The world of social media was set ablaze for two signficant reasons within the motorsport world, and for good reason too. As per my piece earlier last month about the Red Bull seat being the key piece of the puzzle , it was only a matter of time before F1's "silly season" went into overdrive. Well, today, KERS was fully engaged and DRS enabled, as hysteria hit Twitter like wildfire, as rumours of a Ferrari press conference at the IAA in Frankfurt at 1pm GMT were surfacing.
As the tension and potential excitement grew, it all came to an abrupt anticlimax, as the unveil of a new road-going "Prancing Horse," the 458 Speciale, was given its world premiere at 1pm CET. A lot of people had been hoping that Kimi Raikkonen was soon to be unveiled as part of the Maranello's driver line-up for next season.
German news outlet BILD has been incredibly consistent on finding out before anyone else what is going on, having posted on their website earlier that day that the "Iceman" has already signed a contract with the Scuderia before midnight last night. So, this already further exacerbated the matter on what may be occurring today in Frankfurt.
Ferrari chairman, Luca di Montezemelo, made an appearance for the latest addition to the road car family, but did not really mention much about who the second driver would be, especially as Stefano Domenicali had said on Sky Sports that on Wednesday after the Italian Grand Prix, the decision would be made.
However, fast forward a few hours later, and Formula One gets its halycon moment on social media, courtesy of a man who was so close yet so far to winning the 2008 Drivers' title, narrowly losing out to current Mercedes AMG Petronas driver, Lewis Hamilton.
None other than Brazil's Felipe Massa, who during his lengthy spell at Ferrari secured 11 wins and has been a strong driver over a number of seasons. Even through that tough time after the Hungarian GP in 2009, after being hit by that rogue spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, he was still being kept in "the family."
After this event, where no one knew if Felipe would ever return to F1, he made good his intentions and got back behind the wheel, but the driver we all knew who was honourable in defeat in 2008 on home soil at Interlagos, was a mere shadow of his former self. With new teammate Fernando Alonso being the pride of Maranello, it was a matter of time before Felipe was no potentially longer needed at the Scuderia.
So this very evening, just before 8pm GMT, the 184 Grand Prix veteran officially announced via Instagram that he would not be driving for Ferrari after the conclusion of the 2013 F1 season, saying the following: "From 2014, I will no longer be driving for Ferrari. I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all. Felipe."
So with all these events coming into play, it just remains to be seen where Felipe may end up racing for 2014 and beyond, but the question remains: Who will be in scarlet red for next year?