http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/10/ferr...ith-wow-factor/

.....Meanwhile influential Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reports today that the senior management at Ferrari are “irritated” by race engineer Rob Smedley’s choice of words over the radio to Felipe Massa, where he called on him to “destroy” Lewis Hamilton’s race.

Many fans feel that this story is a mountain being made out of a molehill by the British tabloid press to support their man Lewis Hamilton, who is facing criticism from other drivers. And there may be some truth to that.

However Gazzetta reports that the bosses at Ferrari may not feel inclined to forgive him a second time, after he landed them in front of the FIA World Council over the team orders issue at Hockenheim last year. Ferrari was exonerated on that occasion and the rules banning team orders were dropped from the F1 Sporting Regulations.

Smedley is highly regarded by other teams’ technical directors and would have a choice of UK based jobs were he to leave Ferrari.
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I think it will be a great to see what he can provide to a top level, season after season driver as their personal go-to man! He has greatness written all over him, but Ferrari days should be now left behind if he wants to make progress & impact an engineer, representing Massa.

RS has WDC potential, and I wish he could get it... but with Massa, who might be replaced at Ferrari for 2013.... Rob might do well do get out of this time-bombed partnership asap. Maybe even get out at the end of this season.

It would be nice to see him represent Hamilton. LH may need a strong protective surrounding within Mclaren, Smedley might just be what Martin Whitmarsh needs.
If not, then the Kimi/Williams rumour might also be a good story to follow for Rob. He has seen Kimi Raikkonen work first hand, but yet from a distance. Maybe mutual respect exists.

A Mid-Field team would be a downer.

Non-story really. I guess there is nothing else to write about. Ferrari is very happy with Smedley and if there are any issues they will discuss them behind closed doors.

Smedley was not so highly rated in F1 untill Massa requested him to be his RE.

From what I understand, they are close friends outside the job as well and I don't see Rob leaving Felipe Baby.

Nothing but rumours, not worth a vote.

I don't think Ferrari would sack Smedley. Media and FOM created a fuss about that destroy order. But if Smedley would leave Ferrari, maybe he would go to the 'new home of Ferrari employees', Merc. Yet, in some ways I don't see him as MS's RE, so I voted Nico. And maybe there might be another ex-Ferrari employee at Merc in '13, whose RE Rob would be.

Time for Rob to return to his natural home in Blighty to a UK based team!

I would love to see Smedley becoming Hamiltons RE, they seem like a perfect fit to me.

I know you are baiting, but I wouldn't mind him as Hamilton's race engineer either.

I'm fully aware that some supporters are pretty fond of the idea for some time. Isn't it great to agree on something, for a change?

No.

Well he was Alonso's race engineer in F3000, and only when the team decided to listen to Alonso and not Smedley, they got results. Alonso was very critic with his way of working in his first F1 years, whenever he got asked about F3000.

So maybe he is not that great.

See, I'm like Lewis, can't catch a break, whatever I do I get critizised...

Shhht!

Nothing wrong against him but I don't think he is as great as some people might think. He is very charismatic of course, and I think that is the ONLY reason why people tend to hype him up too easily...

There are probably race engineers at least as good as him, if not better, and surely less controversial than him. He would not be a great loss for Ferrari if he leaves, only for Felipe maybe.

Yeah, and my guess is that it still may be more about the team orders stuff than this year.

This is just an excuse for Ferrari to get rid of Smedley. They haven't been happy with him since last year Germany. They would use this stupid radio saga to scapegoat Smedley out of the team. Nice try that Ferrari cares about all this public perception. Smedley would probably get a great position in some other team.

If Ferrari sacks Smedley, Massa will threaten to leave too...and then he will...wait!?

James Allen quoting La Gazetta who say it's rumored that Ferrari may...
let's wait for some facts.

If Smedley leave, who will then instruct Massa on how to drive an F1 car??



My point is, Massa and Smedley are one package. They'll both go together when the times comes.

It´s nothing new....

It's because you're.....nah, not going there.

On Smedley, frankly I have no idea what he's worth as a engineer, and I suspect nobody in here really has. We only get to see that very, very small part of his job when he talks to Massa, and while I think they come across as a pretty weird couple, it doesn't say much about how good or not he is at the other 99,9 percent of his job. Certainly he can't be total crap if a top team kept him for so long, but I've no idea how he stacks up against his colleagues across the grid.

It seems to me that the pit wall engineer is a conduit rather than the ultimate expert. It is up to him to build rapport and trust with the driver and main analysts and ensure each side is understood by the other. Just the impression I have. Smedley and Massa have what seems to be one of the best relationships in the pitlane, and IMO good relationships require work from both sides.

