It is summer, so Felipe Massa's position is under threat

For the third year running Felipe Massa's seat is under threat. The rumour this year is that Ferrari may decide to lure Kimi Raikkonen away from Lotus to replace the Brazilian. This would be a strange turnaround, after all Ferrari paid Raikkonen off to get him out of his contract to bring Fernando Alonso in. They chose Massa over Raikkonen.

It has become transparently clear, though, that Massa is on borrowed time. Either his injury, or the latest selection of tyres has stopped him being ultimately competitive and there has only been one occasion when he has threatened for a win, when he was forced aside as Rob Smedley delivered the line 'Fernando is faster than you'.

The yearly discussion over whether Massa should retain the Ferrari seat is as predictable as snow messing up the railways. It's clear that Massa is not pushing Alonso, he won't be in a position to challenge for the championship and Ferrari's constructors championship points are being hampered by the Number 2's side of the garage. They need a stronger driver.

Whether that is Raikkonen I don't know. He likes it at Lotus where they let him live his life as he wants. Also, he is also wanted by Red Bull, and the Alonso to Red Bull, Raikkonen to Ferrari rumours may be just bargaining tools from both sides of the Red Bull/Raikkonen deal. In which case Ferrari should go for Di Resta, Hulkenburg or Bianchi.

It would be good to see Raikkonen at Red Bull to give Vettel a good challenge, but I think Lotus needs him more than he needs them so they may try hard to convince him to stay. Also there is the fact that what is the Red Bull young driver programme for if it doesn't deliver drivers into the senior team. Daniel Ricciardo is a good driver and we still have to see whether he has what it takes - so to encourage other young drivers maybe they should keep the faith.

Where does this leave Massa? He's still a good driver, and maybe he could end up at Lotus or a third stint at Sauber. But it's time to end the yearly Massa-hunt.

Squiffy.

Massa wants Lewis stripped of the 2008 title

Apparently Felipe Massa wants the Singapore Grand Prix wiped from the record books because of the Renault crashgate scandal.

I can understand that, Lewis would lose his points from that race and Massa would be crown World Champion.

It's not as simple as that, you would have to at the impact of that changed result on the rest of the races. Or imagine that the Singapore race had not taken place at all.

Without the points Lewis Hamilton took at Singapore, would he have driven differently in the remaining races. I think so. For a start he wouldn't have driven for a 5th place in Brazil.

In that Singapore race, Massa and his pit crew screwed up (with Massa setting off with the fuel hose still attached). That was the reason that he didn't win that race, otherwise he could still could have done it. In the following races, their pit lights gantry was removed. If that race hadn't taken place, would the pit cock-up have happened later, possibly at Brazil?

We just don't know. The fact is that the race was held, and Alonso won it albeit by circumstances contrived by his team-mate. But he drove magnificently that day, and should not be stripped of the win. And so, Lewis Hamilton should not be stripped of his World Championship.

Squiffy.