrari, and behind them is a very close group of several teams.

“I think the gaps between those in this central group will be smaller this year,” he added.

The F1 world’s real gaze this week will however be on the apparent title contenders, with Lewis Hamilton quoted by the SID news agency as saying: “Maybe Red Bull are a bit quicker than us.”

But McLaren’s team boss Martin Whitmarsh revealed: “We will have a fairly substantial (update) package in Barcelona this week.

“We assume Red Bull will do the same,” he added.

Unlike last year, however, there will be no last-minute technical sensation that determines the pecking-order for the start of the season.

Sauber’s Morris explains: “There will be nothing spectacular; the rules don’t allow it any more.”

But he admitted that the best-funded teams will continue to tinker at the edges, as demonstrated by McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull who have so far run several different exhaust configurations in the wake of the blown diffuser ban.

Morris said: “Any modification in this area is an expensive pleasure, while before we (Sauber) do anything, we have to be sure that it is clearly better.”

Davide Rigon has confirmed reports he will not serve as Ferrari’s official reserve driver in 2012.
With Ferrari’s Jules Bianchi moving to Force India this year, it was initially assumed that Italian GP2 driver Rigon, 25, would be promoted to replace him on the race team.

Indeed, Ferrari confirmed last month that Rigon “has recently extended his relationship” with the scuderia.

But it was subsequently rumoured that Maranello based Ferrari does not consider Rigon ready to step in should Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa need replacing during a grand prix weekend.

Reports in January said Adrian Sutil might be a contender for the third role.

Rigon told the Italian website F1Web that he will work on the simulator in 2012.

As for whether his responsibilities will include actual track testing, he answered: “I don’t know, although I cannot deny that I would like to do some during the season.

“I am available to the Scuderia and I have to keep myself ready for any eventuality, but right now I am not the third driver,” admitted Rigon.

 Toro Rosso’s new drivers look set to be given longer than just a single season to prove they can step up to the senior Red Bull team.
Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have replaced the Faenza based team’s 2011 lineup and are tipped as likely contenders to oust the Australian veteran Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing next year.

But Franz Tost, Toro Rosso’s team principal, said a 2013 promotion for either Ricciardo or Vergne is unlikely.

“I have no idea. But I doubt it, as the level of Red Bull Racing is extremely high,” he told F1′s official website.

“So my guess is that they will have to wait a little more. So far Mark has not given any hint that he is thinking of retirement.”

Tost said Red Bull will only be looking for a driver with the ‘wow-effect’ to replace Webber, so 2013 could be too soon for Australian Ricciardo, or the French rookie Vergne.

“In general I would say that this wow-effect is not so easily manageable in a first season,” said the Austrian. “But it definitely has to be delivered in the second season.

“I don’t have a problem when a driver has a good race and at the next race he has a shunt — that’s part of the game. Both drivers will have a ‘crash period’ but that is part of their development phase,” he insisted.

“It was the same with Sebastian Vettel. But at some point they have to get their game together — and the question is who will be better at doing that? Let’s wait and see.”