Tale of two drivers: Massa and Sato
October 10, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under People & Events
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa continues to inch closer to a return to F1, having apparently cleared his medical test in Paris this week and now being prepped to test the old 2007 Ferrari F1 car.
And Takuma Sato has “an unfinished job” in F1.
I say Massa “apparently cleared” his medical test because, while news reports seem to be painting a rosy picture of Massa’s doctor appointment, the Ferrari release strikes me as much more ambiguous:
Massa: FIA medical exams in Paris concluded
Maranello, 10 October 2009 – In the afternoon the medical exams Felipe Massa underwent at the Pitié Salpetrière hospital in Paris were concluded. The medical team, coordinated by Professor Jean-Charles Piette, FIA’s medical delegate, finished a series of neurological exams started yesterday, whose outcome was rather positive.
Felipe will return to Maranello tomorrow where, on Monday, he will take a further step in his recovery programme in the best possible way, taking the wheel of a private F2007 single-seater in a test under the personal assistance of the F1 Clienti department.
The outcome was “rather positive”? Am I the only to whom that seems far less than “Felipe will be back at Abu Dhabi”? I, personally, don’t like the sound of it. But perhaps the Ferrari PR team is playing it safe and cautious.
Speaking of safe and cautious, Sato absolutely has his eyes set on F1 in 2010, he tells Autosport:
“I went to the Indy 500 too and there is some opportunity [in IndyCar] but I always want to be at the highest level and that’s the objective,” Sato told AUTOSPORT.
“To me, F1 is an unfinished job so I want to get back in and just have a competitive package to drive, because now I have the experience, I have the speed. I really hope I can do it.
“This weekend for me was painful. To come to Suzuka, where I have a lot of memories, but not racing is not an easy moment.”
Sato says he is talking with both the new teams and established squads.
Which team do we think can afford the most smashed chassis? My money’s on them.
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It would be good to have Sato back, Renault would work out a few new strategies based around him. ‘Deploy the Sato’, the safety car would have to come in for a tire change.