It's why it was unusually cruel and unfair to expect Smedley to deliver 'that' message last year and why he might not be as good with another driver in another team.

I think it's fair to say that Smedley has done a brilliant job on that score and massa would have less success without him. I would love to see lewis have a relationship with someone like that where he trusted them, looked up to them and could handle them telling him things straight...he definitely could benefit from someone who is on the same wavelength as him although I reckon it would be a pretty tricky job to re lewis.

I hear he's being headhunted by Alton Towers...

I don't even know who Hamilton's current engineer is, actually come to think about it none of them are as 'famous' as Smedley over there is. I know I've been told and heard and seen multiple times who Hamilton's engineer is, and other F1 drivers, but I just can't recall them or remember in any way

I know Vettel has that guy with the South African accent(?), that's about as far as my non-Smedley knowledge goes.

Oh wait, Hamilton. The guy keeps on saying "Okay Lewis" - no idea who he is

Jock Clear? I'd say he's right up there in terms of 'fame' as is (was?) Chris Dyer.

Vettel's engineer is Rocky, but I forget his real name.

edit; Google helps... Guillaume “Rocky” Rocquelin... I'll stick with Rocky.

I used to say that from the time period 2006 to 2009, Smedley was the best race engineer because he got much more out of Massa than that would have been possible otherwise. It is worth to note that Smedley was not a race engineer when Massa joined Ferrari, and Massa asked him for it. So, the mutual relationship was key to their partnership success. I agree that it is cruel to let Smedley pass that message to Massa. It should have been Domenicalli.

But, the only reason Rob Smedley is well known, it's because of his famous " Felipe baby, stay cool!" radio message, not for his professional skills.

really/? that's just because you say so...or do you have facts to back it up?

I would say one of the "closest" relationships, not so sure about "best". But that may be just me, I simply can't relate to the style and tone Smedley uses with Massa, which obviously is a two-way street, maybe Smedley would sound totally different with another driver.



Well, the message was cruel, there is no way around it. Tough choice to get it delivered via someone close or someone higher up the chain of command.

Jock, rocky and smedley most well known to me by a mile...well and phil prew but he no longer counts.

All 3 of those guys seem pretty cool...the macca guys seem far more geeky!

Hamilton can't do worse than his current engineer, Andy Latham. Probably the worst race engineer of all top teams.

Oh great, more people leaving Ferrari, always welcome.

He'd fit in at Mercedes (therefore?), maybe into the test team or something. Williams might be a good option, too.

Based on what? As someone who just watches F1 on TV you have absolutely no information from which to base that statement. It's inane.

Top Post! Plucked from virtual obscurity and named as worst race engineer by an armchair expert. Quality! I've almost got a tear in my eye...

How can anyone (fans) judge how good a race engineer is?.

Essentially the same way they judge how good a driver is.....

I dont know if he is the worst... but lets be honest people... he's not very good.

BTW ... I was saying this last year when LH was not driving like a rookie.

Who will change Felipe Baby's nappies if he leaves?

I have always liked Smedley, he seems very sympathetic to me. As outsiders we can ofcourse not judge how good he is. But if Ferrari would sack Smedley, just based on his radio messages, that would be a complete idiotic decision.

In FP1 they were talking about Ferrari PR not letting any press talk to Smedley I believe...seems a bit strange.

Andy Latham could transfer over, he's had plenty of practice replacing Lewis's spat out dummies so is well versed in childcare.

Luca would be sacked long time ago

It's not the same, at least you watch drivers do something, the only thing we see/hear about engineer are the radio calls. We can judge drivers comparing them with their teammates or his perfomance on the track even if we can't tell for sure if they are doing something because their talent or their car.

I'd love to see him with Lewis, I think it'd go some way to stopping people's idea that Lewis is too corporate and would bring some life into his team radio

I think he's French - well it sounds like that to me at least.

Anyway, while I have been amused by some of Smedley's radio messages I'm not sure what evidence we (the fans) have to suggest that he's such a great RE.

Brandz - wouldn't you think it was more important that Lewis had an RE who could help him get the best out of the car, rather than one who would make the team radio more interesting?

Well it would be SO Ferrari to sack an RE for being an embarrassment with too much enthusiasm

I hope it happens, though I'd still like them to keep Massa as he deserves a drive

Then Smedders to Lewis please .

Yeah, but at the time team orders were against the rules, so Ferrari had to make it look like regular advice between the engineer and driver rather than have the team boss come on and deliver the coded message which would have made it more obvious to anyone who overheard. Totally subverted of course by Smedley's delivery. If I were Domenicali or Di Montezemolo I would have been furious with Smedley after that and if I were going to fire him it would have been then.