Ferrari on Friday confirmed reports it is not ready to announce its full driver lineup for 2014.
We reported earlier that, despite historic Monza often setting the scene for such an announcement, the Italian team is "not ready yet" amid F1’s more chaotic than usual silly season.
"I know it’s hard for people to believe," team boss Stefano Domenicali told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, "but we haven’t really stopped yet to think about it.
"Do you know why?" he asked correspondent Livio Oricchio rhetorically, referring to the undecided identity of Fernando Alonso’s teammate next year.
"Because we have no hurry."
It has been claimed even Alonso’s ’number 1’ seat might be in doubt, but realistically the real contenders to replace Brazilian Massa are Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen or perhaps even Jules Bianchi or Jenson Button.
Referring to the supposed custom of announcing the next driver lineup at Monza, Ferrari’s online ’horse whisperer’ columnist on Friday said that, actually, it’s "a non-starter".
"When it comes to those bird fanciers and their obsession with tweeting, they can calm themselves, because there are no announcements on the horizon," he said.
"Why? Because no decisions have yet been taken.
"Furthermore, as happens in the best families, important decisions are taken together at the right moment and not because a certain date on the calendar has been reached," the Ferrari columnist added.