Left field

With seven times champion Michael Schumacher seemingly in no rush to come out of retirement to stand in for his friend and former team mate Felipe Massa, Ferrari will have to resign themselves to looking elsewhere.

Massa appears to be on the mend, thankfully, but it has to be doubtful whether last year’s overall runner-up will race again this season after the serious head injuries sustained in Hungary.

The problem is that there are not that many obvious, and available, candidates of the necessary calibre to replace the Brazilian.

Drivers are not lightbulbs and, in any case, champions Ferrari are not the sort of team to just plug in an inexperienced teenager and hope for the best.

There is a question of prestige. Ferrari are the sport’s most glamorous team and, traditionally, employers of the world’s best drivers.

Very few ever get the privilege — only six in the last decade.

The last stand-in was Finland’s Mika Salo, replacing Schumacher for six races in 1999 when the German broke a leg, and he was 32 years old at the time with experience of four other teams.

There is not a driver in the pit lane who would not leap at the chance to be in one of the red cars — if they were not otherwise engaged contractually.

So who is available?

Firstly you have the team’s two official test drivers, Italian Luca Badoer and Spaniard Marc Gene.

Badoer may look like he has discovered the secret of eternal youth but he is in fact 38. He last raced a grand prix car for Minardi in 1999 and was passed over that year when Ferrari needed a stand-in.

The Italian would however love to shake off his fame as the driver to have started most races (49) without ever scoring a point.

Gene is younger at 35 and the next race is a home one for him in Valencia. He has also just won the Le Mans 24 Hour race and was a useful, if not very convincing, reserve for Williams in 2003 and 2004.

Looking further afield, there is Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais — just sacked by Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso but sharing a manager with Massa in Nicolas Todt, son of the former Ferrari boss Jean.

However he might be seen as too much of a cast-off for Ferrari to contemplate.

In GP2, there is inexperienced German Nico Hulkenberg – leader of that series and the Williams test and reserve driver whose career just happens to be guided by Schumacher’s manager Willi Weber.

How about David Coulthard? The Scot is a few months younger than Badoer and raced with Red Bull only last season before retiring.

He has knowledge of all the tracks to come, with the exception of Abu Dhabi, and is already the current Red Bull/Toro Rosso reserve driver in addition to performing his television pundit role.

Don’t forget whose engines are in the back of the Toro Rosso.

Finally, there is the man most of Spain would like to see in the red car: Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

The twice world champion is widely expected in the paddock to end up at Ferrari sooner or later, with some saying he already has a contract for 2010.

If the governing body upholds a one-race suspension on Renault for Valencia, what are the chances of Alonso jumping ship? Probably not great, maybe not even remotely possible.

A nation can still dream, though.

PHOTO: Ferrari Formula One team members hold a banner supporting driver Felipe Massa of Brazil before the start of the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest July 26, 2009. REUTERS